Public Personnel Management

Practitioners and theorists alike increasingly have become dissatisfied with formal performance appraisals. A focus on the structural aspects of appraisals, as developed in the health care industry, is offered as a meaningful addition to traditional performance appraisal methods.

This article presents the results of a survey questionnaire developed to ascertain which of three constituent groups (Superiors, Peers, and Subordinates) in the workplace has the greatest influence on rater compliance with employee performance appraisal guidelines. The research found that superiors had the greatest influence on rater compliance with rating procedures.

Performance appraisal usage is expanding in public sector organizations across the U.S. Organizations employ the formal appraisal process with the belief that it provides them with a host of potential human resource benefits. In this study, 254 members of a large public sector organization were surveyed to assess the degree to which the organization's formal performance appraisal system was perceived as being effective in serving functions typically associated with the appraisal process. In addition, differences in manager/subordinate perceptions were analyzed and suggestions for improving the appraisal process were solicited. This research demonstrates that a properly developed appraisal process can serve both managers and subordinates in a number of important areas. At the same time, several critical functions of the appraisal process were found to be less than effective. A discussion of the implications of these findings to both academics and practitioners is included.

As the fiscal crisis in public agencies deepens, many jurisdictions are considering the establishment of some type of applicant fee program. This paper summarizes the types of fee programs which currently exist nationwide, and reviews issues which agencies must consider before embarking on an applicant fee program.

The prospect of layoffs and ongoing downsizing in governments due to budget cuts has generated growing concern about termination benefits for public employees, such as severance pay, transition assistance, and advance notice. This study analyzes the organizational reasons why governments should provide such benefits. The study also uses advance notice as an example, and the CPS-Displaced Worker Survey to assess whether such a benefit lessens the economic loss of layoffs for affected employees. The findings show that termination benefits are integral parts of organizational commitment to preserve a long-term relationship between the organization and its employees, and serve the purpose of maintaining and reinforcing the organizational commitment and productivity of employees, especially those who survived. The findings from the case study show that advance notice provides terminated employees an early start in their job search and therefore helps lessen their economic loss resulting from layoffs. The study also discusses the implications of mandating governments to provide termination benefits as a strategy for managing workforce reductions.

The study investigates whether the proportion of U.S. federal civil service agencies with representative workforces has increased between 1982 and 1990. The study reveals several important findings: 1) the proportion of federal agencies with representative workforces remained constant between 1982 and 1990, 2) a significant number of agencies continue to have racially unrepresentative workforces with respect to the total U.S. minority population and individual minority groups, and 3) during the years 1982 and 1990, American-Indians experienced the most racial integration in U.S. federal agencies in comparison to African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Hispanics. The study also indicates that Hispanics continue to be drastically under-represented in a large percentage of U.S. federal agencies.

The changing gender of the United States workforce has forced employers to confront issues as never before. Twenty years ago women were just beginning to enter the workplace in numbers large enough to make them visible. Today women comprise 44 percent of the workforce and fill nearly one-third of managerial positions.

This article briefly summarizes the issues that local governments should review prior to implementing health and fitness programs for firefighters. The courts have upheld employer imposed fitness standards for law enforcement officers. This article generalizes the application to firefighters.

One of the most amazing phenomenons in human resource management in the last decade is the aging of America's labor force. The maturing of baby boomers, increasing longevity, and a declining birth rate have contributed to a shortage of younger workers and an increase in the number of Americans in the older age brackets. With the aging of the work force, organizations are going to have to accommodate the transitions needed. These aging baby boomers heralded in the age of child-care issues. Now, with the nation's elderly being the fastest growing segment of the population, elder-care issues are also of major concern for the aging baby oomers and for American management. Corporate America needs to utilize its unbelievable resource of available talent—the reliable, trained, and educated older work force. We must try examine the question of how to maximize the positives of the situation and modify or reduce any negatives.

The Office of Civilian Personnel at the Defense Distribution Region East has been able to achieve dramatic personnel and cost reductions using an agressive program of process reengineering coupled with a radical redesign of its business processes. This innovative program, which can save the U.S. Government $8 million by the year 2001, required changing the attitudes of managers and employees about the way the organization was structured, their roles in the new scheme, and the need to deal with continual change and process improvement.