2. PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION
Personnel Administration is one of the many specialized
fields of administration. Moreover, it could be considered the
most important field of administration. The reason is very
simple. All the activities of any organization are initiated,
determined, and implemented by the people who make up that
organization. When problems come up in the institution, they
are solved by people. Managerial and administrative skill could
only be exercised through personnel administration.
Certainly, personnel administration plays a vital role in the
efforts to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and economy in
the government, particularly the improvement of the
administrative structure of its public administration.
4. Nature and Scope of Personal Administration
For one thing, personnel administration could be viewed as the totality
of concern with human resources of an organization. This concern
consist of the art of selecting new employees and of utilizing the earlier
employed to gain the maximum of quality and quantity in output and
service from the working force. For OrdwayTead, it compasses much
more than concern with people. He expresses the idea in this manner:
Personnel administration is the utilization of the best
scientific knowledge of all kinds to the end that an
organization as a whole and the individuals composing it
shall find that corporate and individual purposes are being
reconciled to the fullest possible extent, while the working
together of these purposes realizes also genuine social
benefit.
5. Nature and Scope of Personal Administration
That administration is a “cooperative group behavior.” It refers ‘to those
patterns of behavior that do not depend upon either the scientific goals
toward which they are cooperating or the specific technological methods used
to reach these goals.”
Other authors call administration as “cooperative group effort, in a public or
private setting.” Two American author point out that:
While the common factor is the element of cooperation, the
purposes or goals of human organizations naturally vary… .
Furthermore, the problems of all public organizations are not the
same, just as the problems of private ones vary from company
to company. Each organization, public or private, must meet the
challenge of its particular environment. The exact form of
administration varies according to the kind of undertaking.
6. Nature and Scope of Personal Administration
Theoretically, since administration is concerned “
with people and their behavior, all administration
might be properly described as personnel
administration – and some specialists in personnel
work would like to use this broad definition of their
specialty.
In actual practice, however, “the personnel
specialist is concerned with a limited matter.” They
are concerned with matters that are of the greatest
long range importance to the organization.
7. Nature and Scope of Personal Administration
The Evolution of the
Personnel Specialized
Function. Throughout
the history of any
nation, there have
been various
approaches to
personnel
administration in the
government. Some of
them are as follows:
8. Nature and Scope of Personal Administration
Merit System. This approach is to recruit, promote and otherwise manage
government personnel in accordance with “comparative merit or achievement.”
Spoils System. This approach is to appoint and dismiss government personnel for
partisan political reasons.
Emergency Employment. This approach is to provide temporary jobs for those
who otherwise would be unemployed due to economic reasons. This approach,
which is common in underdeveloped countries, is also found in the developed
countries.
Veteran preference. Preference in public employment may be given for services
in the armed forces of the country.
Equitable allocation of employment. To assure equitable allocation of public
jobs, representation by geographic areas, social class or ethnic groups may be
considered as factors in the employment in the government.
9. Nature and Scope of Personal Administration
The Elements of a Well-balanced Personnel Program. In the line with the
definition of public personnel administration, well –balanced personnel
program would stress on the following elements:
1. Development of a sound organization structure for carrying out the
personnel program, one in which the responsibilities of all those
participating in the program are clearly defined.
2. Systematic and flexible position classification and establishment of a just
salary plan, taking into account the strong competition which the private
sector offers.
3. A well-conceived recruitment plan and the attraction of good candidates by
means of imaginative and aggressive recruiting techniques.
10. Nature and Scope of Personal Administration
4. A sound system of selection, assuring the appointment of only the most qualified
candidates and their placement in the jobs for which they are best fitted.
5. Comprehensive in-service training programs, aimed at improving the skills of the
employees, raising their morale, and preparing them for promotions.
6. A satisfactory plan for the periodic evaluation of the efficiency of the employees in
order to improve their performance and to identify the most competent ones.
7. A plan of promotions based principally on the merits of the aspirants, with the object of
establishing a career system by means of which good people are brought into the service
and in accordance with their performance, are moved up the line until they reach the
highest ranking positions.
8. Constant efforts to improve the human relations skills of supervisors and in general to
assure proper attention to human relations factors.
9. A complete program for maintaining the morale and discipline of the employees at a
high level.
12. Setting of Personnel Administration
• One of the organization’s major linkage with its
environment. It applies in microcosm the values, ethics, the
philosophy of that environment, and it in turn influences the
environment.
• It is important to emphasize that the individual needs to
integrated with the organizational goals are needs above the
elementary human needs. Moreover, these human needs
should provide the primary link with the essence of
organization.
14. Personnel Administration and the Civil Service
System
•
• For the efficiency of the administration, former Pres. Ferdinand
E. Marcos of the Republic of the Philippines said: “the
administrative machinery of the government must be restricted
and revitalized to meet the challenge and development.
In the Philippines, the civil service embraces every branch,
agency, subdivision, and instrumentality of the government,
including GOCC. The constitution of the Philippines mandates
that the requirements and benefits of the civil service system
should cover the administrative personnel of the entire
governmental organization, both national and local, including
the military establishment.
15. Personnel Administration and the Civil Service
System
• For the Philippine civil service system to be operated
effectively, however, it requires that certain conditions be
fulfilled. It requires that it should be politically neutral. It
calls also for the selection of any appointee in any
government position to be based not only in partisan
consideration but be made strictly on the basis of merit
and fitness. Moreover, they should enjoy security of
tenure. Otherwise, the recruiting and maintaining of
competent, qualified and honest civil servants cannot be
expected.
16. Personnel Administration and the Civil Service
System
• To facilitate the entry of competent and qualified manpower into the
civil service, the CSC as the central personnel agency of the government,
is adopting ways and means to improve the recruitment system in the
Philippines. Some of the positive measures that can improve the
recruitment process are as follows:
1. Granting civil service eligibility for employees in the trade
and crafts position after having served satisfactorily for a
certain period of time. This simply means that a person may be
appointed to a position in the trades and crafts even if he does
not have yet civil service eligibility as long as he meets the
other qualifications of the position. After 2 or 3 years of
experience then he can apply for a grant of eligibility.
17. Personnel Administration and the Civil Service
System
2. Qualification assessment instrument instead of the usual
written test for appointments for scientific and technical
positions in the second level of the career service.
3. Granting eligibility to honor college graduates. under PD
no. 907, as amended, honor graduates (those who have
earned at least cum laude honors of four-year college
courses are granted either second or first grade civil service
eligibility rating depending on the position to which they
are appointed.
