1、工商管理专业英语有关英语论文及翻译Benchmarking of human resource management in the Public sector: Prospects, problems and challengesDavidM AkinnusiOrganisational/Industrial Psychology and Human Resources ManagementNorth West UniversitySouth AfricaCorrespondence to: David M Akinnusie-mail: david.akinnusinwu.ac.zaABST
2、RACTThis paper reviews the role of human resource management (HRM) which, today, plays a strategic partnership role in management. The focus of the paper is on HRM in the public sector, where much hope rests on HRM as a means of transforming the public service and achieving much needed service deliv
3、ery. However, a critical evaluation of HRM practices in the public sector reveals that these services leave much to be desired. The paper suggests the adoption of benchmarking as a process to revamp HRM in the public sector so that it is able to deliver on its promises. It describes the nature and p
4、rocess of benchmarking and highlights the inherent difficulties in applying benchmarking in HRM. It concludes with some suggestions for a plan of action. The process of identifying “best” practices in HRM requires the best collaborative efforts of HRM practitioners and academicians. If used creative
5、ly, benchmarking has the potential to bring about radical and positive changes in HRM in the public sector. The adoption of the benchmarking process is, in itself, a litmus test of the extent to which HRM in the public sector has grown professionally.Keywords: benchmarking, benchmarking process, hum
6、an resource management, public sector, public sector managementIn any organised human activity, human beings naturally take precedence over other resources, as it is they and they alone who are capable of directing and utilising other resources. Effective human resource management (HRM) has, therefo
7、re, become crucial and critical to the achievement of individual, organisational, community, national and international goals and objectives. Ironically, even though human beings are widely considered as the most important assets of any organisation or nation, their development, motivation and utili
8、sation have not always occupied the central place in management (Bendix, 1996, p. 4-10). In the history of management thought, the neglect of the human side of enterprise brought the scientific school of management to its knees and led to the rise of the human relations and the behavioural schools o
9、f thought which firmly succeeded in putting human beings as the core of management (Carrell, Elbert & Hartfield, 1995). In the practical world, the commodification or de-personalisation of human beings during the industrial revolution was also associated with the rise of trade union movements, leadi
10、ng to government interventions and regulations and the emergence of labour relations and personnel administration as fields of study (Bendix, 1995, p. 7). In the 1990s, personnel management metamorphosed into human resource management in clear recognition of its strategic role in the overall perform
11、ance of organisations (Authur, 1994; Cascio, 1995; Huselid, 1995; Gerber, Nel & van Dyk, 1998). THE STATE OF HRM IN SOUTH AFRICAThe history of South Africa, rising from the ashes of the apartheid regime, is replete with cases of poor HRM, to the point of constricting its development more than a deca
12、de after its independence (Deputy President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, 2006). The Deputy President while launching the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) remarked that:Nothing short of a skills revolution by a nation united will extricate us from the crises we face. We are addres
13、sing logjams, some of which are systemic and therefore in some cases entrenched even in post-apartheid South Africa. The systemic nature of some of our challenges undermine our excellent new policies, at least in the short term, hence the need for interventions such as JIPSAto enhance implementation
14、 of our policies (http:/www.info.gov.za/speeches/2006/06032810451001.htm) Historically, South Africa has performed very poorly in practically all the criteria on the liability side of human resources balance sheet as measured by the World Competitiveness Ratings (1998, 1999). Some of these include e
15、qual opportunity, skilled labour, Aids, worker motivation, brain drain, unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse, values of the society, illiteracy, dependency ratio, human development index and competent managers. The field of labour relations (LR), like its human resources counterpart, reflects the co
16、untrys socio-political history which was characterised by deep divisions along racial and political lines, discrimination, unfair labour practices and gross distortions in the labour market systems, resulting in serious confrontations between the social partners and perennial industrial unrest (Bend
17、ix, 1996, p. 71-104).These stark realities have prompted the democratic government to enact a series of laws designed to bring radical changes in the areas of HRM and labour relations. Some of these include: Occupational Health and Safety Act No 85 of 1993 Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 and Labour
18、Relations Amendment Act No 127 of 1998 South African Qualifications Act No 58 of 1995 Basic Conditions of Employment Act No 104 of 1997 Employment Equity Act No. 55 of 1998 Skills Development Act No 97 of 1998 Skills Development Levies Act No. 9 of 1999 Promotion of Equality and the Prevention of Un
19、fair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000 White Paper on Human Resource Management in the Public Service, 2000The intention of these Acts was to create a healthy, humane, just and equitable workplace or society, free from discrimination and oppression and in which people and workers are educated and continu
20、ously trained to meet the challenges of nationaldevelopment and globalisation in a peaceful industrial climate. In 2006, the nation launched the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) to develop skills that are most urgently needed as part of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initia
21、tive for South Africa (AsgiSA), which was to propel South Africa at a development trajectory of 6% GDP by 2010. The implementation and the realisation of these Acts and initiatives require, among other things, managers and, especially, human resource professionals, whose responsibility it is to effe
22、ctively manage the human resources of their organisations. For its own part, the South African Board of Personnel Practice has proposed a bill, the Human Resource Profession Bill (2005), which intends to professionalise the practice of HRM in South Africa.The focus of this paper is on HRM in the pub
23、lic sector, where the challenges are most acutely felt. The Government White Paper on Human Resource Management in the Public Service (2000) notes that national departments and provincial administrations employ approximately 1,2 million people, who account for more than 50% of all public expenditure
24、. It declares that “people are therefore the Public Services most valuable asset, and managing human resources effectively and strategically must be the cornerstone of the wider transformation of the Public Service”. Appropriately, Government has embraced the shift of focus from personnel administra
25、tion to HRM. Therefore, Governments vision of HRM in the Public Service is that it will “result in a diverse, competent and well-managed workforce, capable of, and committed to, delivering high quality services to the people of South Africa”. It further stressed that the practice of HRM would be und
26、erpinned by the following values which derive from the Constitution: fairness, accessibility, transparency, accountability, participation and professionalism.However, the White Paper on Human Resource Management in the Public Service (2000) was quick to point out the inadequacies and out-dated pract
27、ices of HRM in the public sector, describing various aspects of it in the following ways: (It is) over-centralised, excessively bureaucratic and rule-bound. It is focused on form rather than substance and results. Human resource planning is weak; post-filling and promotion criteria over-emphasize ed
28、ucational qualifications and seniority and little or no emphasis is placed on the requirements of the job to be done. Performance management is also underdeveloped.All these inadequacies and the racial imbalance simply mean that Governments avowed desire to transform public service delivery by putti
29、ng people first (via the “Batho Pele principles”) would be greatly frustrated by an inefficient and ineffective management, in general, and lacklustre state of human resource management, in particular.More than a decade after independence, the state of HRM in South Africa has not changed as drastica
30、lly as expected at either the macro or micro level. This is due to a number of factors including the following (Gerber, Nel and van Dyk, 1998; Bowmaker-Falconer, Horwitz, Jain & Taggar, 1998; White Paper on HRM, 2000; Horwilt, Browning, Jain & Steenkamp, 2002; 1.Reluctance by corporations to embrace
31、 transformation and major changes implied or required by the various legislations.2.Reluctance on the part of trade unions to buy into the perceived capitalist agenda of the new government, leading to a shaky alliance between government and its alliance partners, the Congress of South African Trade
32、Unions (Cosatu) and South African Communist Party (SACP).3.Fear of reverse discrimination by whites, sparking off emigration in large numbers and leading to only modest gains in the area of employment equity and diversity management.In short, although South Africa is armed with formidable legislative armoury to create a humane society and organisational environments conducive to HRM, the fact remains that it will take many more years to undo the legacy of apartheid in “creating structural inequalities in the acquisition of
