CHAPTER 4: Toward an Understanding of Civil Service Reform and Change in Public Human Resource Management

Government or public sector organizations continue to experience pressure to reinvent, reform, or to radically change or transform. And there is no doubt that in the coming years the effectiveness of public sector organizations will depend on how well they are able to respond to major demographic, social, political, economic, technological, and managerial trends which affect their work force and citizens. To effectively respond to these and other trends, challenges and pressures public sector organizations will have to find ways to run differently, jobs must be redefined and learning and ongoing change or transformation must become second-nature.

As we move further into this millennium the need for changes in government organizations in some form or another is on everyone’s mind. And, change or the transformation of government organizations of all sizes (i.e., local to large federal entities) is serious business and requires careful assessment of the successes, failures, and the obstacles to change in public sector agencies.