In the past two decades, nearly every country in the world has felt the urge to decentralize some of its human resource (HR) functions. This article uses Singapore as a case study to illustrate how this urge has been addressed in civil service reforms during the past two decades. In so doing, the article also highlights the necessity as well as the theoretical and practical implications of the decentralization process to the organizational arrangement of HR functions in the civil service of Singapore. The article concludes that, as countries seek to decentralize HR functions in the civil service, understanding how this process works is cardinal to enhancing coordination and the efficient delivery of public services. For without this understanding, it is not possible to determine which functions must be decentralized and which ones must not be. Some popular myths and misconceptions about decentralization are also explored.
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