The Development of County HR Policies: The Perspectives of Counties in Two States

• Date: 01 December 2018
• Author: Kristina T. Lambright,Willow S. Jacobson
• DOI: 10.1177/0091026018770233
• Published date: 01 December 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0091026018770233

Public Personnel Management

2018, Vol. 47(4) 398 –418

© The Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/0091026018770233

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Article

The Development of County

HR Policies: The Perspectives

of Counties in Two States

Willow S. Jacobson1 and Kristina T. Lambright2

Abstract

We conducted 40 semi-structured interviews with county HR directors (20 in New

York, 20 in North Carolina) to learn more about the development of internal HR

policies. Key resources used by directors in both states include other jurisdictions,

colleagues in other county departments, state and federal agencies, laws and statutes,

professional associations, and information gathered from general Internet searches.

More than half of the HR directors reported using internal working groups, and

almost two-thirds indicated that they systematically reviewed the implications

of policies for specific departments. Yet, only a handful of HR directors reported

utilizing other promising practices such as engaging rank-and-file employees in the

policy process, reviewing a new or revised policy’s consistency with existing policy,

and using evidence-based decision making to develop policies. Although there was

little difference by state, our findings indicate the characteristics of HR directors can

shape how a jurisdiction approaches policymaking.

Keywords

HRM, local government, policymaking

Organizations continue to face a range of challenges including changing demograph-

ics, economic concerns, and political pressures. Chief among these is having a work-

force with the skills and expertise needed to perform core organizational functions.

Growing research speaks to the critical role human resource management (HRM) can

play in ensuring short-term and long-term organizational effectiveness (Becker &

1The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA

2Binghamton University, NY, USA

Corresponding Author:

Willow S. Jacobson, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 3330, Chapel Hill, NC

27599-3330, USA.

Email: Jacobson@sog.unc.edu

770233PPMXXX10.1177/0091026018770233Public Personnel ManagementJacobson and Lambright

research-article2018

Jacobson and Lambright 399

Gerhart, 1996; Jacobson & Sowa, 2015; Kellough, 2017; Ulrich & Brockbank, 2005).

Crafting an appropriate job posting, ensuring the selection process is rigorous and

meets all legal requirements, and hiring a qualified candidate are simply the first steps

in the employment life cycle. Once hired, employees need to be oriented, trained,

motivated, and at times disciplined. Human resource (HR) departments and policies

influence each step of this process. HR policy formation if done correctly serves as a

crucial strategic tool for managing an organization’s workforce. Internal organiza-

tional policies influence those working within public organizations as well as the

results those organizations are able to produce.

Despite considerable scholarly interest in specific HR policies and their impact on

employees and organizations, there has been surprisingly little empirical investigation

of the process practitioners use to develop these policies. Specifically, we do not know

the type of resources HR managers consult, which stakeholders are involved in the

process and the extent to which policies are evaluated prior to implementation. Are

managers going beyond simple information gathering and utilizing practices that make

the process more inclusive and assess the potential policy impact on their organization?

Learning about the policymaking strategies HR departments use may be particularly

helpful for current practitioners when they are deciding how to structure their own pro-

cesses and make them more aware of possible practices they may want to adopt.

To better understand how HR policies are developed, we conducted 40 semi-struc-

tured interviews with county HR directors in two states: 20 interviews in New York

and 20 interviews in North Carolina. We examined both the information resources and

strategies HR directors utilized when developing policy. We also created an index

based on use of promising practices and assessed whether respondent or jurisdictional

characteristics help explain policy process choices. Our research provides important

insights into HR practices of county government, a level of government which several

scholars have noted is understudied (Benton, 2005; Streib et al., 2007; Svara, 1996).

We begin by summarizing past research on HR policies as well as discussing several

strategies scholars identify as promising. Next, we present our methods and key find-

ings. Finally, we explore the implications of our study and highlight several areas for

future research.

Approaches to HR Policymaking and Promising Practices

HR scholars often recommend formalizing or codifying practices or desired behaviors

into a policy. However, they do not typically specify the resources that should be con-

sulted when creating the policy or how the process of writing it should be approached.

For example, Bradbury and Facer (2010) note when talking about workplace ethics

that “the overarching practical recommendation for managing an ethically robust at-

will employment relationship is to implement a policy and set of behaviors that exceed

legal obligation” (p. 281). There are a variety of resources and strategies managers

could potentially utilize when developing ethics policies, but still little is known about

how they approach this process in practice. Similarly, while HR scholarship has

focused on constitutional and legal requirements in the public sector (Hartman, Homer,