Chapter One
The Changing Role of the Human Resource Office Carolyn Ban

Calls for reform of civil service systems and for a redefinition of the role of public sector human resource offices have been a perennial part of the dialogue about public management. From before the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 through the National Performance Review in the 1990s to the present Bush administration's management agenda, reformers have argued that human resource offices should move away from their traditional role, with its focus on routine processing of personnel transactions and on control and enforcement of rigid civil service laws (West, 2002). They have been exhorted, rather, to take on new roles more aligned with the mission of the agency or organization and more responsive to management's needs. The trend, however, is "toward a strategic balance between centralized and decentralized structures ... [that is, toward ... read full excerpt from Handbook of Human Resources Management in Government, 2nd Edition ebook