Introduction to the Special Issue: What We Can Learn from Large Scale Human Resources Initiatives in the Federal Government and Department of Defense

Abstract

Arguably, the government has some of the most complex and sophisticated Human Resource (HR) initiatives of any organization in the country. This is due to at least three reasons. First, the sheer size of the government requires sophisticated HR systems to manage the huge number of HR decisions required. Second, the HR systems in the government must respond to much greater external (public) scrutiny than any other organization because it is funded by government money and must be responsive to taxpayers interests and concerns. As such, fairness and defensibility are far more important factors than in other organizations. Third, the government HR systems must comply with many more laws and regulations than other organizations, thus placing constraints on informal judgment and discretion and requiring sophisticated formal decision-making systems

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