American Exceptionalism, Human Resource Management, and the Contract State

Durant, Robert F.; Girth, Amanda M.; Johnston, Josée

doi:10.1177/0734371x09335617

Cited by 27 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…However, Durant, Girth, and Johnston (2009) note that outsourcing human resources is happening rapidly and with great impact, particularly as it relates to the ability to respond to contract management needs (p. 221). For instance, the need to train both contractors and government managers is within the purview of the human capital office.…”

Section: The Need For Human Resource Management In the Blended Workforcementioning

confidence: 99%

Book Review: Contractors in the Government Workplace: Managing the Blended Workforce

Getha‐Taylor

2016

Review of Public Personnel Administration

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Glenn Voelz traces the growth of contracting and effectively argues for government supervisors to understand the rules, expectations, and boundaries of managing the government-contractor relationship. The challenges for managing this dynamic are many and start with the fact that the public sector's acquisition workforce is thin and has not kept pace with massive expansion of contracting in recent years. Voelz's contribution is a valued one in this environment. Current and future managers need to be familiar with the basics of contract administration and understand how best to build contractor relationships while protecting legal and ethical priorities.Voelz's book draws upon primary and secondary data collected via seminars, interviews, regulations, other published documents, and personal experience to present practitioners with a useful guide for understanding the scope and complexity of the government-contractor relationship. Voelz is careful to note both the strengths and the limitations of the book. Although the text is intended to provide a basic understanding of "tools, techniques, rules, and regulations relating to the supervision of contractors in the workplace," it is not intended as a substitute for formal training that would allow someone to "write contracts or make obligations on behalf of the government" (p. 4). Nor does it offer theoretical foundations or empirical research results. Rather, this practical resource provides general context and broad recommendations.To begin, Chapter 1 offers some striking facts about the rise of contracting. Voelz notes that the U.S. federal government is the single largest buyer of commercial services in the world and that government purchasing increased by nearly 75% between 2000 and 2005 (p. 1). The challenges associated with navigating this uncharted territory are apparent: Managing contracts has been identified as a high-risk area by the U.S. Government Accountability Office due to vulnerability to fraud, waste, and misuse of taxpayer dollars. These risks are compounded by insufficient capacity to oversee the contractor workforce. Yet, the reliance on contractors to perform core mission functions previously carried out by government personnel demands careful attention. Given this new reality, "all government employees and supervisors must understand 631045R OPXXX10.

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Section: The Need For Human Resource Management In the Blended Workforcementioning

confidence: 99%

Book Review: Contractors in the Government Workplace: Managing the Blended Workforce

Getha‐Taylor

2016

Review of Public Personnel Administration

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“…Although most advocates of outsourcing argue that it reduces the cost of government, the empirical record suggests there are conditions under which it can in fact increase the cost of providing goods and services (Durant et al, 2009). Milward, Provan, and Else (1993) contended that outsourcing can result in a "hollow state," a condition likely to foster inadequate oversight of contractors.…”

Section: The Impact Of Outsourcing On Cost and Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gen and Kingsley (2007) argued that state DOTs have contracted out to "bridge the labor gap" created by the reduction in the number of transportation and highway personnel. Presumably, organizations outsource the work for which they are ill-suited or unprepared to perform (Durant et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Outsourcing Expert Services by State Transportation Departments

Yusuf

O'Connell

2013

The American Review of Public Administration

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Privatization has increasingly become a policy option for government agencies struggling to meet rising demands for services but with fewer resources. In the transportation arena, many state departments of transportation (DOTs) have privatized by outsourcing highway functions to the private sector. But the outsourcing of technical and expert services such as those related to the design and construction of highway infrastructure may result in a smaller or less knowledgeable DOT workforce that is unable to perform the necessary contract management to ensure the quality of the work done by contractors. We posit an outsourcing process in which DOTs respond to the combination of increased demand for highway services and growing workforce constraints by contracting out much of the work formerly performed by in-house personnel. This, in turn, can produce perceptions of quality problems regarding the outsourced work and a subsequent expansion of the workforce. We examine the extent to which different highway-related tasks are being outsourced, the effect of workforce and employment factors on outsourcing, the perceptions of highway officials regarding the impact of outsourcing on cost-effectiveness and the service quality of the outsourced work, and subsequent employment levels.

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“…Legend today are its size (numbers), scope (into services, inherently governmental functions, and contractors overseeing other contractors), targeting (e.g., military contractors), and noncompetitive contract bidding (Durant, Girth, & Johnston, 2009). Legend today are its size (numbers), scope (into services, inherently governmental functions, and contractors overseeing other contractors), targeting (e.g., military contractors), and noncompetitive contract bidding (Durant, Girth, & Johnston, 2009).…”

Section: Tactical Competencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Faithful Infidelity: “Political Time,” George W. Bush, and the Paradox of “Big Government Conservatism”

Durant

Stazyk

Resh

2010

Review of Public Personnel Administration

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George W. Bush assumed the presidency with the ill-fated political aim of creating a permanent electoral alignment favoring Reagan Republicanism in America by pursuing a "big government conservatism", agenda with human resource management (HRM) strategies lying at its heart. In the process of setting the other HRM-focused contributions to this symposium in broader context, the authors define the logic of big government conservativism as a strategy for electoral realignment, discuss the place of HRM as a tactical means for advancing that agenda, and place Bush's efforts in "political time." In offering an integrative framework for assessing the critical role of the White House, the executive office of the president, and political appointees in redefining the career civil service as a key component of Bush's big conservatism agenda, we portray Bush's failed efforts at constructing a permanent Republican political majority as encountering similar dynamics and meeting a similar fate as other "orthodox innovators" in presidential history. At the same time, his place in political time was not destiny, because he achieved a mixed record of strategic, political, and tactical competence while operating within the constraints of his political time.

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American Exceptionalism, Human Resource Management, and the Contract State

Cited by 27 publications

References 56 publications

Book Review: Contractors in the Government Workplace: Managing the Blended Workforce

Book Review: Contractors in the Government Workplace: Managing the Blended Workforce

Outsourcing Expert Services by State Transportation Departments

Faithful Infidelity: “Political Time,” George W. Bush, and the Paradox of “Big Government Conservatism”

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