Human Resources Management in Bhutan’s Public Sector
Human Resources Management deals with aspects of how
human resources are managed or dealt with in an organization. The capital is a
necessary asset used for production of future assets and maximization of profit
owned by the management. However, human capital/resource is not owned by the
organization. Organization/employer and people/employee execute contractual
agreement for certain period of time whereby employees agree to give his
effort, knowledge and skills in return of certain benefits and entitlements. In
other words, HRM includes various subjects like ‘human capital management,
corporate social responsibility, knowledge management, organization development,
resourcing (human resource planning, recruitment and selection, and talent
management), performance management, learning and development, reward
management, employee relations, employee well-being and health and safety and
the provision of employee services(Armstrong 2009).
Human resources management is an important aspect of
organization functioning as it involves management of the complex capital which
needs training, motivation and constant nurturing. Every organization, be it
private or public needs HR management though nature and scope of management is
slightly different. In the private organization, HR is directly managed by
organization under which employees worked while in public sector, it is managed
principally by Central Personnel Agency which in Bhutan’s case is Royal Civil
Service Commission. HRM in public sector is considered an utmost importance as
it is major influence in functions and changes of the public sector. The public
sector like private sectors needs to ‘hire, develop and train employees, and
establish payment systems, set conditions of employment and develop a coherent
set of employment policies (Brown 2004).’ While private sector has flexibility
regarding hire and fire of human resources based on board and employers’
discretion, the hiring and firing in public sector is not under direct control
of organization. The organization concerned discussed with central agency and
central agency has a final say on it. But as the public administration was
pressurized to be replaced by arts of private sector management aka public
management, the need for human resource management became even more visible. Some
organizations are given free hands on development and transfer of public
servants by central agency to improve effectiveness and efficiency.
However, the human resource management in public sector
is complex one as public sector is not for profit maximization but the
services. Besides, the result of efforts in public sector is not as
quantifiable as in private sector. While managing HR in public sector, it deals
with bureaucratized employees or career civil servants where the promotion is
basically based on seniority not the performance. The Human Resources
Management should balance the human resources strategy in such way that the
result-orientation is emphasized without compromising with uniform process. The
central personnel agency frame rules and regulations, looks after human
resources development aspects like training and other opportunities and oversee
the incentives like promotion. The central agency also ensures uniformity of
roles of employees of same post or responsibilities based on merits, experience
and seniority.
One of the challenging issues that public sector faced is
motivating people to work efficiently and productively to achieve
organizational goals. There is need to bestow incentives based on performance
and result instead of promoting on the basis of seniority. HRM has to come up
with methods of performance based incentivization not on tenure.
Although, basic principles of human resources management
in private sectors and public sectors is same as it involves recruiting,
planning, monitoring, incentives, training and firing, the human resources
management in public sector complex as it should have characteristics of both
public administration and public management so that service and works of human
resources should be both process and result orientated. The human resources managers
in private sector are employer while it is central agency in public sector.
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