New Age Personnel — Quality Service Delivery in Changing Times

• DOI: 10.1177/009102609402300201
• Date: 01 June 1994
• Published date: 01 June 1994
• Author: Stephen C. Benowitz
• Subject Matter: Special Symposium Part II—Emerging Role of the Human Resource Manager

Special Symposium Part II—Emerging Role

of

the Human Resource Manager

New

Age

Personnel —

Quality Service Delivery

in

Changing Times

Many

organizations

must

re-evaluate

the

manner

in which personnel services are delivered

to

customers.

Growing demands and

increasing

responsibilities placed on personnel offices

have

changed

the

nature

of

their

work.

Fiscal

constraints

have

led

to

cutbacks

in

available

staff

to

meet these needs.

Larger

organizations

may have to

re-evaluate

the

structure

and

respon-

sibilities of

centralized

vs.

decentralized

systems.

The

National institutes of Health (NIH) is a

large

organization

(19,000

employees) with a

decentralized

personnel services

program.

New responsibilities placed on the

program

(e.g.,

ethics,

federal

government

recruitment

and hiring

regulations)

and

reduced

resources

have

led to a

re-examination

of the services

that

customers

need most, and of the level of the

organization

that

is most effective in

providing

the

service.

Using

focus

groups,

NIH identified a

number

of

critical

areas

of personnel

service

delivery;

the

ten most

critical

are

being

reviewed

by

TQM

teams.

Each

team

will

recommend

the most

appropriate

organizational

level to provide the

service

and will identify ways to simplify

procedures

(including

automation)

for both

personnel

offices and

customers.

This

article

will discuss the

approach

used

at

NIH and

provide

information

on the

results

that

have

been

accomplished

to

date.

Changes in public sector management have led many organizations

to re-evaluate the manner in which administrative functions are performed

and delivered to customers. Growing

demands

for services and increasing

responsibilities have been placed on the

human

resource functions and

have changed the

nature

of the work they perform. Fiscal constraints have

led to cutbacks in available

staff

to meet these needs. Larger organizations

have to re-evaluate the structure and responsibilities of their

human

re-

source functions.

The

National Institutes of Health (NIH) is a large, decentralized

agency of the Department of Health and

Human

Services. There are 25

components, most of them with their own appropriation. Many are na-

tional research institutes (e.g., the National Cancer Institute and the Na-

tional Heart, Lung and Blood Institute), that have divergent research

interests and constituencies. Others are centrally funded and provide

research and management

support.

The total employee population is

approximately

19,000

—equal in size to a number of cabinet level

depart-

ments and state governments. In addition, NIH is able to accept the service

of

other several thousand other researchers who are

supported

by grants

or training fellowships.

In an effort to give its managers the tools to operate their programs

successfully,

NIH for many years has delegated responsibility for person-

nel decisions to the lowest level possible. As a result, almost every operat-

By

Stephen

C.

Benowitz

Stephen

C.

Benowitz has been Di-

rector

of

the

Division

of

Personnel

Management,

National Institutes

of

Health, since October 1988,

where

he formulates and imple-

ments personnel policies for the

agency's

20,000

employees. He

manages

a staff of over

100

and a

budget

of

$8

million,

and

oversees

operating

personnel programs

throughout

the

NIH.

Prior

to

join-

ing

the

NIH,

Benowitz was

Direc-

tor

of Personnel for the

Department

of the

Treasury.

He

also served as

Director

of

Person-

nel and in other key administra-

tive positions

at

the

Federal

Trade

Commission.

Benowitz received his B.A. from

Antioch College, and his M.A.

from

Case

Western

University.

He

completed the Advanced Human

Resource

Management

Program

at

the

Graduate

School

of

Business

Administration

of the University

of

Michigan, and the

Program

for

Senior Managers in Government

at

the

John

F.

Kennedy School of

Government

at

Harvard

Univer-

sity.

Benowitz received the Presiden-

tial

Meritorious Rank Award in

1992

and was a Woodrow Wilson

Foundation

Public

Service

Fellow

for

1991-92.

Public

Personnel

Management

Vol.

23

No.2

(Summer

1994)

181