An important objective of any HumanResource Management (HRM) system in Government is tomotivate staff to perform well. This GET note looks atseveral HRM levers that Governments have at their disposalto influence staff performance. In particular, some of themost common levers in the public sector include: effectiverecruitment and retention of staff; strong staff engagementin the organization’s mission; well-designed incentives forstaff to perform as well as ‘opportunities to perform’;tailored training and capacity building; and high qualityperformance dialogues with staff and effective follow up.In designing a HRM system that utilizes these leverseffectively, this GET Note shows that it is more importantto diagnose the root cause and understand the major issuesof poor performance, before proposing reform actions. Thispaper proposes three important design questions for managersof HRM systems to assess whether they have a well-designedHRM system. 1) Does the HRM system provide both ‘externalincentives’ and ‘opportunities to perform’? Does the HRMsystem provide the right balance between short and long termincentives? And are the broader, supporting aspects of theHRM system working effectively? The note concludes byhighlighting that even where the HRM system is welldesigned, careful consideration must be given to two furtheraspects: a) how to implement reforms to improve the designof the HRM system, and b) how to ensure that a well-designedHRM system is operating effectively.
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