Shortcut to Increasing both Performance and productivity: Government Sectors

Managing human resource in any methods has become an interested topic for decades. Talking about Human Resource, we will discuss too how to manage organization with its resources (human, capital, etc) maintaining both performance and productivity achieving its goals. But haven’t we asking our self, how important we manage people and why?

Since World War II, calling it “human relations,” “personnel management,” “labour relations,” and now “management of human resources,” business has spent millions to make employees productive, loyal, and motivated (Wickham Skinner, Harvard Business Review 1981).

Since Hawthorne, successive waves of people-problem solutions and programs have washed and tumbled industry. In some desperation, managers have steadily invested in supervisory training, organizational behaviour, interpersonal behaviour, T-groups, sensitivity training, employee attitude surveys, job enrichment, flexible benefits, and expanded fringe benefits—bigger pensions, subsidized insurance, more holidays, shorter work days, four-day weeks, and canned communications packages—and now companies are attempting to revive the “work ethic” with human resources departments. Big programs, but where are the payoffs?

Some will argue that we’ve been doing many of the right things and that it is societal factors such as the declining work ethic, new breed, and the new sociology that are eroding management’s efforts. What’s gone wrong? Why do so few companies actually make use of the greatest competitive weapon of all—the powerful resources of motivated, energized, cooperative, trusting people?

Managing human resources refers to the functions that a manager performs relative to the organization's employees (Susan Heathfield, 2016). Its Includes, but is not limited to:

1.       Planning and Allocating Resources;

2.       Providing Direction, Vision and Goals;

3.       Developing an Environment in which employees choose motivation and contribution;

4.       Providing feedback on how is employees performance;

5.       Offering Opportunities for both Formal and Informal development;

6.       Setting an example in work ethics, treatment of peoples, and empowerment worthy of being emulated by others;

7.       Leading organization efforts to listen and serve;

8.       Removing obstacles that impede employees progress.

But wait a minute, those theory above seems like familiar we faced in private sectors right? Moreover, this kind of organization will try anything to improve their profit and income, because those two are their reason to establish company or organization. And how about the public sector? The government organization? Can’t they adapted its private organization theory to survive, sustain, develop and improve their self? More over to increase its human resources asset and capacity values?

Developing an effective, competent and forward looking public service as well as strong but lean State institutions is one of the greatest challenges nations around the world face today. It is particularly crucial in developing countries as good governance is one of the most important factors, if not the most important factor, for the success of any development effort. The Millennium Declaration and other United Nations conferences have highlighted the central role of effective governance in increasing the access of services to all citizens, enforcing human rights legislation, enhancing the participation of women in the development process, protecting the quality of the environment and facilitating economic growth. How the public sector is structured, how it operates and the role it performs within a country plays an important part in economic and social progress. (United Nations, Human Resources for Effective Public Administration in a Globalized World 2005) Reforming public sector in both developed and developing countries is not an easy task and many are the difficulties to be overcome. Some scholars saying that it depends on its SMART (Specified, Measure, Attain, Relevant and Time Bound) Goals, some other insist that it rely on leadership and how he/she manage its resource including the people.

Good government requires good people. This has always been true, but its importance to the international community has probably never been more critical than it is today. With a good human resources management comes a good, healthy, and productive government. And the basic concept to maintaining HR performance and productivity is “Sense of Belonging” theory.

Human resources are the most important organization asset and driving other resources. It is important because affecting the organization efficiencies and effectiveness. The bigger effort allocated to human resource. Human resource management is related to the performance itself, both organization and also personal. Performance means the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task or function. Several factors affecting the performance such as personal competence, effort and or motivation and environment. Performance disembogue from the personal competency strength support with the environment and affection. Affection can be created from any methods such as sense of belonging. Sense of belonging function is as identity framer inside the personal and as motivation to participate in society and his/her group.  Sense of belonging can be simply defined as a feeling to own group or organization inside the group members. A sense of belonging is the feeling of being connected and accepted within one’s family and community (James Gilmore, 2005). Sense of belonging is one of the basic human needs. On his paper, Maslow stated that “sense of belonging occupies the third most important human need” (Abraham Maslow, 1943).

All the Peoples have a feeling of wanting to be accepted. This is something reasonable. The need for being accepted applies everywhere, including the organization. The organization always have its own system, this means any new member “forced” to adapt the organizations culture. When this kind of adaptation running, sense of belonging grown at the same time.

But how exactly sense of belonging (SoB) appears, created, enhanced and what it’s beneficiaries, both to personal and organizational environment? Sense of belonging can play role as the main resource driving someone to achieve his target and also the target itself. In my opinion, sense of belonging is the root on how the personal integrity will be test and how effective is personal method to achieve his target. Sense of Belonging giving positive impact to the organization life and environment. It’s a motor of organization’s creativity and professional member. It also enhances the organization member working ethic in optimum level. For me, Sense of belonging is the organization homework and responsible. The organization are not just having right to siphon the resource capability but also has an obligation on how sense of belonging framed and increased on its member.

For the employees, sense of belonging framed from two causes, wealth and career. Employees needs organization guarantee both of them can be achieved in clear ways. If its confirmed, they will giving all the best they have to achieved the organizational target and increase their performance also thinking the best to work in effective and efficient way.