公共事业管理外文翻译.doc

河南理工大学公共事业管理专业2009级外文翻译姓名：冯明雷学号：310919010220班级：事管09-2班From Crisis to Opportunity: Human Resource Challenges for the Public Sector in the Twenty-First CenturyVidu Soni Central Michigan UniversityAbstractA great deal of attention has been focused on the human capital crisis in the public sector since the mid-1990s. Experts and practitioners give many reasons why the current crisis emerged. This article examines the important factors that led to the crisis, what is being done about them through presidential agendas, legislators, oversight agencies, professional societies, and public policy think tanks. Concerns are many in terms of a large number of upcoming retirements, early retirements, unplanned downsizing, difficulty in attracting new generations to public service, and the changing nature of public service. However, the human resource crisis also presents an opportunity to fundamentally change those features of public sector human resource management practices that have become outdated for contemporary organizations and position government agencies for the twenty-first century by meaningfully reforming the civil service. This transformation would require public sector organizations to take a more strategic view of human resource management and to give greater policy attention to human capital issues.IntroductionIn 1989, the National Commission on the Public Service (commonly referred to as the Volcker Commission) issued a report on the state of public service characterizing it as a “quiet crisis,” which referred to the slow weakening of the public service in the 1970s and 1980s. This period was marked by loss of public confidence in its elected and appointed officials, heightened bureaucrat bashing by the media and political candidates, and a distressed civil service. For different reasons, the quiet crisis of earlier decades continued through the 1990s and is present today. The current crisis is building as large numbers of government workers are expected to retire in the coming years and not enough younger people are in the pipeline for government jobs. Adding to the crisis is understaffed government agencies, a skills imbalance, and a lack of well-trained supervisors and senior leaders. These concerns are reinforced by a preliminary report of the second National Commission on Public Service (Light, 2002), which paints a more dire picture and foreshadows a more pronounced crisis. Light contends that “the United States cannot win the war on terrorism or rebuild homeland security without a fully dedicated federal civil service” (p. 2). Millick and Smith (2002, p. 3) have a similar reaction when they state “while the first National Commission on Public Service referred to a quiet crisis in the civil service, the second Commission is facing what can only be called an imminent catastrophe.” Scholars and practitioners alike have been projecting serious shortages in qualified workforce in federal government (Light, 1999; Voinovich, 2000; Walker, 2000).These trends in public service partly reflect the generational shift in attitudes toward government itself. The younger generation tends not to choose public service careers because of the negative reputation of governments hiring process, lack of challenging work, and its system of rewards. These concerns led the General Accounting Office (GAO) to add human resources management to the government wide “high-risk list” of federal activities in 2001. Similarly, inspectors general at nine major agencies have listed workforce problems among the top ten most serious management challenges that their agencies face (General Accounting Office GAO, 2001). The federal governments human resource crisis threatens its ability to serve the public well and meet the expectations of the American people. Federal agencies must respond by publicizing job opportunities more aggressively, including offering younger workers interesting and challenging work and the potential for advancement. Light (2002) argues that a strong civil service has five characteristics: it is (1) motivated by the chance to accomplish something worthwhile on behalf of the country, (2) recruited from the top of the labor market, (3) given tools and organizational capacity to succeed, (4) rewarded for a job well done, and (5) respected by the people and leaders it serves. However, Light also point out that “by all five measures, the federal service has lost ground since September 11” (p. 2).This article examines the context and nature of the impending workforce crisis in federal government and discusses various areas of change that must be addressed to avert the crisis or, at least, minimize its impact. The issues related to recruiting and developing public sector human resources in the twenty-first century not only require consideration of the traditional remedies such as civil service reform, political support, and more managerial flexibility, but also, consideration of the changing nature of public service (Light, 1999) and the world of work across all sectors (Spiegel, 1995). Many external and internal organizational forces such as workforce demographics, technology, and privatization, as well as eroding trust in government institutions have drastically altered the environment of government service. Accordingly, traditional human resource (HR) management approaches no longer work. The HR supply and demand problem must be addressed at multiple levels. Educating people about government service, raising the image of government workers, providing competent and reliable leadership in government agencies, conducting career development and training of existing personnel, and actively recruiting, particularly in technological and scientific fields, all will have to be done simultaneously to adequately respond to the human resource crisis in the public sector.Next, the article documents and discusses some of the actions that various federal agencies have taken in response to the crisis. For example, the General Accounting Office (GAO), the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) have conducted numerous surveys, issued reports on causes of the problems, and have developed tools, techniques, and resources to assist the federal agencies in solving the problems. Lastly, the paper outlines recommendations and strategies that can lead the federal government to turn this HR crisis into an opportunity for systematic reform, modernization, and revitalization of public sector human resources practices and systems. The recent coalescence of interest in addressing the HR crisis and recognizing its urgency is demonstrated by the inclusion of discussion of workforce problems in congressional hearings, presidential priorities, and reports issued by oversight agencies and public sector think tanks. This heightened attention to the human resources crisis in government represents a promising opportunity to improve and strengthen public service.Initiatives Taken in Response to the CrisisThe federal government has taken several initiatives to help minimize the negative impact of the human capital crisis. Senator Voinovichs Report to the President: The Crisis in Human Capital (2000) makes several recommendations that fall in two categories. The first category includes recommendations that do not require legislation such as, urging agencies to conduct workforce planning and automating hiring systems to speed up the process. The second category requires legislative action such as making the pay system more flexible by allowing broad banding, or obtaining special hiring authority when needed. Several agencies such as the Forest Service, GAO, and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have requested and received special wavers to set pay deviating from the General Schedule pay structure and conduct direct hiring. Following is a discussion of some of the important administrative and legislative initiatives introduced by GAO, OPM, and Office of Management and Budgeting (OMB).Leadership ImprovementCompliance with Congress directive that agencies measure and demonstrate results made it necessary that agency leaders have proven managerial competence and leadership skills. To facilitate strategic management of human resources so that agencies can accomplish their policy and programmatic goals, Senator Voinovich asked the GAO to develop two types of management questionnaires that could be used for confirming presidential nominees to administrative positions (GAO,2002b, p. 35). “It is clear that federal agency leaders must create an integrated, strategic view of their human capitaland sustain that attention to create real improvements in the way they manage their people,” argues the senator. The first questionnaire is intended for those appointees who will have significant program management responsibilities, and their responses will inform the Senate of their management experience and preparedness for addressing the current and future top management challenges facing federal agencies. The second questionnaire includes questions on agency-specific management problems drawn from sources such as the High-Risk series (GAO, 2001). The purpose of this questionnaire is to improve the quality of federal programs by improving the quality of people appointed to manage them. Political appointees must be prepared to substantively address the problems at their agencies, not just give policy direction to the career civil servants. The questionnaires convey the message that the Senate considers effective managerial skills to be a priority for all nominees to senior agency positions.Presidential Management AgendaThe Presidents Management Agenda (OMB, 2002) has identified several government reform goals that will address the human capital crisis. Among its goals are:(1) workforce planning and restructuring undertaken as part of “strategic management of human capital” that will be defined in terms of each agencys mission, goals, and objectives, (2) agency restructuring is expected to incorporate organizational and staffing changes resulting from “competitive sources” and expanded E-government, (3) as part of the 2003 budget process, OMB has asked departments and agencies to identify statutory impediments to good management, (4) agencies will strengthen and make the most of knowledge, skills, and abilities of their people in order to meet the needs and expectations of “their ultimate clientsthe American people.” These reforms are expected to create long-term results that will allow agencies to build, sustain, and effectively deploy the skilled, knowledgeable, diverse, and high-performing workforce needed to meet the current and emerging needs of government and its citizens. These reforms will also allow the work-force to adapt quickly in size, composition, and competencies to accommodate changes in mission, technology, and labor markets and will contribute to increasing employee satisfaction.Understanding New Public ServiceLight (1999) argues that the end of twentieth century marks the end of government- centered public service and brings a multispectral service in its place. This means the labor market from which government workers will be drawn has also been altered significantly. “The government-centered public service has been replaced by a new public service in which government must compete for talent,” states Light (p. 1). His study of the graduates of the top twenty schools of public administration and public policy shows that the new workforce is likely to change jobs and sectors frequently, as well as be more focused on challenging work than on job security. Light argues that to seriously address this crisis, public organizations and graduate schools of public administration need to understand the changing nature of public service. The new public service is shaped by blurring of the lines between sectors, developing trends toward changing sectors during ones career, worker preference for jobs that provide flexibility and an opportunity for growth, and the new types of skills required for public sector employees and managers. This greater uncertainty and job movement will make it increasingly difficult for the government to hold on to its talent and prevent agencies from building the kind of expertise needed for an effective public service.According to Light, higher pay and aggressive recruitment alone will not solve governments problem; it must also offer challenging work, flexible organizations, and broader career paths. He suggests a variety of steps for the government to become competitive. First, agencies need to develop new recruitment programs more appropriate for todays workforce. Second, agencies need to create new entry points for replacing people in mid- and top-level jobs. Instead of reserving the vast majority of promotions for internal candidates, government must open the career paths to outside competition. Third, the government must recognize career development and job enrichment as an ongoing organizational obligation. Its utility is demonstrated by a case study (Kim, 2002) of the Nevada Operations office of the Department of Energy (DOE) that shows a statistically significant relationship between a supervisors support of career development and high levels of job satisfaction. To respond to challenges of this new responsiveness to employee development, the DOE introduced Individual Development Planning (IDP) in 1999. Supervisors were required to ensure that employees were provided the opportunity to have training plans that were subject to annual review and revision to ensure that these plans directly benefited the mission and employee development objectives.Developing Executive and Supervisory TalentIn a study conducted by Huddleston (1999), the presidential award recipient members of the SES (Senior Executive Service) identified several leadership skills necessary for top-level executives. They pointed out four qualities of outstanding senior leaders: (1) strategic vision, (2) ability to motivate others, (3) ethic of hard work, and (4) integrity. Effective senior executives emphasize the importance of articulating a vision, setting goals, having a performance orientation, and understanding what these concepts mean for the success of their agencies. These are commonsense approaches to them rather than management fads. For example, Huddleston writes that Thomas Billy, of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA),stated that his strategic vision was to ensure that “the food Americans eat will pose no risk (p. 5).” He argues that while this may sound redundant at first, it gets the agency thinking about designing regulations and developing technologies to get there. Others attributed their success to nothing more than hard work. “You cant be successful as an 85 per center,” says Paul Chistolini,GSA (p. 6).Current leadership selection practices in the federal government are completely at odds with the new leader competencies, that is, flexibility adaptability, accountability, strategic thinking, vision, and customer service, needed today and in the future. Supervisors are concerned that their agencies do not have selection standards and are inconsistent in the skills they seek for supervisory positions. This lack of consistency means that supervisory competencies and performance management skills may not be evaluated as thoroughly as needed. For example, performance management competency including measuring performance, monitoring performance, developing employees, rating performance, and rewarding good work are not assessed or measured in prospective leaders (OPM, 2001a).The job of leadership development rests both with the existing senior leaders and the organizations. Katter (1993, p. 139) argues that an environment that is supportive of the time and effort to grow leaders needs to be cultivated in organizations to fill the current leadership void. Blunt (2002a) suggests that launching a successful leadership development program is driven by five imperatives. First, the visibility of the number of managers and senior leaders who will retire in the next five years provides a succession imperative. Second, the decision to establish a leader development program is a strategic imperative and should be reflected in official strategic plans submitted with the annual budget. Third, the current dissatisfaction with organizational performance from external sources, e.g., the GAO,Congress, the OMB, and the public should provide a performance imperative to focus on developing leaders. Fourth, the changing landscape for performance requires a change in the type of leaders being developed; this is the competency imperative. Fifth, the organization champion imperative requires senior leaders willing to take the initiative to promote and sustain leadership development programs. Taken together, these offer organizations a beginning point for launching leadership development programs. Longitudinal research conducted by Center for Creative Leadership places leader learning in four broad categories: challenging job assignments, learning from others examples, hardships and setbacks, and education and training. Similarly, senior leaders can develop a new generation of leaders by serving as an exemplar, a mentor, and a coach, or organizations can create programs that would use such a learning model (Blunt, 2002b).Research provides evidence that a positive relationship exists between supervisory characteristics and levels of job satisfaction. Oldham and Cummings (1996) found that employees produced the most creative outcomes when they worked on complex, challenging jobs and were supervised in a supportive, no controlling way. Supportive supervisors encourage subordinates to voice their own concerns, provided positive and mainly informational feedback, and facilitated employ