Publication
Title
By design or by drift : how, where, and why HRM activities are organized in the public sector
Author
Abstract
In the past decades, scholarship has recognized the potential of human resource management (HRM) to contribute to organizational performance in the public sector. Even so, the issue of how HRM activities are organized to achieve superior performance is still in largely unknown territory. De-centering and re-centering dynamics for the organization of HRM have been recognized, but insufficiently analyzed in terms of theoretical and analytical integration. This study investigates the specifics of how the public sector organizes a variety of HRM activities, including the questions of where and why.We find that a complementary use of a rational design perspective and a constraining drift perspective is crucial in order to fully understand the complexities of organizing HRM activities in the public sector. Public organizations generally intend to seek the most optimal arrangement but are sometimes constrained from doing so. Institutional constraints sometimes result in more optimal arrangements, but they can also lead to unintended side-effects. This calls for more research on how design and drift factors intertwine.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Review of public personnel administration. - Sacramento, Calif.
Publication
Sacramento, Calif. : 2018
ISSN
0734-371X
DOI
10.1177/0734371X15626775
Volume/pages
38 :1 (2018) , p. 110-134
ISI
000423613000006
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
In search of economical behaviour in times of global budgetary scarcity - Effects of autonomy, control, task and management on overhead costs in public organizations: Theoretical- empirical research using non-obtrusive data and 3 analysis methods.
Publication type
Subject
Law 
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 23.02.2016
Last edited 04.03.2024
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