A key issue in the work by Donald Klingner and John Nalbandian, entitled Public Personnel Management: Contexts and Strategies (1998), is the concept of ôstrategic human resource managementö (SHRM). This research will explore what the authors meant by the concept and analyzes the forces of change that continue to shape this field. In addition, the characteristics of strategic human resource management will be described and examples of SHRM in public agency management will be provided.
Principles of Public Personnel Management
Strategic human resource management (SHRM) is the purposeful resolution of human resource administration and policy issues so as to enhance a public agency's effectiveness. It requires understanding how personnel functions interrelate in context, recognition of their importance, and commitment by personnel managers, employees, supervisors and political leaders to work together for change (Klingner and Nalbandian, 1998, p. 386).
In order to understand strategic human resource management, it is first necessary to understand the general school of public personnel management. Public personnel management can be viewed from at least four perspectives. First, it has a functional dimension necessary for the management of human resources in public agencies. This functional dimension includes such activities as planning, acquisition, development and sanctions. Second, public personnel management involves the process by which scarce public jobs are allocated. Jobs in the public sector tend to be limited by constraints on tax revenues. Third, public personnel management is also the interaction among four fundamental societal values that often conflict. These values are: responsiveness (which involves loyalty, often best ensured through a political appointment process); efficiency (staffing decisions should be made based on merit rather than politics); employees' rights (protected by the Constitution or collect...