Beyond Civil Service: The Changing Face of Public Personnel Management

Abstract

Contemporary public personnel management differs from the past because it is characterized by two emergent alternatives to traditional civil service systems for delivering public services: alternative mechanisms and flexible employment relationships. These alternatives are not new, but they are more commonplace than before. And when new public programs are designed, these alternatives have largely supplanted traditional public program delivery by “permanent” civil service employees hired through appropriated funds. Under these circumstances, it is reasonable to ask how competent are public personnel managers to deal with human resource management under these new conditions, given that most of their training and experience has been in working with traditional civil service systems and collective bargaining arrangements. This article will (1) clarify the alternatives to traditional public personnel management; (2) discuss their impact on the role of the public personnel manager; and (3) evaluate the adequacy of training in this area based on information gathered from a focus group of local government personnel managers.¹