Improving Human Resources in the Public Sector

1
Improving Human Resources in the Public Sector
A Key to Successful Reform?

• David Guest
• Professor of Organizational Psychology Human
  Resource Management
• Kings College, London

2
What is Human Resource Management?

• All those activities associated with the
  management of work and people in organisations
• (Boxall and Purcell, 2011)

3
Why Do Human Resource Matter in the Public Sector?

• Usually the major cost factor. Therefore
  effective management of human resources should
• Reduce costs
• Result in more effective utilisation of human
  capital to provide better, more cost-effective
  services

4
Problems/Challenges in Managing Public Sector
Human Resources

• Sheltered and distorted labour markets
• Excessive job security/jobs for life
• Political influences
• Bureaucratic ineffective HR practices
• Administrative systems which do not reward
  productivity or service quality
• Strong trade union influence
• Powerful professional groups/interests
• Tradition of model employer
• Poor capacity for change

5
Pressures for Change in Public Sector HR

• Need to become more strategic
• Need to change from dominance of bureaucracy
  focus to performance focus
• Need to move from standard employment to flexible
  employment
• Need to make full use of, and ensure the service
  commitment of staff
• Need to control staff costs doing more and
  better with less.

6
A New Approach

• A new approach requires
• a better model for managing human resources
• and
• a better way of allocating responsibility
• Human resource management is too important to be
  left to human resource departments

7
Some Basic Assumptions About Human Resource
Management

• Someone has to take personnel decisions
• Who takes decisions is related to issues of
  power, influence and size of organization
• There is an identifiable set of core decision
  areas
• We now have considerable evidence about what
  constitutes good human resource management

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Some Core Areas of HR Decisions

• Recruitment and Selection (and Branding)
• Training and Development
• Careers and Internal Labour Markets
• Job (and organization) design
• Appraising performance
• Reward systems
• Ensuring appropriate treatment of staff
• Managing employment relations
• Dealing with problem issues and cases
• Managing downsizing and exit

9
The Evidence Base for New Public Sector Model of
HRM

• Lots of evidence showing an association between
  more high quality human resource practices and
  performance in private and public sectors

HRM
Organizational Performance
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HR and profit per employee in the private sector
(FoW study)
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Labour turnover and performance
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A Refined Model
Employee competence
Employee motivation
Opportunity to participate
Employee commitment
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What Do We Mean by Good HR Practices?(examples)

• Selection based on quality and attitudes/approach
  to work
• Use of psychological tests in selecting all staff
• Extensive provision of training
• Deliberate development of a learning organization
  
• Formal appraisal of all staff at least annually
• High basic pay and organization-based contingent
  pay
• Harmonised terms and conditions for all staff
• Design of jobs to make full use of skills and
  abilities
• Staff/teams responsible for their own quality
• Extensive two-way communication on work and
  organization issues
• Regular use of attitude surveys

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Adoption of HR Practices in the UK
Number of HR practices in the public (N546) and
private sectors (N1277) WERS data
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HRM and Performance in the Public Sector

• Growing number of studies in healthcare
• Some studies in local government
• A few elsewhere
• Major problem of performance indicators
• Standard challenge of level of analysis
  (division, workplace, organization e.g. school
  or local authority)

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HRM and Mortality in Acute Hospitals West et al
(JOB, 2006)

• 52 Acute Trusts in the UK
• More high quality HR practices associated with
  lower death rates
• Persists after controlling for other possible
  influences including past performance
• Good appraisals have the strongest influence

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HRM and Performance in Local Government
(Messersmith et al 2011)

• Study of HRM and performance in Welsh local
  authorities. Each has 8 departments.
• Data from 119 departments and 1755 staff.
• Performance data from Welsh government
• Explored link between HRM, staff attitudes and
  behaviour and department outcomes.
• Found strong link between HRM and performance and
  HRM and attitudes
• Found strong support for path through employee
  attitudes and behaviour

18
HRM and Performance in Universities (Guest
Clinton, 2007)

• Survey of HR managers in all UK universities on
  HR practices
• Independent published performance data
• Found no association between HRM and performance
• Poor quality HR practices, poor HR departments
  and poor implementation

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Initial Conclusion

• There is good evidence of an association between
  HRM and performance across different parts of the
  UK public sector
• Highlights potential if you can implement high
  quality HR practices
• Raises question of who is responsible for
  implementation and the role of HR departments

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The Implementation Challenge

• Khilji and Wang (2006) and others highlighted a
  gap between intended and implemented HR practices
• Implies that it is not enough to have good HR
  policy and practice
• Draws attention to the roles of implementers -
  HR specialists, top management and line managers

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Towards a Theory of HR Implementation(Guest
Bos-Nehles, 2012)

• Stage 1 Decide to introduce a practice
• Stage 2 Determine the quality of the practice
• Stage 3 Line managers agree to implement the
  practice
• Stage 4 Line managers implement in a quality way
• Stage 5 Staff accept rationale for practice and
  respond accordingly
• Implementation at Stages 3-5 cannot occur without
  Stages 1 2

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Who is Responsible for Implementation?

• Stage 1 HR and top management
• Stage 2 Primarily HR
• Stage 3 Line managers
• Stage 4 Line managers
• So line managers views on HR practices and their
  competences become central issues

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The Challenge of Implementation ofHRM in Local
Government

• In 32 London boroughs very similar HR practices
  are in place
• External audit reveals differences in borough
  ratings
• Research reveals key differences in
  effectiveness of HR implementation explain much
  of the variation in ratings

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Implementation of Bullying and Harassment Policy
in the NHS

• UK healthcare has one of the highest levels of
  reported bullying and harassment of any sector
  e.g. much higher than the military
• Annual NHS survey question In the last 12
  months have you experienced harassment, bullying
  or abuse from any of the following
  (manager/team leader/colleagues/
  patients/relatives of patients?

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Bullying and Harassment in the UK NHS. Regional
Comparisons
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Bullying and Harassment at a London Acute
Hospital 2004-2008
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Bullying and Harassment by Care Group 2007
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Evidence on Bullying and Harassment from Staff
Surveys and Interviews

• Bullying associated with increased stress
  /reduced job satisfaction/higher intention to
  quit
• Bullying affects patient safety and service
  quality through reduced motivation and concern to
  do a good job
• Bullying by staff associated with unsupportive
  work environment and lack of faith in
  effectiveness of relevant HR systems
• How does this relate to HR policy and practice in
  the hospital?

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Best Practice in Management of Bullying and
Harassment

• Implementation of a Formal Bullying Policy
• Zero Tolerance Approach
• Selection of Staff
• Implementation of Awareness Campaigns
• Address Environmental Problems
• Training and Development for Managers and for
  Staff
• Providing Informal Advisory Services
• Data monitoring
• Support for Victims of Bullying
• All are in place at this hospital

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Implications for HRM

• The hospital has all the right HR policies and
  practices in place but bullying still very high.
  Why?
• Reflects the gap between intended and
  implemented practice
• Reinforces need to focus on implementation
• Is this likely to be particularly challenging in
  public sector professional bureaucracies?

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The Role of the Line Managers

• Line managers have responsibility for much HR
  implementation.
• However key issue concerns motivation and
  competence to implement.
• UK line managers are neither capable nor
  motivated to take on these issues (Hope Hailey
  et al, 2005)
• Dutch line managers more motivated and capable
  but hindered by time pressures

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Line Managers/Clinicians in Healthcare

• Health managers prioritise patient care over care
  of workforce
• Limited reinforcement of relevant policy e.g.
  no evidence of zero tolerance
• Our evidence suggests some avoid HR issues
• But evidence on bullying shows wide variations
  between clinical divisions. So how can we
  understand and explain these variations?

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The Nature of a Strong HR System

• Bowen and Ostroff (2004) argue that the link
  between HR strategy and HR practices and outcomes
  will be stronger if there is a strong HR system
  perceived as high in
• Distinctiveness visible, relevant, understood
• Consistency consistently applied
• Consensus agreed by key stakeholders
• Role of top management in embedding and
  reinforcing strong HR is likely to be crucial
• HR cannot do HR on its own

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Conclusions and Policy Implications

• Some indication in the public sector that more
  high quality HRM is associated with better
  performance
• Need to strengthen focus on factors affecting
  implementation of policy and practice
• HR still mainly an administrative rather than a
  strategic function
• Major challenge of HR implementation in public
  sector professional bureaucracies
• A strong HR system is likely to help

35
Thank you for listening

• david.guest_at_kcl.ac.uk