Albert C. Hyde

The New Environment for Compensation and Performance Evaluation in the Public Sector.

“The question comes to mind as to whether or not many civil service agencies have been facing the facts of life. The place of the agency in the administrative structure of government tends to insulate it against many types of problems, but any deficiencies in pay policy may not be so explained. The current difficulties resulting from such deficiencies may be attributed in part to a situation which the agency itself probably helped create—the mores of public personnel administration. One of these mores is that various classes of employees should work for less money in the public service than they might be able to command elsewhere… The actual amount of compensation paid is generally a major determinent of whether or not a governmental unit attracts high-grade applicants and retains them in service after employment. Therefore, it is time that greater attention be given to rates of pay prevailing in the sources of recruitment for the public service. It is time that more consideration be given to the salaries paid by competitors for the services of trained employees. It is time that programs be inaugurated which translate such facts into action, that removes inequities from public pay schedules”

Productivity Management for Public Sector Organizations

Productivity improvement is arguably the most significant management theme of the 1980s. Major declines in the nations annual rate of productivity growth have alarmed many private and public sector leaders and have spawned a host of new initiatives by organizations to increase productivity. Organizational approaches have integrated traditional measurement techniques with new forms of participative management to include team building, quality circles, and quality of worklife experimentation. Six major models for productivity improvement are examined and implications for personnel managers explored.

HRIS: Introduction to Tomorrow's System for Managing Human Resources

A NEW CONCEPT Organizations understandably place considerable value on achieving the optimum use of their resources in order to accomplish their program objectives. To do otherwise would mean that resources would be wasted or that objectives might not be achieved. Given the fact that human resources constitute such an important part of any organizations resource base, the development of an information system that provides an ongoing assessment of the utilization of these resources is a natural reaction to an essential managerial need. The Department of State, perhaps more than most organizatioils, places a premium value on its most important resource-its employees. Having long perceived the need for a significant systems advancement in its accounting, control, and planning for the use of human resources, the department has initiated an experiment with a new concept in management information systems for personnel resources. This work has been carried out via a special development project appropriately entitled Human Resources Information Systems, or, more simply, HRIS. Any human resource information system is logically an inventory of the positions and skills extant in a given organization. However, HRIS is more than a simple aggregation mechanism for inventory control and accounting; it is the foundation for a set of management tools enabling managers to establish objectives for the use of

Overpaid? Public Service Delivery and City Manager Compensation in California

City manager compensation has received heightened scrutiny in the media and in public debate. High salaries for city managers are sometimes compared with the salaries of elected officials, but this might not be the best comparison if we consider the nature of their work. If city managers are responsible for municipal corporations, then the scope of the municipal enterprise should explain compensation practices. Because California cities vary in the scope of services provided, we test an enterprise argument. The analysis makes a distinction between the scope of direct service delivery and contract service delivery by cities. Elite interviews with search firms in California provide additional insight into compensation practices. We conclude with paths for future research and discuss normative implications consistent with the enterprise framework for governing bodies to consider as they set city manager compensation.