{"title":"Employee Performance Management: The Impact of Competing Goals, Red Tape, and PSM","authors":"Kendra Hill, Geoff Plimmer","doi":"10.1177/00910260241231371","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260241231371","url":null,"abstract":"Employee performance management (PM) can benefit employees, organizations, and wider stakeholders, but it is often done poorly, and public administrations pose contextual constraints to doing it well. It has inherent tensions between the goal of accountability and development, is complex, and requires alignment across both a formal administrative level and an informal psychosocial level. In public administration, three contextual factors add complexity and difficulty—competing goals, red tape and public service motivation. This study examines how line managers—a neglected group in PM studies—“do” performance management in practice. Data were collected via interviews with public sector managers in the “new public management” influenced New Zealand public sector. Competing goals and red tape make PM difficult, offer little accountability, and inhibit employee development, which often must run parallel to formal practices. They also limit managerial skill development. Failings in one practice, such as setting employee goals, impact subsequent formal and informal practices. Public service motivation provides workarounds. To work well, modern performance management could be reconstrued less as a compliance activity and more as a psychosocial process reinforced by a formal, prescribed organization system. Practical insights into barriers and opportunities, to improve performance management, are identified.","PeriodicalId":47366,"journal":{"name":"Public Personnel Management","volume":"172 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139950154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bringing Public Virtue Back: How Does Ethical Leadership Impact Street-Level Bureaucrats’ Enforcement Style?","authors":"Guanghuai Zheng, Mingzi Ma, Zexin Wu, Yean Wang","doi":"10.1177/00910260241227562","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260241227562","url":null,"abstract":"Public virtues can help street-level bureaucracies reflect and respond to the shortcomings in current public administration. According to the public virtue approach, this research identifies the key role of ethical leadership in improving the enforcement of street-level bureaucrats (SLBs). By promoting subordinates’ psychological empowerment, ethical leadership is significantly and positively correlated with facilitation, accommodation, and legal style. Public service motivation and organizational citizenship behavior moderate the above processes in diverse ways. This research calls for bringing public virtue back to street-level practices, and particularly for educating and encouraging the public sector about ethical leadership that will provide values, guidance, and empower SLBs to exercise virtue.","PeriodicalId":47366,"journal":{"name":"Public Personnel Management","volume":"253 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139950057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fiona Buick, Deborah Ann Blackman, Miriam Glennie, Vindhya Weeratunga, Michael Edward O’Donnell
{"title":"Different Approaches to Managerial Support for Flexible Working: Implications for Public Sector Employee Well-Being","authors":"Fiona Buick, Deborah Ann Blackman, Miriam Glennie, Vindhya Weeratunga, Michael Edward O’Donnell","doi":"10.1177/00910260241226731","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260241226731","url":null,"abstract":"Improving well-being is an important human resource management issue within public sector organizations as it is linked with improved employee and organizational outcomes. A key antecedent to employee well-being is work–life balance, which can be supported or impeded by flexible working. The extent to which flexible working supports work–life balance and, ultimately, well-being depends on how flexible working is implemented, where managers play a central role. Managers can enable work–life balance by providing employees with work-family-specific support, which incorporates a range of behaviors, including facilitating access to flexible working. However, research to date says little about how and why managers engage in these behaviors and whether this differs within the same organizational context. This article addresses this gap, presenting four approaches to managerial support for flexible working: unconditional support, performance contingent support, no support, and support based upon the approval of others (transfer responsibility). It explores the reasons for each approach through the lens of Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. It suggests that different approaches create the potential for employee well-being to vary considerably within the same organizational and team context. These findings inform how to support and manage flexible working arrangements in ways that optimize well-being in the public sector.","PeriodicalId":47366,"journal":{"name":"Public Personnel Management","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139950164","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Public Service Motivation and Job Satisfaction Amid COVID-19: Exploring the Effects of Work Environment Changes","authors":"Seulki Lee, Chongmin Na","doi":"10.1177/00910260231207332","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260231207332","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic has brought critical changes to job demands and resources, which in turn affect employee motivation and outcomes. This study explores how COVID-19–induced work intensity and COVID-19–related organizational support influence public service motivation (PSM) and job satisfaction. Using survey data from a nationally representative sample of 1,430 South Korean central government employees collected during the pandemic (May–June 2020), we find that COVID-19–induced work intensity is positively associated with PSM, which in turn has a positive association with job satisfaction. We also find that COVID-19–related organizational support has both direct and indirect associations with job satisfaction through PSM. These findings underscore the importance of organizational support in times of widespread crisis and invite further investigation of PSM during the COVID-19 pandemic using an institutional approach to PSM.","PeriodicalId":47366,"journal":{"name":"Public Personnel Management","volume":"226 3","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135475951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Public Service Motivation, Performance-Contingent Pay, and Job Satisfaction of Street-Level Bureaucrats","authors":"Wenyan Tu, Chih-Wei Hsieh, Chung-An Chen, Bo Wen","doi":"10.1177/00910260231201628","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260231201628","url":null,"abstract":"Does job satisfaction of street-level bureaucrats depend on intrinsic public service motivation (PSM) or extrinsic performance-contingent pay? Which factor exerts a more substantial impact on job satisfaction? Drawing on a data set of 220 frontline public service workers in Hong Kong, this study examines the nuanced relationship among PSM, performance-contingent pay, and job satisfaction. The findings show that both PSM and performance-contingent pay elevate the job satisfaction of street-level bureaucrats through a shared mediator-perceived job control. Furthermore, PSM, as an intrinsic motivator, exerts a stronger impact on job satisfaction than performance-contingent pay.","PeriodicalId":47366,"journal":{"name":"Public Personnel Management","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136353224","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Does Bureaucracy Diminish Inclusion? Evidence from a County Government","authors":"Leisha DeHart-Davis, Kimalee Dickerson, Zhongnan Jiang","doi":"10.1177/00910260231187538","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260231187538","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the influence of bureaucratic structure on a public employee’s sense of inclusion. We argue that bureaucratic structure influences inclusion by accentuating or minimizing status differences. To test this argument, we investigate three types of bureaucratic structure: centralization, hierarchy, and span of control, all expected to lower inclusion, and “green tape,” or effective organizational rules, expected to increase inclusion. To test these expectations, we use quantitative and qualitative survey data, as well as administrative data collected from the employees of 31 departments in a county government in the Southeastern United States. Findings indicate that higher centralization and wider span of control reduce inclusion, whereas green tape increases inclusion. Hierarchy shows no statistically significant inclusion effect. The article concludes with the implications of these results of public sector organizational design.","PeriodicalId":47366,"journal":{"name":"Public Personnel Management","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136308876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nabin Baral, Lee K. Cerveny, Brooke E. Penaluna, Brett B. Roper, Daniel Shively, Shelly Witt
{"title":"Variations in Mentorship Across Grade Levels and Career Stages Among Public Management Professionals","authors":"Nabin Baral, Lee K. Cerveny, Brooke E. Penaluna, Brett B. Roper, Daniel Shively, Shelly Witt","doi":"10.1177/00910260231196570","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260231196570","url":null,"abstract":"Mentoring is important to career development and employee morale of public sector employees, but little is known about how employee mentoring needs change over the course of one’s career or at different job classification levels. An online survey about the mentoring needs of 251 aquatic professionals in the USDA Forest Service was conducted in 2019. Quantitative data were analyzed across three federal employee grade levels and four career stages. This study found that grade levels influenced the type of skills employees seek to develop and the attributes associated with successful mentoring. Employees in lower grade positions believed that mentoring would help them to achieve a faster promotion or prepare them for a new position, but they also had less access to mentors and received the least encouragement from their supervisors to seek mentoring. Employees at all career stages believed that mentoring was valuable to their professional growth, while middle- and late-career employees received less encouragement from their supervisor to seek a mentor. Differences in mentorship needs, access, importance, and structures across career stages and grade levels suggest potential areas of future development or intervention to expand the benefits of mentoring to all employees.","PeriodicalId":47366,"journal":{"name":"Public Personnel Management","volume":"238 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135394346","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Executive Orders: Mandating Inclusion in the Federal Workplace: Insights from Federal Executive Departments’ Strategic Plans","authors":"Karen D. Sweeting","doi":"10.1177/00910260231187542","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260231187542","url":null,"abstract":"Inclusion remains a very real and legitimate concern in contemporary workplaces. This research examines how executive orders from the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations influenced Biden era Federal Executive Departments’ strategic plans. This study analyzed the interpretation and understanding of departments’ prioritization and articulation of inclusion across seven core functional areas: (a) leadership; (b) policies, practices, and procedures; (c) human resource management; (d) culture, climate, and norms; (e) emotion, engagement, and perceptions; (f) training and professional development; and (g) accountability and sustainability. The findings reveal that inclusion cannot be mandated or rubberstamped. Inclusion is a subjective endeavor that can result in multiple realities as different employees can experience/observe the same event differently, sometimes infinitely so. The seven core functional areas offer a pathway to embedding inclusive practices and initiatives in the workplace. They create a common approach the federal government can undertake, prioritizing broader knowledge and fundamental awareness of the intertwined nature of experiences, perceptions, emotions, and reasons to foster a sense of belonging.","PeriodicalId":47366,"journal":{"name":"Public Personnel Management","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135396874","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Examining the Double-Edged Nature of PSM on Burnout: The Mediating Role of Challenge Stress and Hindrance Stress","authors":"Ying Zhang, Bangcheng Liu","doi":"10.1177/00910260231196569","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260231196569","url":null,"abstract":"Extant research has demonstrated that public service motivation (PSM) might have a dark side on public employees. However, empirical research on this assumption remains unclear. Based on Job Demands-Resources Model, this study explores the psychological mechanism of PSM on burnout and examines the relationship from both positive and negative aspects by classifying work stress into challenge stress and hindrance stress. A study with 255 street-level public employees shows that PSM has significant negative effects on burnout. Specifically, perceived hindrance stress mediates a negative relationship between PSM and burnout, and perceived challenge stress mediates a positive relationship between PSM and burnout. This study not only contributes to the development of theories on the doubled-edged nature and psychological mechanism of PSM in relation to burnout but also provides management enlightenment for improving employees’ well-being and mitigating burnout.","PeriodicalId":47366,"journal":{"name":"Public Personnel Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46755795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How Self-Determination Moderates Burnout in Public Organizations Across Gender, Race, and Generation","authors":"Thai V. Le, Cynthia J. Barboza-Wilkes","doi":"10.1177/00910260231191274","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260231191274","url":null,"abstract":"Applying a critical lens to self-determination theory, this study examines which organizational and individual characteristics in local government impact burnout, looking specifically at differences across diverse groups. This study uses survey data from a sample of more than 2,500 local government employees from a large city in California. Factor analyses and multivariate regressions are used to empirically examine the impact of multiple organizational characteristics and individual differences on employee burnout. Findings show perceptions of fairness, autonomy, influence, cultural competence, ethnic and gender representation, and time engaging residents differ in their impact on burnout across different groups, leaving some minoritized groups more vulnerable to burnout. Findings also indicate how self-efficacy and prosocial motivation have varying effects across sociodemographic groups. For some groups, burnout can manifest as an increase in emotional exhaustion, while other groups experience depersonalization and the loss of personal accomplishment. Research on this issue can help inform more equitable and culturally appropriate organizational practices that can improve climate of inclusion, employee well-being, and public service outcomes. This analysis contributes to diversity management and representative bureaucracy research—important areas of study as the public sector consider an increasingly diverse future workforce.","PeriodicalId":47366,"journal":{"name":"Public Personnel Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42789999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}