Comparable Worth

Comparable worth stemmed from the inequality in pay between men and women that continues to exist over the years.

In the world, generally, men still earn more than women, mainly because women have historically been employed in large occupational groups in which pay is lower, such as secretarial work, teaching, clerical work, social work, and nursing.

Comparable worth implies to pay employees based on what they contribute in work to organizations.

Market indicators and skill levels determine most pay scales.

In the private sector, the market is the main factor used to determine the value of labor.

In government, pay scales are usually based on what is paid for comparable positions in the private sector and comparisons of similar positions in the governmental sector.

Additionally, regional adjustments are made to pay scales, since the cost of living varies around the nation.

Studies at the federal level, in the US, found that women in the General Schedule system earned about 60 percent of what men earned.

Labor Unions in the Public Sector

Public employee unions pose another threat to the idea of merit.

Organized labor is a reality in the public sector.

Particularly in the USA, it tends to be far more unionized than the private sector.

Labor unions emerged for a legitimate reason; management failed to take care of the needs of its workforce and often treated workers unfairly.

In the private sector, firms tended to abuse workers during the height of the era of industrialization.

Workers were treated like a commodity and because of the abuses, organized labor emerged to represent workers.

The only power that workers had was the collective power that is created when groups organize.

The power and right to “strike” became a reality for large organizations like Ford and General Motors many years ago in the US.

The labor movement, grew quickly in areas such as mining, the automobile industry, and other heavy industries that required skilled labor.

Particularly in the western countries, those labor movements and unions’ rights are secured by the laws.

In the US, by the 1960s, more than 30 percent of the private workforce was unionized, but by the late 1990s the figure had dropped into single digits.

Part of reason was that management started doing a better job of taking care of employees, but one of the main reasons was the decline of America’s heavy industries that employed a lot of blue-collar workers.

The nation had moved from an industrial society into the technology and information age, which required a different kind of worker.

Unlike most western European nations where unions have remained very strong, the American labor movement continues to decline in the private sector.

One reason for that is that during the height of the labor movement unions developed an unfavorable reputation that was often linked to organized crime.

The growing white-collar society was less prone to join unions largely because of their image and a shift in values.

In the US, unions also seemed inconsistent to the idea of merit because the basic philosophy of unions is “one for all and all for one”.

On face value, this goes against the ideals of merit, which is based on individual performance.

The idea of “brotherhood” of anything does not sit well with American individualism.

Particularly, in the southern states of the US, a worker does not have to join a union as a condition of employment or be held to the conditions of the union contract.

A person can negotiate an individual contract and this greatly weakens the power of unions.

In the industrial Midwest states, including Michigan are called “closed-shop” states and workers must join the union if hired and must abide by collective bargaining agreements.

All over the world, existence of unions are protected by the laws.

In the US, unions in the public sector are different from their counterparts in the private sector, mainly due to legal restrictions.

Right to strike, the largest single power that a union has, is forbidden by law for most public unions.

Collective bargaining is at the heart of unionization.

Through this process, unions secure better wages, benefits, job security, and working conditions for their members.

There are basic concepts associated with the process of unionization.

Unit determination is the process by which a union is recognized as the exclusive representative of a group of employees in contract negotiations.

Units may be agency-based or occupational-based.

Agency units include the entire agency, whereas occupational units include only employees in specific jobs, which may involve more than one agency.

Scope of bargaining refers to the range of issues that are negotiable.

Usually, the scope is limited to certain specific issues.

Unfair labor practices refer to behaviors that unions or management may not engage in during the process.

Contract negotiation is the process that is used for management and labor to define mutually acceptable agreements over issues that are subject to negotiation.

The process is often like a poker game, with both sides bluffing to gain an advantage.

Impasse resolutions are resolutions that occur when management and labor fail to reach an agreement through negotiations on their own.

Contract administration refers to the process of following the provisions of the contract once a contract goes into effect.

Unions are not likely to disappear.

Labor-management relations will remain part of the landscape of public administration and part of the world of public management.

What Do Personnel Departments Do? Basic Functions of a Public Personnel System

Personnel systems involve, at a minimum, some very basic tasks, such as staffing, classification and compensation systems, training and management development, advancement, disciplinary, and grievance procedures.

Those who are hired need to go through an examination process.

Preparing proper tests and choosing the future employees from those tests based on their scores is the task of personnel management department.

Agencies usually develop their own career systems, which are comprised of professionals and paraprofessionals.

The model career system is often considered to be the military.

Career systems focus on the individuals rather than the position, while the civil service mainly focuses on position not the individual.

The task of staffing includes the process of recruiting, selecting, and advancing employees based on their ability, knowledge, and skills.

Recruitment is a major task for most government agencies, whether the agency is a state university, a city, or the postal service.

Position classification is important in organizations and it involves identifying the responsibilities of each position in an organization, then grouping the positions according to similarities.

A fair compensation system requires an understanding of the duties and responsibilities of all positions.

The idea of equal pay for equal work, constructing effective examinations, and recruiting cannot be achieved without this understanding.

Position classifications involve pay scales, such as GS system that used in the US, by the federal government.

In the private sector, market-based studies are often used to determine how much a position is worth.

In the public sector, many jobs pay less than their private sector counterparts practically in the US.

Although public service cannot match the private sector for many professional positions, the typical middle-range salaries are more comparable, and the lower-end jobs typically pay more.

Training of employees is a substantial part of personal management departments.

Once hired, all employees require some orientation to the organization and their job.

Employee handbooks provide written documentation about policies, and job descriptions detail the duties required.

Training and development is an ongoing process in most organizations.

There are many aspects of training and development.

The most basic is on-the-job training where employees learn the additional skills they need on the job from other employees.

Job rotation is another form of training and development.

This involves moving employees to other positions that help cross-train them in other areas of the organization.

Assessment centers are another tool available to organizations.

These amount to simulations that realistically replicate real-life scenarios that enable personnel to develop new skills.

Typically, assessment centers take place in a simulation laboratory that requires real interaction among participants to solve problems that are played out in scenarios.

In the modern organization, training workshops are now as common as traditional staff meetings.

Career development is another dimension of personnel system.

Advancement is important to most employees; most people prefer to find careers that are not “dead-end jobs”.

Advancement usually refers to climbing the ladder to higher positions with greater authority and more pay.

Most large organizations have developed career tracks that allow those seeking to advance the opportunity to develop their careers.

Most organizations provide new employees with a probation period.

People can enter a system from an entry-level position or a lateral positon, somewhere above the bottom.

Promotion at the state and local levels often involves competitive examinations.

In some agencies, promotions are based on formal performance appraisals that periodically review an employee’s job performance.

The concept of management by objectives, which was developed by Peter Drucker, allows employees to set objectives with their supervisors.

These are used to measure the progress of an employee and can greatly aid the performance appraisal process.

This should be continues and the management should inform the employees on their performance without waiting end of the year report.

Employees need appropriate feedback to understand where they stand and how they can adjust to improve their performance.

One of the last and least pleasant aspects of personnel systems involves grievances and disciplinary action.

In social organizations, there will inevitably be conflict.

Not everyone will be happy with the organization, their supervisors, or their coworkers.

The grievance process involves a procedure by which employees can complain about their dissatisfactions.

Many complaints involve just listening to employees; others involve filing formal complaints that must be addressed by formal procedures.

If employees feel that they have been treated unfairly or, in the case of unions, a provision of the contract has been violated, they can file a formal complaint and the organizations should create clear policy how to handle such complaints.

In most cases, the person with a complaint is expected to follow normal administrative channels.

Although students are not university employees, most universities have formal processes for students to file complaints.

If a complaint cannot be resolved within the organization, avenues to resolve complaints outside the organization exist.

The last resort is legal action in the courts.

Disciplinary action is equally as unpleasant as grievances.

When employees perform poorly or fail to follow established procedures, they are subject to reprimand, suspension, demotion, or dismissal.

Public managers try to avoid firing employees as long as possible if there is hope that corrective action can resolve whatever problems are involved.

In public agencies, disciplinary actions are usually subject to appeal.

Management cannot allow poor performance and belligerent employee attitudes to go unchecked, since this also can lead to many problems that will affect overall performance.