Introduction
The efficiency of an agency’s public personnel administration is essential for acquiring a high-level workforce. It can be considered a vital area of attention, as the effects of human resource management are likely to influence the established system as well as depend on its practices (Boon, et al., 2019). This essay will examine the United States (US) Department of Justice’s (DOJ) public personnel administration. The explanations of its human resource management (HRM) organizational design will be provided along with the system’s goals, practices, strengths, and weaknesses. In addition, with respect to the areas of recruiting and training a qualified workforce, recommendations for their improvement will be outlined.
Organizational Design
US DOJ public personnel administration has a particular design that shall be considered in detail to assess its relation to the entire structure and its strengths and weaknesses. The HRM is functioning under the Assistant Attorney General for Administration’s direction and, on the lower level, under Deputy Assistant Attorney General Human Resources Administration’s direction, along with five other departments.
These units are equal employment opportunity staff, security and emergency planning staff, library staff, consolidated executive office, and temperamental executive secretariat. HRM consists of a director and three deputy directors responsible for the following areas: recruitment and services benefit, human resources planning and employment equity, and Human Resources (HR) information and record management (“Justice Management Division,” n.d.). Therefore, there is a functional organizational structure intended to assist in fulfilling the Agency’s functions with the highest possible efficiency.
The role of the (HR) Staff, among other departments, is to support the mission of administering justice through developing and implementing policy and programs, providing guidance, and leading efforts to attract, develop, and retain high-performing employees (“Justice Management Division,” n.d.). The strength of the HRM derives from its well-established organizational design, within which there are specific responsibilities the department has and concrete goals it achieves (Gleeson, 2019). However, it can conceive such issues as lack of coordination between separate departments and weakening of common bonds (Gleeson, 2019). Therefore, HRM possesses a functional organizational structure that has an essential proc, with respect to the efficiency, and certain cons, related to the clarity of communication and interactions between units of the Agency.
Personnel Recruitment and Hiring Practices
There is a variety of goals, policies, and practices regarding the recruitment and hiring of a qualified workforce, HR system shall comply. One of the major components is labor/Employee relations, provisions of which are intended to ensure the compliance of business relationships between an employee and employer with the policy, with respect to applicable laws and regulations. This component sets procedures for disciplinary actions, employees’ coverage, and responsibilities of sides regarding the compliance with the established standards (“Justice Management Division,” n.d.). It is necessary to protect the rights of all the participants involved.
The other component is the set of rules based on the antitrust laws. It is intended to maintain the competitive employment marketplace, prevent violation of the mentioned provisions, and ensure that HR professionals are in the best position to comply with the hiring practices of a particular company (Department of Justice, 2016). This component involves the prohibition on agreements among employers not to recruit certain employees or not to compete in terms of compensation and recommendation with respect to avoiding sharing sensitive information with competitors. In addition, it sets advice on the rules of professional conduct while hiring a workforce.
The third major component is focused on determining the level of pay. Its goal is to provide an employee with competitive compensation that reflects their individual professional characteristics and in relation to the General Schedule pay system. It assists in ensuring the equity of the level of pay between similar positions in different companies, for instance. Therefore, the HR system has a set of policies and regulations, the goal of which is to ensure the compliance of business relationships with laws and protect the labor rights of employees.
Employee Skills Training
It is possible to outline a sequence of DOJ HRM policies and approaches with respect to training provided for new and existing employees. (“Justice Management Division,” n.d.). This Agency’s workforce development is based on the Office of Personnel Management Training Policy Handbook and Continued Service Agreements (CSA). In the mentioned guidance, there are requirements regarding the length of training and repayment of training costs, which can be considered inappropriately firm by some employees and prevent them from participating, which is the weakness. There are two types of training offered: the Professional Development Series (PDS) which implies detailed instructions from experts and is suitable for specialists (Policy, Data, Oversight: Employee Relations, n.d.). The other types of developmental activities are Employee and Labor relations Roundtable discussions that cover topics of interest to human resource professionals.
Despite the rigidity of the requirements, completing the mentioned training enables the specialists to obtain vital, for fulfilling their direct responsibilities, and experience, and can be considered the basis for the future promotion. In general, the existing approach to training the personnel has a major strength, which is the improvement of the proficiency level of the workforce, for free, in the event the requirements for the programs are appropriate for a particular individual.
Recruiting and Training Recommendations
It can be noticed that the system of recruitment of new, highly qualified specialists and their training established at the US DOJ operates effectively. However, there are two points that might be considered to improve the mentioned processes. The recruitment is based on standard procedures and policies, which have not been adapted to contemporary realities for a long period. It arises a necessity to incorporate such a tool as social media to enrich the process with such significant practice as E-recruiting that is highly effective in collaboration with widespread approaches (Rahman, et al., 2020). Especially attractive this opportunity is in the contemporary realities, when external factors, such as pandemics, can restrict the means of hiring. Simultaneously, young specialists tend to spend a considerable amount of time on social networks, and they can be interested in working for DOJ after being influenced by appropriate advertisements.
The second vital improvement that might be helpful for increasing the number of employees willing to pass training, it’s making the requirements and consequences of not finishing the training for any reason less firm. Specialists, especially younger ones, might not be capable of managing the burden of the activity’s terms and conditions, while additional benefits besides the mentioned above ones might encourage the employees to spend their time gaining extra knowledge.
Conclusion
US DOJ possesses an effective functional organizational structure that assists in fulfilling the responsibilities with the highest possible efficiency, at the cost of the simplicity of communication between departments. Personnel Recruitment and Hiring Practices are based on well-established policies that enable the protection of the interests and rights of all the sides involved. Training sessions offered are valuable for the specialized experience gaining and increasing the chance for the potential promotion. However, the Agency’s processes of recruiting can be benefited by implementing the methods of E-recruiting. Simultaneously, training can be improved by relieving the current requirements and conditions for ones who did not finish them.
References
Boon, C., Hartog, D. N., & Lepak, D. P. (2019). A Systematic Review of Human Resource Management Systems and Their Measurement. Journal of Management, 45(6), pp. 2498-2537. Web.
Department of Justice (2016). Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals. Web.
Gleeson, D. (2019). Benefits & Disadvantages of a Functional Organizational Structure. Chron. Web.
Justice Management Division. (n.d.). Web.
Policy, Data, Oversight: Employee Relations. (n.d.). Web.
Rahman, M., Aydin, E., Haffar, M., & Nwagbara, U. (2020). The Role of Social Media in E-Recruitment Process: Empirical Evidence from Developing Countries in Social Network Theory. Journal of Enterprise Information Management. Web.