Research Objective
Human resource policy refers to the guidelines that provide specific direction to human resource managers in matters concerning human resource management such as recruitment, promotion, trainings and compensation. On the other hand public sector can be defined as part of a countries economy controlled by the government or the state. Corporate sector is known to strictly adhere to set HR policies and its implementation compared to the public sector in many jurisdictions or countries. However, public sector in general has undergone improvements/reforms in the recent years in terms of merit and transparency in matters concerning HR management. (Beattie and P. Osborne, 2013)
- To find out the nature of human resource policies and extend of its implementation in public sector.
According to Lavelle, (2010), there is growing convergence in HR fundamentals or models between the public sector and the private sector over the last few years. That initially, working for government or public sector took the approach of career-based employment system where employees would typically be recruited at the beginning of their career and remains working with the government/public sector for the rest of their life, while on the other hand private sector took the approach of position-based system where recruitment is based on the skills and competence needed in a particular position. However, in the recent years there has been increased trend where recruitment in public sector is guided by both career-based and position based approach. This hybrid system has lead to fundamental changes in policies guiding recruitment in public sector. (Lavelle, 2010)
On the other hand, Nasi, (2011), postulates that there is a strong correlation between extend of HR policy implementation and performance in public sector. That, for the public service to perform as expected then HR policies need to be implemented fully so that the government can ensure that the right personnel are placed in various positions as required by skills and competencies as required by the position. The author further asserts that the reason why there is lack of proper implementation of public policies in some jurisdiction is down to disjoin in the implementation of the HR policies in public sector. (Nasi, 2011)
According to Vermeeren (2014), public institutions has recently been under immense pressure to perform and as a result the respective governments has changed HR policies such that the policies are now more of business oriented but not just filling the position based on core qualification. The policies developed as such that it guides the HR managers in public sector to recruit personal with business ‘touch’ in whatever field that is being filled. Thus over the years’ public HR policies has continued to reform depending on the demands by the public owing to the fact that majority of the public population is now learned and they will demand transparency and reforms in public sector recruitment policies. (Vermeeren, 2014)
Research Philosophy, approach and strategy
A document published by Australian PSC in 2017 asserts that there are minimum standards regarding merit, probity and merit in the manner in which recruitment in Australian public sector must adhere. (Nolan, 2008) The document further asserts that public sector bodies must report on their compliance to HR policies set to the commission and the commissioner reports the same to the parliament of the country. The strict compliances standards and the checks-and-balances put in place ensure that the public HR polices are adhered to the letter in the country. This further outlines extend in which the HR policy in public sector has been implemented. (Public Sector Commission, 2017)
The HR policy document by the country’s PSC stipulates various procedures and actions that need to be followed/ taken by various HR managers relating to HR management. The framework furthers directs that all the public institutions in the country should use the framework when dealing with any matter concerning human resource. The commission states that the framework will be updated from time to time on the need basis. The document serves as an example of how Public HR policies are now open to changes in responses in changing trends regarding the human resource management. (PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, 2016)
Research philosophy can be defined as the conviction or belief about the manner in which data about a certain phenomenon or should be collected analyzed and practiced or used. The concept is generally guided by the topic under study or research such that two different topics may have same or different research philosophy depending on what the researcher deems fit. The following are the types of research philosophies.
- Postivism
- Post Postivism
- Realism
- Interpretivism
- Phenomenology
Realism is the better research philosophy because on majorly rely on the idea of reality which is independent of the human mind. This branch of research philosophy is based on scientific approach that is more rational than the other approaches which tend to a factor of believes without facts. (Connell and Teo, 2010)
Research approach can be defined as philosophical assumptions and specific ways or procedures through which the research will be conducted. Generally, there are two types of research approaches;
- Inductive approach
- Deductive approach
This research will take the inductive approach because it seeks to come up with emergences of new generalizations or trends concerning the topic of Human Resource Policy and its implementation in the public sector. (Jones and Graham, 2015)
Research strategy can be referred to as step by step action plan through which research thoughts and actions are systematically arranged in order to ensure that the research produces desired high quality results and a report with all the required details. The strategy also ensures that the research is carried out within schedule. The following are the research strategy that takes the inductive approach in the research.
- Survey
- Ethnography
- Grounded theory strategy
Research Design
This research will take the survey research strategy. Survey provides the opportunity the researcher to fully utilize the concept of asking questions to the respondents that provide real information that will be necessary for the high quality of the research work.
The research will employ uttermost ethical standards regarding all the research work. All the respondents will requested to consent for interviews or providing any information before the actual interview is conducted. All the data will also be handled professional to ensure no data is exposed or revealed to unintended persons without necessary authorization. (Sims, 2010) Respondents will also not be required to provide personal information when filling questionnaires or when being interviewed or providing information to the researcher in any other form. The researcher will also seek authorization to access and assess various public institutions HR practices from their offices apart from getting such information from other secondary sources such as the website. (Nolan, 2008)
Research design can be referred to as the general strategy that is employed to bring together all the components of the research in a clear and coherent manner that effectively addresses the research objectives and the research problem. The design also provides the framework for data collection and measurement as well as its analysis. (Blischke, Karim and Murthy, 2015)
This research will take descriptive analysis research design as this provides the researcher with the opportunity to come up with a trend or theory concerning the research topic of HR policy and implementation in the public. (Flamm and Luisi, 2013)
Simple random sampling technique will be adopted by this research. This technique provides that data sampling is done in a random manner that is devoid of any human direction. The small group (sample) from the main or the larger group (population) is chosen entirely by chance and each of the individual in the population has equal chance to be chosen into the sample.
This research will utilize questionnaires as a means of primary data collection. The questionnaires will be administered in such as way that in case any respondent in the sample is not available for one on one administration of the questionnaires then the questions can be sent to the respondent via email address so that the same can be filled and emailed back to the researcher or the research assistant. (Ingraham and Kim, 2012) This method will therefore be flexible to accommodate any feasible dynamic that the research may face during data collection. The questionnaire will also contain four close ended questions for carrying out quantitative analysis and one open ended question for qualitative analysis. (Blischke, Karim and Murthy, 2015) The research will also ensure that the questions that will be contained in the questionnaires will not be leading questions that provide any hint the respondents on the nature of the answers desired. This will ensure that the data collected will the true representation of the information sought by the research. The research will also collect secondary data through use of the books and websites for the public institutions with details concerning HR policies and its implementation. The overall aim of the data collection process for this research will be to obtain most relevant data that will help in meeting the research objectives. (Flamm and Luisi, 2013)
Research Implications
The research will utilize the percentages and the pie charts as the pictorial representation of the data collected. The percentages will provide and easier perspective to the readers of the report to easily understand the contents of the report. The support pictorial representation also ensures that the data can be understood at a glance without necessarily reading the analysis provided below the chart. (Blischke, Karim and Murthy, 2015)
The questionnaire that will be used in the research will contain 4 close ended questions that is with fixed answers and one open ended questions that is the respondent will be free to provide any relevant information he or she thinks is suitable for the question. The following are the questions that will be contained in the questionnaire.
- Do you think Public sector has HR policies that guide the process of human resource management?
- Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Disagree 4. Strongly disagree
- Do you think there is a general improvement of public HR policies and its implementation that responds more to the current labor needs?
- Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Disagree 4. Strongly disagree
- Do you think Public institutions have the political will to implement fair Public HR policies that will benefit all equally?
- Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Disagree 4. Strongly disagree
- Has the government asserted itself strongly to ensure that effective public HR policies are implemented?
- Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Disagree 4. Strongly disagree
- What suggestion do you have for increasing performance of HR policy implementation in the public sector?
From the above pie chart the results indicate that 70 % of the respondents strongly agree with the fact that the public sector has HR policy that guides the human resource management in the public sector. 10% of the respondents do also agree with this assertion but with a lesser extend compared to the “strongly agree” group. On the flipside 10% of the respondents disagree with the notion that the public sector has HR policy that guides the human resource management in the public sector while another 10% also do strongly disagree with this notion. (Dickmann, Brewster and Sparrow, 2016
From the pie chart it can be deduced that 60% of the respondents strongly agrees with the notion that there is general improvement in terms of public HR polices and implementation that responds to current labor needs. 20% of the respondents also agree with the same notion. On the other hand 10% of the respondents disagree with the assertion while another 10% strongly disagrees with the notion that public sector HR policy has some general improvement in terms of implementation and responds to current labor needs. (Thibault, 2013)
From the pie chart above it is clear that half of the respondents thinks that public institutions have political will to implement fair public HR polices that gives everyone a chance in the society to secure employment with government without using other extra ordinary means. 20% of the respondents however agree with this assertion. (Lee, 2014) On the contrary 20% of the respondents disagree with this notion that there is political will to implement fair HR polices in the public institutions, while 10 % of the respondents strongly disagree with this notion. (Thibault, 2013)
From the analysis it is clear that 40% of the respondents strongly think that the government has asserted itself strongly to ensure that effective public HR polices is implemented in the public sector. Another 20% also thinks that the government has asserted itself strongly. However 20% of the respondents disagree with the notion that the government has done enough to ensure that effective public HR policies are implemented in the public sector. Of the whole number of respondents another 20% of the strongly disagree that the government has asserted itself enough to ensure implementation of the effective human resource policies is carried out in the public sector. (Blischke, Karim and Murthy, 2015)
The following are the suggestions put forth by the respondent on how to increase performance of HR policy implementation in the public sector.
- There should be deliberate actions from those charged with the responsibility of implementing effective HR policies in the public sector to ensure that the same is fully followed through and implemented.
- There should be adequate public participation in development of public HR policies.
This research is reliable in the sense that the study is done following scientific research method that put major emphasis on collection of non-skewed data that are true representation of what the entire population thinks or feels. The research will also utilize real public institutions to carry out the research thus the outcome will not be based on artificial data that are not subjected to the realities on the ground.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the research shows some decline in terms of respondents that tend to agree with the notion that there is effective public HR policy in place and the policies have been implemented. However, there are still a good number of respondents that thinks that public HR policy and implementation is on the right track as expected. From the results it shows that there is still much to do when it comes to public HR policies and its implementation. This can be clearly be seen by the nature of the answer suggestions provide by the respondents on the last question of the questionnaire.
References
Beattie, R. and P. Osborne, S. (2013). Human Resource Management in the Public Sector. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.
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Connell, J. and Teo, S. (2010). Strategic HRM. Prahran, Vic: Tilde University Press.
Connell, J. and Teo, S. (2010). Strategic HRM. Prahran, Vic: Tilde University Press.
Dickmann, M., Brewster, C. and Sparrow, P. (2016). International human resource management. New York: Routledge.
Flamm, J. and Luisi, T. (2013). Reliability Data Collection and Analysis. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.
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Sims, R. (2010). Reforming (transforming?) a public human resource management agency. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub.
Thibault, C. (2013). Game Data Analysis. Birmingham: Packt Publishing.
Vermeeren, B. (2014). HRM Implementation and Performance in the Public Sector. [online] 1(1), pp.6-20. Available at:
https://file:///C:/Users/ben/Downloads/Proefschrift_Brenda-Vermeeren.pdf [Accessed 24 Dec. 2017].
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