1. Professor of Organizational Psychology & Human Resource Management
Improving Human Resources in the Public Sector – A Key to Successful Reform?
David Guest
Professor of Organizational Psychology & Human Resource Management
King’s College, London

2. What is Human Resource Management?
“All those activities associated with the management of work and people in organisations”
(Boxall and Purcell, 2011)

3. Why Do Human Resource Matter in the Public Sector?
Usually the major cost factor. Therefore effective management of human resources should:
Reduce costs
Result in more effective utilisation of human capital to provide better, more cost-effective services

4. Problems/Challenges in Managing Public Sector Human Resources
Sheltered and distorted labour markets
Excessive job security/jobs for life
Political influences
Bureaucratic ineffective HR practices
Administrative systems which do not reward productivity or service quality
Strong trade union influence
Powerful professional groups/interests
Tradition of model employer
Poor capacity for change

5. Pressures for Change in Public Sector HR
Need to become more strategic
Need to change from dominance of bureaucracy focus to performance focus
Need to move from standard employment to flexible employment
Need to make full use of, and ensure the service commitment of staff
Need to control staff costs – doing more and better with less.

6. A New Approach A new approach requires :
a better model for managing human resources
and
a better way of allocating responsibility
“Human resource management is too important to be left to human resource departments”

7. Some Basic Assumptions About Human Resource Management
Someone has to take personnel decisions
Who takes decisions is related to issues of power, influence and size of organization
There is an identifiable set of core decision areas
We now have considerable evidence about what constitutes “good” human resource management

8. Some Core Areas of HR Decisions
Recruitment and Selection (and Branding)
Training and Development
Careers and Internal Labour Markets
Job (and organization) design
Appraising performance
Reward systems
Ensuring appropriate treatment of staff
Managing employment relations
Dealing with problem issues and cases
Managing downsizing and exit

9. The Evidence Base for New Public Sector Model of HRM
Lots of evidence showing an association between more high quality human resource practices and performance in private and public sectors
HRM
Organizational Performance

10. HR and profit per employee in the private sector (FoW study)

11. Labour turnover and performance

12. A Refined Model Recruitment & selection Training & Development
Employee competence
Enhanced employee performance
Performance appraisal
Financial rewards
Feedback
Employee motivation
Job design
Involvement systems
Communication
Opportunity to participate
Internal promotion
Security
Fair treatment
Met psych. contract
Employee commitment

13. What Do We Mean by “Good” HR Practices? (examples)
Selection based on quality and attitudes/approach to work
Use of psychological tests in selecting all staff
Extensive provision of training
Deliberate development of a learning organization
Formal appraisal of all staff at least annually
High basic pay and organization-based contingent pay
Harmonised terms and conditions for all staff
Design of jobs to make full use of skills and abilities
Staff/teams responsible for their own quality
Extensive two-way communication on work and organization issues
Regular use of attitude surveys

14. Adoption of HR Practices in the UK
Number of HR practices in the public (N=546) and private sectors (N=1277)
WERS data

15. HRM and Performance in the Public Sector
Growing number of studies in healthcare
Some studies in local government
A few elsewhere
Major problem of performance indicators
Standard challenge of level of analysis (division, workplace, organization: e.g. school or local authority)

16. HRM and Mortality in Acute Hospitals West et al (JOB, 2006)
52 Acute Trusts in the UK
More high quality HR practices associated with lower death rates
Persists after controlling for other possible influences including past performance
Good appraisals have the strongest influence

17. HRM and Performance in Local Government (Messersmith et al 2011)
Study of HRM and performance in Welsh local authorities. Each has 8 departments.
Data from 119 departments and 1755 staff.
Performance data from Welsh government
Explored link between HRM, staff attitudes and behaviour and department outcomes.
Found strong link between HRM and performance and HRM and attitudes
Found strong support for path through employee attitudes and behaviour

18. HRM and Performance in Universities (Guest & Clinton, 2007)
Survey of HR managers in all UK universities on HR practices
Independent published performance data
Found no association between HRM and performance
Poor quality HR practices, poor HR departments and poor implementation

19. Initial Conclusion
There is good evidence of an association between HRM and performance across different parts of the UK public sector
Highlights potential if you can implement high quality HR practices
Raises question of who is responsible for implementation and the role of HR departments

20. The Implementation Challenge
Khilji and Wang (2006) and others highlighted a gap between intended and implemented HR practices
Implies that it is not enough to have good HR policy and practice
Draws attention to the roles of ‘implementers’ - HR specialists, top management and line managers

21. Towards a Theory of HR Implementation (Guest & Bos-Nehles, 2012)
Stage 1: Decide to introduce a practice
Stage 2: Determine the quality of the practice
Stage 3: Line managers agree to implement the practice
Stage 4: Line managers implement in a quality way
Stage 5: Staff accept rationale for practice and respond accordingly
Implementation at Stages 3-5 cannot occur without Stages 1 & 2

22. Who is Responsible for Implementation?
Stage 1 HR and top management
Stage 2 Primarily HR
Stage 3 Line managers
Stage 4 Line managers
So line managers’ views on HR practices and their competences become central issues

23. The Challenge of Implementation of HRM in Local Government
In 32 London boroughs very similar HR practices are in place
External audit reveals differences in borough ratings
Research reveals key differences in effectiveness of HR implementation explain much of the variation in ratings

24. Implementation of Bullying and Harassment Policy in the NHS
UK healthcare has one of the highest levels of reported bullying and harassment of any sector – e.g. much higher than the military
Annual NHS survey question: “ In the last 12 months have you experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from any of the following” (manager/team leader/colleagues/ patients/relatives of patients?

25. Bullying and Harassment in the UK NHS. Regional Comparisons25

26. Bullying and Harassment at a London Acute Hospital 2004-200826

27. Bullying and Harassment by Care Group: 200727

28. Evidence on Bullying and Harassment from Staff Surveys and Interviews
Bullying associated with increased stress /reduced job satisfaction/higher intention to quit
Bullying affects patient safety and service quality through reduced motivation and concern to do a good job
Bullying by staff associated with unsupportive work environment and lack of faith in effectiveness of relevant HR systems
How does this relate to HR policy and practice in the hospital? 28

29. Best Practice in Management of Bullying and Harassment
Implementation of a Formal Bullying Policy
Zero Tolerance Approach
Selection of Staff
Implementation of Awareness Campaigns
Address Environmental Problems
Training and Development for Managers and for Staff
Providing Informal Advisory Services
Data monitoring
Support for Victims of Bullying
All are in place at this hospital 29

30. Implications for HRM
The hospital has all the right HR policies and practices in place but bullying still very high. Why?
Reflects the gap between ‘intended’ and ‘implemented’ practice
Reinforces need to focus on implementation
Is this likely to be particularly challenging in public sector professional bureaucracies? 30

31. The Role of the Line Managers
Line managers have responsibility for much HR implementation.
However key issue concerns motivation and competence to implement.
UK line managers “are neither capable nor motivated to take on these issues” (Hope Hailey et al, 2005)
Dutch line managers more motivated and capable but hindered by time pressures 31

32. Line Managers/Clinicians in Healthcare
Health managers prioritise patient care over care of workforce
Limited reinforcement of relevant policy – e.g. no evidence of zero tolerance
Our evidence suggests some avoid HR issues
But: evidence on bullying shows wide variations between clinical divisions. So how can we understand and explain these variations?

33. The Nature of a “Strong” HR System
Bowen and Ostroff (2004) argue that the link between HR strategy and HR practices and outcomes will be stronger if there is a ‘strong’ HR system perceived as high in:
Distinctiveness: visible, relevant, understood
Consistency: consistently applied
Consensus: agreed by key stakeholders
Role of top management in embedding and reinforcing ‘strong’ HR is likely to be crucial
HR cannot do HR on its own

34. Conclusions and Policy Implications
Some indication in the public sector that more high quality HRM is associated with better performance
Need to strengthen focus on factors affecting implementation of policy and practice
HR still mainly an administrative rather than a strategic function
Major challenge of HR implementation in public sector professional bureaucracies
A ‘strong’ HR system is likely to help

35. Thank you for listening