Abstract
Many organizations must re-evaluate the manner in which personnel services are delivered to customers. Growing demands and increasing responsibilities placed on personnel offices have changed the nature of their work. Fiscal constraints have led to cutbacks in available staff to meet these needs. Larger organizations may have to re-evaluate the structure and responsibilities of centralized vs. decentralized systems.
The National institutes of Health (NTH) is a large organization (19,000 employees) with a decentralized personnel services program. New responsibilities placed on the program (e.g., ethics, federal government recruitment and hiring regulations) and reduced resources have led to a re-examination of the services that customers need most, and of the level of the organization that is most effective in providing the service.
Using focus groups, NIH identified a number of critical areas of personnel service delivery; me ten most critical are being reviewed by TQM teams. Each team will recommend the most appropriate organizational level to provide the service and will identify ways to simplify procedures (including automation) for both personnel offices and customers.
This article will discuss the approach used at NTH and provide information on the results that have been accomplished to date.
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