Public Personnel Management

One of the most compelling problems outstanding in the field of employee benefits today is trying to control spiraling health care expenditures. Furthermore, as a result of the cost containment strategies being used in health plans in the recent years, health benefit satisfaction has become an important variable for employers to consider. The purpose of this study was to identify how distributive and procedural justice apply to health benefit satisfaction in two different working populations. The study was conducted using public and private sector employees for comparison purposes. MANOVAs and univariate analysis were used to determine whether any significant differences were revealed between the two employee groups. Multiple regression was used to evaluate the relative contribution of each factor to benefit satisfaction. The results of the analyses revealed that public sector employees experienced significantly greater benefit satisfaction, normative commitment to the organization, distributive justice, and greater quality and convenience of health care. In both groups, distributive justice (equity perceptions) accounted for the greatest amount of variance in benefit satisfaction, along with affective commitment. In addition, procedural justice accounted for 7% of the variance in private sector benefit satisfaction. Implications for practicing managers are discussed.

Problems have resulted from the novel situation in the U.S. society where more and more parents are working, leaving them with less time and energy during the period surrounding the birth and early growth of a new infant. This issue has received considerable attention from both the private and public sectors. An increasing number of progressive companies have been proactive in offering paid and unpaid family leaves as part of their employees’ benefit package. On February 5, 1993, President Clinton signed a bill into law granting up to a total of 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12 month period to cope with a family sickness, childbirth or adoption. This paper discusses the history of family leaves and the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) along with its provisions and implications. The FMLA is just a first step for the U.S. as other countries provide paid family leave with varying percentages of pay compared to the U.S. Examples of leave policies around the world are examined.

In part one of this series (Moore and Abraham, 1992), the authors explore the topic of comparable worth from a historical perspective. In part two (Moore and Abraham, 1993), the authors discuss legislation and subsequent litigation that resulted from laws governing sex discrimination and compensation. This final article in this series addresses three major areas of controversy on the comparable worth issue including explanations for the gender earnings gap, the economic implications of comparable worth, and measuring job value. Together these articles should provide a comprehensive picture of the comparable worth issue in response to the question raised in the title, Comparable Worth: Is it a moot issue?

One key issue which has surrounded the payment of unemployment compensation benefits has been whether states could deny payment of such benefits to individuals who were out of Work for religious reasons. This presented a classic clash between state denial and First Amendment religious protections. In all such confrontations from 1963 until 1990 the Supreme Court sided with the claimant, but reversed itself in that year in Oregon v. Smith. This reversal triggered off the introduction of two House Bills calling for concepts to be enacted into general law which would be congruent with the earlier Supreme Court compensation decisions.

Utilizing the results from a nationwide sample of fire departments and women firefighters, this article analyzes whether there are differences between sexually harassed women firefighters and their non-harassed female co-workers. The findings reflect no differences on demographic and departmental characteristics. Sexually harassed women firefighters, however, report more job stress, sexual stereotyping, and acts of violence. They feared coming to work and used sick leave more often than their non-harassed co-workers. Implications for the fire service and other male-dominated public agencies are discussed and strategies for implementing an aggressive sexual harassment policy are provided.

There is a growing concern about the ramifications of significant restructuring of the workforce in the next century. While there has been considerable attention given to the education, training, and motivation of new workers, less attention has been given to parts of the existing workforce, particularly mid-career personnel. As the average age of the workforce steadily increases and attrition reduces the number of qualified workers, there will be a growing need for innovative methods of keeping experienced and knowledgeable personnel productive. This resource can be invaluable for maintaining organizational productivity as well as meeting the challenges of the next century. Characteristics of the mid-career worker and possible organization strategies for managing this resource are presented. In the end, it is realized that the solution to this personnel management issue will require multiple approaches.

The objective of this paper is to describe and assess a management development process utilized in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a public sector agency that has implemented Total Quality Management (TQM). The program described in this paper is unique to the Richmond District where the facilitator was qualified to enhance the process used in other offices by adding the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator¹ and The Adjective Check List.² This paper is based on three premises. It is feasible for agencies, i. e., public bureaucracies, to implement the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) and a growing number of them are trying to do so. Management commitment is a prerequisite for TQM so the need to develop effective, committed managers is increasingly critical. Programs designed to develop new managers can be enhanced when the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and The Adjective Check List are included as part of a self-assessment.

As the personnel function becomes more complex and sophisticated, small public organizations without a personnel unit are increasingly at a disadvantage. Through a survey of park districts, the author analyzes how the personnel function is administered in small public organizations. Questions investigated include how large a public organization must be before it starts to centralize the personnel function and how centralization affects the distribution of personnel activities and the involvement of line managers.