https://doi.org/10.1177/0091026020948188

Public Personnel Management 2020, Vol. 49(4) 499 –502

© The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0091026020948188

journals.sagepub.com/home/ppm

Guest Editorial

The Future of Public Human Resource Management

The evolution of public human resource management (PHRM) has been at the fore- front of public administration research for the past two decades. Human resources in the public sector has changed from a focus on developing employee hard skills (e.g., education, training) to advancing a more soft skill approach in the workplace. The emphasis on soft skills takes a closer look at the development of interpersonal relation- ships (e.g., employees and managers, employees and peers) as well as self-improve- ment. A soft skills approach pursues managing employee behavior through motivation, commitment, and professional development. As such, the focus is on individual devel- opment as an important element to overall organizational well-being.

The Volcker Alliance highlighted the importance of soft skills for the future of pub- lic service in their recent report, “Preparing Tomorrow’s Public Service.” Results from a survey conducted by the Alliance highlight the significance of soft skills such as commitment (75% of survey respondents expect to stay in government for the long term) and motivation (71% believe they are making good progress in fulfilling their professional aspirations) in the development of future public service leaders. These respondents—a diverse group of regional, governmental, and educational profession- als across the United States—also underscored how important these same soft skills are in promoting high-performance government.

Mindful of the challenges facing the public workforce, a better understanding of these soft skills and the role of research in advancing evidence-based practice should be a cornerstone of future PHRM research and practice. Advancing dialogue on human resource development for a future generation of public servants will entail: (a) empow- ering public servants to achieve a meaningful contribution; (b) appreciating the role behavioral science can play in eliciting meaning; and (c) understanding the role diver- sity plays in a demographically changing world.

Meaningful Public Service

Building the workforce of tomorrow will necessitate the development of soft skills— interpersonal effectiveness and personal resilience—as a means for overall organiza- tional effectiveness. Yet, empowering employees and emphasizing collaboration is not enough. We must also emphasize the extent to which meaning can be attributed to one’s contribution to the greater good. Public managers will need to develop support- ive managerial practices promoting employees engagement with their work—for example, listening to employees, treating them with respect, communicating

948188PPMXXX10.1177/0091026020948188Public Personnel Management editorial2020

500 Public Personnel Management 49(4)

expectations, and promoting growth and development. These supportive practices will be integral to the high performance workplace of the future. Likewise, an empowering leadership style can be an influential motivational tool for improving proficiency and conscientiousness among public servants; thus, positively effecting work units in pub- lic organizations. Indeed, encouraging public service and civic engagement among employees may encourage positive unintended consequences outside the workplace in local communities. The role of soft skills in employee and organizational development also transcends boundaries. The call to public service in international organizations exhibits the same altruistic, social, and extrinsic work opportunities that we see at home.

Leveraging Meaning Through Behavioral Science

How we act upon the insight gleaned from soft skill development also matters. As such, behavioral science can play an important role in eliciting meaning from soft skills and workforce performance. Policy makers, practitioners, and scholars are increasingly using behavioral science to tackle many of the important questions of public administration, management, and policy. This stream of research illustrates how cognitive biases systematically affect public policy and management decisions. Recent work in behavioral science is engaged in demonstrating how people (or employees) should behave and how they actually behave; thus, moving beyond tradi- tional models of full rationality in decision-making. Leveraging behavioral science tools such as “nudging” may represent a means for public managers to promote soft skill behaviors within public employees that lead to improved practices and perfor- mance in the workplace.

Public employees experience the same behavioral limitations as all individuals, subjecting their decisions, and ultimately policymaking and management, to potential failure. Unwrapping the causes and consequences of the cognitive and behavioral bar- riers established by flawed choices is essential to ensuring the efficient and effective delivery of public goods to citizens and clients alike. Public managers must not only overcome environmental complexities, but also their own cognitive limitations and moral impasses. They must increasingly anticipate how employees will react to choices, and how to influence choices to improve outcomes, achieve agency goals, and fulfill organizational missions. Influencing public employees and their decision pro- cesses from a more informed assessment of cognitive biases has the potential to improve effectiveness through strategic choices that shape goal attainment. Such cog- nitive strategies have the potential to nudge public managers, employees and citizens in a direction that improves individual performance, overall productivity, and informs evidence-based policy.

From a practical standpoint, cognitive strategies to overcome these limitations come in the form of nudges—modest, cost-efficient developments in the design of options for citizens and public employees for government procedures. According to Nobel Laureates Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler who pioneered the concept of nudging, a nudge must alter behavior in a way that is predictable while not prohibiting

Guest Editorial 501

alternatives. Accordingly, nudges must be easy, cheap to avoid, and not mandatory. Examples include graphic warnings on cigarette packs, energy efficiency labels, and nutrition information on food products. Finding methods for nudging public employ- ees in meaningful ways offers an opportunity for scholars and practitioners alike inter- ested in advancing PHRM.

The behavioral science movement also offers scholars a means for providing better evidence, informed by rigorous experimental designs, about what works, in which contexts, and why. The potential for behavioral science to inform workplace practices is extraordinary. Not only does behavioral applications allow us to sort through best practices, but to do so in a way that is inexpensive and easily employable. The hope is that continued use of behavioral science experimentation will lead to performance improvement in public and nonprofit agencies, while also requiring concomitant increases in public and nonprofit managers’ analytic skills or cooperative arrange- ments with universities, think tanks, or advocacy organizations to assist.

Building a Representative Workforce for the Future

Promoting research on diversity and inclusiveness must be a continued goal of PHRM research. Scholars and practitioners should strive toward a better understanding of the impact diversity and inclusion has on the culture of the organization, particularly, the implications for workplace climate. Interestingly, research has demonstrated the effec- tiveness of inclusiveness as a means for counteracting bullying, discrimination, and improving workplace climate through legitimacy, trust, and representativeness—all of which advance overall agency effectiveness.

However, more research is necessary to understanding the impact specific forms of discrimination, such as sexual harassment, have on individual psyches and overall workplace culture and climate. In 2015 alone, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recovered US$164.5 million in direct costs for workers alleging harassment. As scholars and practitioners of public administration, we have a singular duty to investigate the causes and consequences of persistent discrimination in the public workplace. Particularly salient is the cumulative effect of discrimination over time and if variation exists by type of agency.

Organized labor may also play an important role in abating discrimination in the workplace. Women typically realize equal pay and earn more under a union presence. Union oversight, although not immune to harassment, might be important to fostering a culture of recognition, reporting, and countering fears of reprisal among victims of harassment. Understanding how to create a culture of understanding and openness is important to safeguarding victims.

Making the necessary changes to prevent discrimination entails changing work- place culture, and thus rethinking training protocols. We typically view training as a tool for informing employees and upholding an organization’s legal liability. Looking back over the last 30 years, the EEOC suggests that this has largely been ineffective if not harmful. Reassessing training means providing novel ways for conveying the mes- sage of a harassment-free workplace and tailoring that message to fit a particular

502 Public Personnel Management 49(4)

agency’s culture and type of employee (e.g., supervisor, subordinate). Support from the top is essential to successfully implementing new training practices and toward ensuring the success of social equity workplace initiatives. Indeed, the EEOC suggests middle-managers and first-line supervisors may be the most valuable resource in pre- venting and stopping harassment in public organizations.

Adopting a more inclusive vision, PHRM scholars and practitioners should con- tinue to be a leading producer of social equity research that benefits both research and practice. The public workforce of the future demands it.

Paul Battaglio The University of Texas at Dallas

ORCID iD

Paul Battaglio https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0826-912X

Author Biography

Paul Battaglio, PhD, is professor of Public and Nonprofit Management at The University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Battaglio’s research interests include public human resource management, organization theory and behavior, and comparative public policy. Dr. Battaglio is currently the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Public Administration Review and past Editor-in-Chief of the Review of Public Personnel Administration.

Copyright of Public Personnel Management is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

Take NoteProfessional Pointers

H U M A N R E S O U R C E S

How to Attract and Retain Top Talent The U.S. healthcare field is facing a serious gap between the supply of qualified caregivers and the antici- pated demand for care. With millions of baby boomers reaching retirement age, there are increasing demands on our healthcare system, yet fewer clinicians available to provide care. There also is increased competition from retail-care clinics, which are expected to double in num- ber over the next five years.

How can a healthcare organization hope to retain its top talent and hire new staff with so much competition on the horizon?

First, keep the talent you have. Second, develop your existing employees so you can better staff difficult-to-fill positions. Finally, attract and hire candidates more effec- tively than your competitors do.   Retain Top Talent • Enable employees to easily apply for internal posi-

tions and move freely inside the organization. • Set transparent, cascading goals to work toward,

and provide staff with frequent feedback of their progress in a performance management system.

• Recognize high performers to reinforce positive behaviors, and encourage peers to emulate those positive actions.

• As appropriate, invest in employee wellness and pro- fessional development.

Performance management practices can help to reinforce your culture by recognizing strong performers and encour- aging positive turnover of low performers.

Grow Your Own • Upon hire, immediately begin developing employees

for long-term talent needs, particularly for difficult-to-fill roles.

• Create an individual career path for each employee that combines his or her long-term goals with the needs of the organization.

• Link these career paths to development plans and specific learning activities so the plans are visible to and actionable for the employee on an ongoing basis.

• Through goal planning and appraisal technologies, check in on each employee consistently for perfor- mance and alignment to career aspirations and goals.

“ Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”

—Arthur Ashe

Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Executive MAR/APR 2017

50

This grow-your-own strategy does most of the work in terms of employee retention, but consider rolling out organizationwide initiatives to ensure employees are happy and feel taken care of. Attract and Hire • Use recruitment marketing technologies and pro-

cesses to more effectively attract high-quality candidates.

• Invest in sourcing-specific talent acquisition to identify passive candidates.

• Invest in highly engaging mobile application technol- ogy and search-engine-optimized career webpages.

• Invest in assessment technology to behaviorally screen candidates against behavior markers that are specific to healthcare roles.

• Integrate all of the above with strong applicant track- ing and workflow technology to manage the hiring and onboarding processes.

The real shift is in viewing all of these pieces as intercon- nected and self-reinforcing. The big difference between successful and unsuccessful organizations isn’t a particu- lar approach or technology within a given talent man- agement pillar; it’s the ability to see beyond pillars and consider how the whole is interconnected.

Source: Adapted from an article by Dave Wilkins, chief marketing

officer, HealthcareSource. Visit www.healthcaresource.com.

M E N T O R S H I P

Your Role as Mentee Whether you enter into either a formal mentoring pro- gram or an informal mentor/mentee relationship, what you gain from a mentoring situation has much to do with how open you are to learning; how willing you are to invest in developing a relationship of trust that requires time and energy; and how willing and open

FOLLOW US ONLINE    

TRU-D.COM • (800) 774-5799 • [email protected]

Not Just UVC. Smart UVC. The pioneer in UV disinfection, Tru-D is the only UV disinfection robot backed by a randomized clinical trial.

Learn more about the BETR-D study at Tru-D.com/betrdstudy

Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Executive MAR/APR 2017

51

you are to being challenged, receiving candid feed- back and being reflective.

The most important asset you bring to the mentoring relation- ship is your willingness to learn and grow personally and pro- fessionally. The mentee is usually the initiator of the mentor/ mentee relationship, unless it is a structured, organization- based mentoring program. In either case, the relationship exists mainly for your growth and development; thus, you need to take the lead. You should be proactive not only in seeking out a mentor but also in approaching the overall men- toring relationship with an agenda and coming to each men- toring conversation prepared with topics for discussion.

It is up to you to communicate to your mentor how best you learn, how you communicate, what your objectives are and what your vision/dreams are for the future. The more insights about your style and vision you share, the better your mentor can assist you in your growth and development.

How to be the best mentee. If you want a successful mentoring experience, you need to come to the relation- ship motivated and empowered to plan and direct your own professional life. It is you, the mentee, who will need to own the responsibility for your development, learning and professional growth. First, you must be willing to put in the time to develop an open and trusting relationship. This relationship-building phase takes months and requires your full effort. Without this foundation of trust, a meaning- ful learning/growth relationship cannot take hold. Trust has a lot to do with being open and honest with your mentor and following through on your commitments, so be sure to do what you say you will do between meetings.

Your mentor expects you to have a clear understanding of why you want to be mentored. She expects you to under- stand that the mentoring relationship is confidential so she

will feel free to share her personal experiences with you. You should be able to clearly articulate your expectations of your mentor so there can be a conversation about and agreement on those expectations early in the relationship. See the section in the ACHE Mentee Guide at ache.org/ MenteeGuide about the role of a mentor.

Be prepared for each mentoring session; have an agenda, yet remain flexible if the conversation takes you in a slightly different direction. Create goals and mile- stones, and remain focused on achieving what has been agreed on in the mentoring sessions. You also need to be a good listener, setting aside time for self-reflection. You should be able to talk with your mentor about your preferred learning style. You must be able to accept con- structive criticism and have the courage to provide feed- back, both positive and constructive, to your mentor to maintain a healthy, productive mentoring relationship.

Focus on the relationship, rather than the outcomes. Your mentor’s job is not to get you your next job. It is important to be realistic in your expectations. If you build a strong, trusting relationship with your mentor, he will help you in more ways than you can imagine. Being the best mentee is much like managing up, a common corporate term describing the pro- cess by which a subordinate takes ownership of the relation- ship, letting the boss, or in this case the mentor, know what is needed. In this situation, the mentee might plan meeting agendas, ask questions, listen, pay attention, maintain a pos- itive attitude no matter what arises, keep the mentor informed, work to understand the mentor’s style and lean into that style to promote better communication, be sensitive to the mentor’s needs, complete agreed-on tasks, and request and give honest feedback in a caring manner.

Source: Adapted from the ACHE Mentee Guide. Visit ache.org/ MenteeGuide.

Have you implemented workplace strategies that could help your colleagues succeed as well? Healthcare Executive invites you to share workplace knowledge that has played a role in your career success.

To submit a topic for consideration, please contact the editor-in-chief at [email protected].

Submit a Pointer to “Professional Pointers”

Professional Pointers

Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Executive MAR/APR 2017

52

Copyright of Healthcare Executive is the property of American College of Healthcare Executives and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

Rubic_Print_Format