Competency management and civil service professionalism in Dutch central government

Abstract

Competency management has only recently been introduced into personnel management in Dutch central government. The decentralized nature of Dutch central government and its personnel management systems generates marked variation in the degree to which competency management is being applied across the Dutch civil service. The success or otherwise of competency management schemes in both government departments and the higher civil service in The Netherlands, the Senior Public Service, show mixed results. Although all departments have taken steps in the direction of competency management, a few well-developed programmes are in use. The competency management system of the Senior Public Service, then, serves as a basic tool for its management development programmes. Its aim is to enhance civil service professionalism among senior civil servants. The practical effects of competency management programmes, however, can be questioned. Because competency management links personnel development to pay and career decisions, it could well elicit strategic behaviour by staff members; at worst, it could run the risk of becoming a self-defeating initiative. INTRODUCTIONOver the last two decades, the Dutch Department of the Interior and other central government department personnel units have produced what looks at first sight to be an impressive stream of policy documents. These stress the need for large-scale investment in the people -the human resourcesemployed by government. The result of all this paperwork has been a wide range of human resource management (HRM) initiatives and pilot schemes. With varying degrees of success, departments and agencies have been experimenting with, among other things, management development, employability schemes and a wide range of training programmes. Nevertheless, some cynicism has gradually crept in over the value added by these HRM policies and programmes. The absence of evidence of clear changes in management practises and real effects on the work floor, together with complaints about the added paperwork such schemes bring with them, are commonly cited as the drawbacks of this style of personnel policy. In addition, the rapid replacement of 'old' by 'new' HRM instruments before they have been properly assessed has also served to weaken confidence in them. Such

Destination Service Encounter Modeling and Relationships with Tourist Satisfaction

“…PPIEs and TS. In researches on civil service reform [36] and competency management [37], the performance of public personnel has received much attention from scholars. Staff and volunteers have been also considered a dimension of performance quality at destinations [38].…”

Does alignment elicit competency-based HRM? A systematic review

“…Regardless of the commitment of an HR department to applying CHRM, there may be differences in the extent of internal alignment within an organization (Horton, 2000). In addition, the internal consistency of the implementation of competency models in talent management and performance management may be questioned (Azmi et al, 2009;van der Meer & Toonen, 2005).…”

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A discussion on using quantitative or qualitative data for assessment of individual competencies

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