1、 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 Century Vidu Soni Central Michigan University Abstract A great deal of attention has been focused on the human capital crisis in the publ
2、ic 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 publ
3、ic 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
4、 to fundamentally change those features of public sector human resource management practices that have become outdated for contemporary organizations and position government agencies for the twenty-first century by meaningfully reforming the civil service.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 se
5、ctor organizations to take a more strategic view of human resource management and to give greater policy attention to human capital issues. Introduction In 1989, the National Commission on the Public Service (commonly referred to as the Volcker Commission) issued a report on the state of public serv
6、ice 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 distres
7、sed 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 gover
8、nment 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 pictu
9、re 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 C
10、ommission 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,
11、 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 syste
12、m 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
13、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,
14、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 o
15、f 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
16、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-firs
17、t 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 externa
18、l 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. T
19、he 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
20、 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
21、 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 a
22、gencies 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 coale
23、scence 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
24、 human resources crisis in government represents a promising opportunity to improve and strengthen public service. Initiatives Taken in Response to the Crisis The federal government has taken several initiatives to help minimize the negative impact of the human capital crisis. Senator Voinovichs Rep
25、ort 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
26、. 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
27、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 Improvement Compliance with Co
28、ngress 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
