| Summary: |
Over the past several decades, the once staid field of public personnel administration
has emerged as the rapidly changing field of human resource
management. Although some may consider this a mere difference in
nomenclature, court decisions concerning test validation and employee rights,
legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, technological
and demographic changes in the workplace, and political pressures for reform,
reinvention, outsourcing, decentralization, downsizing, and privatization have
thrust the human resource manager into a pivotal position in rapidly changing
governmental organizations. These changes have transformed personnel administration
from an insulated administrative function performed in relative isolation
to a crucial managerial function performed at many organizational levels.
Since the first edition of this book was published in 1998, the field has continued
to evolve. The most important changes are the increased calls for privatization
of government services and the outsourcing of public human resource
management functions. The states of Georgia and Florida have turned to more
private-sector-oriented models to administer all or parts of their civil service
systems. The newly formed federal Transportation Security Administration outsources
most essential human resource management functions.
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