Research project AM/05/010 (Research action AM)
The Bouillon memorandum (VAN DEN BOSSCHE, 2000) explicitly formulates a modified order of government in which principles such as responsibility enhancement, delegation, active communication, effectiveness and efficiency are highlighted alongside deregulation. The principles forming the basis of the revised organisational concept are: more autonomy; greater responsibility on the part of top management; control based on results; customer-orientation; transparency; regulatory simplicity; and quality control by means of performance indicators. The central question is: what facets of HRM are a necessary condition for this from the point of view of an integrated approach?
In order to make a process of change and modernisation succeed in a service organisation, in which human capital represents the most important knowledge source or, as the case may be, knowledge factor, simultaneous action is necessary in several areas. A sine qua non condition will be for the organisation itself to clarify its mission and, moreover, determine what strategic objectives are to be pursued. Only then may the process of change reach its cruising speed and, as it does so, truly succeed in mobilising personnel behind these changes.
However, it makes little sense to start tinkering with the ‘personnel statute’ and implement a number of technical interventions before an insight has been obtained into inhibiting factors that stand in the way of lasting readiness to change on the part of individuals and an organisationally decisive administration. One of the foremost inhibiting factors is, of course, culture. The study proposal concentrating on culture and the psychological contract as necessary levers in the process of modernisation will aim to use empirical research as the basis for establishing certain cultural hallmarks within the federal government and for detecting differences contingent upon age, gender, grade, years of service and the judicial status of the work. At the same time, the expectations on the part of the employers and employees in relation to the type of interpretation given to their ‘exchange’ relationship will be investigated. This sort of information is currently not available - a gap that this proposal will aim to plug. Subsequently, the scientific contribution of this study, founded on the existing empirical situation and based on a politically clearer, desirable situation in terms of culture and objectives, will be to produce rule suggestions. This has not happened previously because changes in the personnel statute have taken place thus far mostly in isolation from an empirical context and desirable objective situation.
Another aspect worthy of inclusion when delineating new rules governing the legal position of public-sector personnel undoubtedly will be the extent to which the various actors are left with ‘rule space’. This boils down to striving for a balance between rules that are indispensable in order to offer government personnel minimal legal safeguards against the ‘threat of political arbitrariness’, and the ‘freedom’ offered to the various authorities in order for them to make their own, responsible interpretation of rules governing the legal position revised according to a HRM model. Since this topic is the subject of a separate study by Antwerp university, considerable synergy will be possible through the latter in combination with the study plans being proposed here (see further).
OBJECTIVES
One of the foremost inhibiting factors when operating a process of change is culture. The dominant culture in an organisation largely determines the chances of the process of change succeeding. As a result, the first thing to do is to plot the existing culture that will be compared subsequently with the culture deemed to be desirable in order to formulate from here a number of proposals designed to pave the way for this transition. Alongside a number of ‘conventional’ variables that may bring to light the existence of ‘subcultures’ (e.g. age, years of service, grade or gender), the study will also verify whether there are any differences in the dominant culture depending on the method of recruitment. In other words, the study will investigate whether there is any fundamental difference between the dominant culture among members of staff in statutory employment versus that found among contract staff and, if confirmed, which of the two cultural profiles is closest to the desired culture.
After the above-mentioned culture measurements, the question will arise as to which HRM instruments may/should be deployed usefully in order to bring about and continue with the required change. HRM is aimed at controlling the attitude and behaviour of employees in an organisation. In this respect, an important element is the fact that an interpretation will be made from the organisation’s perspective as to what employee and employer ‘owe’ one another within such a working relationship. The emphasis will fall on the ‘exchange’ dimension, as expressed in the legal contract (statutory versus contractual) and, on the other hand, on the psychological contract. A psychological contract contains the implicit and explicit expectations of both the employer and the employee. An organisation may be ‘energised’ only if an insight is obtained into this facet as and the conditions found that are necessary in order to make the contemplated process of change a success.
The results of the study into prevailing and desirable culture, and into the way in which employer and employee view the psychological contract, are indispensable when plotting new rules governing the legal position. Only a step-by-step approach such as this would appear to guarantee successful competence management capable of speeding up the processes of change and improving performance in terms of the government administration’s efficiency and effectiveness.
Copernicus tussen de regels door : de cultuur en de verwachtingen van het federale overheidspersoneel
Willems, Ingrid - Janvier, Ria - Henderickx, Erik Gent : Academia Press, 2003 (PB5985)
De cultuur, het psychologisch contract en de recht-positieregeling: noodzakelijke hefbomen in het federale moderniseringsproces : samenvatting
Brussel : DWTC, 2003 (SP1118)
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