FROM PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION TO PEOPLE’S MANAGEMENT: THE GEORGIAN PATH

Abstract

This paper highlights the importance of employing principles of good management in personnel affairs. Although it professes new ways of managing people in public organisations, it uses several criteria and conditions to demonstrate that a transition from personnel administration to people’s management practices it is rather difficult given certain existing conditions that act as impediments to moving ahead. Namely, the existence of a traditional civil service management system characterised by its hierarchical structures and centralised decision-making, and by its legacy of strict control and oversight of civil servants, seen as mere cogs rather than valuable contributors to government and administration. As a result, for people’s management practices to flourish, the competency level of contemporary HR managers is questioned, as well as the ineffectiveness of the selection system and the lack of e-government tools in human resource management. The paper concludes with some recommendations for transitioning to people’s management practices.

Keywords: Personnel policy; Personnel administration; Personnel management; Civil service; Civil Servant; Competencies; strategic human resource management.