1st Edition

Practical Human Resources for Public Managers A Case Study Approach

    219 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Employers face a myriad of issues when hiring: how to recruit, whom to select, how to interview, Equal Employment Opportunity policies, fair salary offerings, health issues, performance evaluations, behavior/disciplinary actions, turnover, and the list goes on and on. Practical Human Resources Management for Public Managers: A Case Study Approach provides insight into human resource trends and demonstrates how complex situations can be successfully managed by public sector practitioners. The authors take us step by step into the "real world" with examples of historical events that compare "What Happened" with "What Could Have Happened" as well as suggested readings for more in-depth analysis and important points to remember.

    Exploring the space between theory and what actually occurs in the world, this book supplies instructional case studies based upon actual events. The authors introduce key human resources issues with clear, concise language and provide techniques to address these issues in a real-world setting. The case studies cover legal and liability issues, recruiting and hiring, employee performance, reward and discipline issues, retention, termination, workplace violence, mentorship, motivation, and managing through transitions.

    The authors bring know-how from a wide array of working environments, including teaching and administrative experience in public universities and management in municipalities of various population sizes from a few thousand to more than a million. They have also worked in a variety of capacities within these organizations, which allow them to see different perspectives on how different departments handle similar situations. They use their from-the-trenches knowledge to explore pragmatic ways to deal with human resource issues in public sector workplaces.

    THE ART OF HIRING PROCESS FOR PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS
    Introduction
    Legal Framework
    Equal Employment Opportunity
    Americans with Disabilities Act
    Family Medical Leave Act
    Fair Labor Standards Act
    Sexual Harassment Issues
    Case Study: EEO Issue
    Recruiting Organization Employees
    Case Study 1: Rebuilding an Organization
    Case Study 2: Hiring and Recruitment Strategies
    Selection of Employees in the Hiring Process
    What does the Process Entail?
    Position Differences
    Hiring Process
    Case Study: City of Badlands


    EVALUATION AND MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCE ISSUES FOR PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS
    Performance Evaluations for employees
    Case Study 1: Performance and Skills Not as Advertised
    Case Study 2: Handling a Mid-Manager
    Case Study 3: Work Not Completed
    Rewarding and Disciplining Employees
    Case Study 1: Disaster at a Municipality
    Case Study 2: Supervision over Difficult Co-Workers
    Case Study 3: Smoking Policy
    Case Study 4: Contending with Employee Reliability
    Retaining and Dismissing Employees
    Case Study 1: Reinstatement Issue
    Case Study 2: Civil Service Employee Termination
    Case Study 3: Violation of City Policy
    Case Study 4: Terminated Employee Wreaks Vengeance

    HUMAN RESOURCE ISSUES THAT IMPACT THE ORGANIZATION
    Violence in the Workplace, Hostile Work Environment and Contending with Mentally Ill Employees
    Case Study 1: Dealing with an Unsafe Work Environment
    Case Study 2: An Employee Gets Aggressive with Co-Worker
    Case Study 3: Threatened Employees
    Mentoring Employees in the Workplace
    Case Study 1: How to Know When you are doing it Right
    Case Study 2: Strategic Planning and Goal-setting with a Productive Purpose

    Biography

    Dr. Valcik received his Ph.D. in Public Affairs from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2005. He has written municipal risk management policies for the City of McKinney, worked as a university recruiting analyst for Nortel Networks, and taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in human resource management for the Public Affairs program at The University of Texas at Dallas program since 2007. Dr. Valcik has worked as an administrator for The University of Texas at Dallas since 1997 and currently (2011) holds the position of Associate Director at the Office of Strategic Planning and Analysis.

    Ted Benavides currently serves as a faculty member for the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences' Public Affairs Program. He has worked for the Fire Department of the City of Fort Worth, Texas where he was responsible for the administrative and budget matters. He also served as the City Manager of Denton, Texas where he supervised over a thousand employees. He worked for the City of Dallas, Texas for twenty-four years. He held a variety of professional and managerial positions which included budget analyst, capital budget administrator, assistant budget director, director in the Office of Budget and Research, assistant director of health and human services, assistant city manager and the city manager from 1998 to 2004.