CHAPTER ONE

  INTRODUCTION

 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

 The development of any nation depends to a very large extent on the calibre, organization and motivation of its human resources. In the specific case of Nigeria where diversity exerts tremendous influence on politics and administration, the capacity to increase the benefits and reduce the costs of this diversity constitutes a human resource management challenge of epic proportion in its public sector organizations. Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization. Human Resource Management can also be performed by line managers.

 Human Resource Management is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training. Human Resource Management is also a strategic and comprehensive approach to managing people and the workplace culture and environment. Effective HRM enables employees to contribute effectively and productively to the overall company direction and the accomplishment of the organization’s goals and objectives. Human Resource Management is moving away from traditional personnel, administration, and transactional roles, which are increasingly outsourced. HRM is now expected to add value to the strategic utilization of employees and that employee programs impact the business in measurable ways. The new role of HRM involves strategic direction and HRM metrics and measurements to demonstrate.

 HRM covers a wide range of activities. The main area of study we will focus on will be incentives and work organization. Incentives include remuneration systems (e.g. individuals or group incentive/contingent pay) and also the system of appraisal, promotion and career advancement. By work organization we mean the distribution of decision rights (autonomy/decentralization) between managers and workers, job design (e.g. flexibility of working, job rotation), team-working (e.g. who works with whom) and information provision.

 Civil servants have a reputation for being lazy. However, people’s personal experiences with civil servants frequently run counter to this stereotype. We develop a model of an economy in which workers differ in laziness and in public service motivation, and characterise optimal incentive contracts for public sector workers under different informational assumptions. When civil servants. Effort is invariable, lazy workers and working in the public sector highly attractive and may crowd out dedicated workers. When effort is variable, the government optimally attracts dedicated workers as well as the economy’s laziest workers by offering separating contracts, which are both distorted. Even though contract distortions reduce aggregate welfare, a majority of society may be better off as public goods come at a lower cost. Where we depart from several of the existing surveys in the field is to put HRM more broadly in the context of the economics of management. To do this we also look in detail at the literature on productivity dispersion.

 Human resource management encompasses the traditional personnel functions of recruitment, selection, training, motivation, compensation, evaluation, discipline, and termination of employees. Each of those tasks demands particular skills. Increasingly, human resource management is being recognized for its strategic importance to organizations and jurisdictions, and is moving beyond its traditional position as a monitor of compliance. This course is designed to provide you with an understanding of the evolution of human resource management policies and practices, and how changes over time reflect shifting societal values and environmental circumstances. Our emphasis is on improving understanding of the historical context and current conditions of public sector HRM and developing basic skills necessary to be an effectively manage human resources.

 Within the public sector, many of the most visible and interesting controversies, such as affirmative action , employee ethics, sexual harassment, drug testing, and labour-management relations, are part of human resource management. Human resources also account for the largest percentage of the operating budget for most public agencies, and public administrators must have both an appreciation for the costs of personnel decisions and the ability to project those costs. In addition, constitutional, statutory and regulatory requirements often constrain personnel decisions and actions in the public sector, and public administrators must have a working knowledge of these legal guidelines. Public administrators must recognize the political aspect of human resource management. Human resource management policies and techniques are developed, implemented and evaluated in a public context. Public sector HRM practices effect the selection and experiences of government employees which, in turn, affects public policy. In order to make and implement effective human resource management policies, administrators need an appreciation of the political and historical context in which the policies have developed to date.