SAMHSA Evaluation
Evaluation of SAMHSA’s Public Personnel Management
Strayer University
PAD 530 – Public Personnel Management
Organizational Design Organization design serves as the foundation on which all company operations are built. Organizational design influences the leadership structure of a company, setting forth reporting relationships and lines of authority reaching from the executive level to the front line. This provides guidance to employees in terms of reporting relationships that govern the workflow of the agency. An outline of the agency organizational design makes it easier to add new position in the agency. Organization design improves operational efficiency by providing clarity to employees at all levels of the agency. The organizational …show more content…
design of SAMHSA human resource management is a part of a much wider organizational design which falls under its parent body the Department of Health and Human Services.
The organization design of SAMHSA is one that allows the agency to benefit from a structure that has been in place for years and SAMHSA has that experience base to rely on in terms of knowing what is expected from them as an agency within a larger group. The human resource department in SAMHSA is not a standalone unit as all human resource is connected to the Office of Personnel Management and Office of Health and Human Services. The strength of such an organizational design is that it provides additional resources to SAMHSA in that they have more than one agency from which to gather information on what is expected of the human resource team. SAMHSA is a small sub agency and so there is no real human resource department, rather there is a human resource lead as noted by the acting Director of Management and Technolgy under whose portfolio the human resource …show more content…
lead personnnel falls. One major weakness is the fact that SAMHSA does not have a human resource department that is specific to that agency alone, but instead they have a body that represents the ageny as far as matters relating to human resource are concerned. This can cause a lapse in the level of guidance as to reporting relationships of employees. By not focusing attention on the critical role that line managers play in human resource management practices and, thus, the relationship between those practices and important outcomes for both employees and organizations. One result is that the links between human resource management and the outcomes that the firm desires will be difficult to establish (Brewster, Gollan, & Wright, 2013).
Global Linkages and Personnel Management SAMHSA has various linkages both on the local and internation levels. They collaborate with the Federal Government of issues of national interest as well as with global partners in areas that are of international concern. According to one press officer in the Office of Communication at SAMHSA, the agency administrator and some leaders from the agenyc just returned from a global conference where a wide range of issues pertaining to behavioral health and best practice methods of dealing with substance abuse disoder. In addition to seminars that address the core issues that SAMHSA overseas, the agency has linkages to other international bodies that focus on personnel management specific to public health agencies. Most appraisal research has viewed rating inaccuracies as unintentional or unconscious mistakes by managers (Spence & Keeping, 2010) The notion that supervisors are not entirely objective when rating their employees’ performance is not surprising when considered in the context of the consequences of rating decisions. Formal performance appraisal systems are used in roughly ninety per cent of organizations (Spence & Keeping, 2010). These data have significant impact on how employees are selected for promotions and terminations as well. As a result SAMHSA approach to personnel management is important when it affects employee development, and the allocation of money and resources.
Personnel Recruitment and Hiring Practices SAMHSA adheres to all hiring practices set out by Health and Human Services (HHS), Schedule A, and OS 12 which covers recruitment through open competition. SAMHSA human resource system goals have many components which include having Hiring Flexibilities. This is where Management officials are encouraged to utilize all available hiring flexibilities. These flexibilities, which oftentimes reduce the hiring process and possibly eliminate the need to announce or go through a lengthy recruitment process. Some hiring flexibilities include Veterans’ Readjustment Appointments, Disabled Veterans’ Appointing Authority, Direct Hire Authority for Medical Officers and other specified occupations. (Office of Human Resources Accelerated Hiring Handbook, 2014). Next practice of the human resource system is the use of Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the hiring process.
A subject matter experts is someone recognized as possessing a mastery level of knowledge and skill on a particular subject area. SME’s play an integral role in the hiring process. Human resource staff usually encourages the involvement of SMEs and strongly believes that hiring efforts are vastly improved through their use, in SAMHSA’s case this promotes the hiring of a qualified workforce. The final component of the human resource practices and goals address certificate of eligibles. Once a position closes, applicants are qualified, rated and ranked, and hiring officials receive a Certificate of Eligibles. These certificates will be valid for 30 calendar days (Office of Human Resources Accelerated Hiring Handbook, 2014) This provides somewhat of a ranking system in terms of prospective applicant from which the human resource team has to fill a
vacany.
Employee Skills Training Employee training is necessary in any organization if they are to maintain a skilled and well rounded and developed workforce. SAMHSA takes employee training very serious due to the nature of the work that they provide to the nation. New employees undergo vigorous training to ensure they are prepared for the work they are hired to do. Existing employees are not left out as they too receive training throughout the year. Most of trainings are done internally, where experts from outside of the agency comes in and train staff. Employees are also sent to training outside of the agency where they have the opportunity to meet and share their experiences with other employees from similar agencies. This provides a means of learning new practices that can be adopted to improve on what SAMHSA already has in place. The idea of having a best practice comes from adopting various success methods that have worked in solving a particular problem and developing a “best practice” from them. A weakness in SAMHSA training programs is that they are not done on a more regular basis, such as on a quarterly basis. By doing training over a shorter time frame the possibility exists that the retention level previously learned material will increase.
Recruiting and Training Recommendations There is always room for improvement in the how an organization does its training to empower its employees and add value to the organization; the personnel manager has an important role in ensuring that employees are trained in order to add value to the organization (Payne, 2010). In recent times a lot of emphasis has been placed on diversity training which will enhance a company’s employees working relationship. SAMHSA needs to have intensive training in diversity not just for new employees but also for seasoned employees. The possibility exists that as time goes by employees can forget training that they did at the start of their careers, so it is important to have diversity training on a regular basis such as semi-annually. Variables such as employees’ perceptions of prejudice and discrimination, creativity, problem solving, and organizational flexibility are also critical to gauge the impact of diversity training (Bezrukova, Jehn, & Spell, 2012). The next recommendation pertains to recruiting, the agency should engage in more open competition if it wishes to have a highly skilled and experience workforce. Relying only on candidates from the office of personnel management does limit the agency in terms of the available hiring pool from which they have to recruit.
Conclusion
A well thought out organizational design eliminates confusion in terms of reporting hierarchy and can provide a roadmap for internal promotions which creates employee advancement tracks for entry level workers. SAMHSA organizational design is of such that its employees are knowledgeable of whom they report to and who they can turn to if they need clarity on a matter. As globalization affects all sector of public service SAMHSA has sought to be aligned with international bodies which they can learn from in terms of improving their human resource processes. The hiring practices of SAMHSA are guided by the office of Health and Human Services which provides a comprehensive handbook on the entire hiring process. SAMHSA is in a position to grow and improve its human resource management capabilities with all the resources that are at the agency’s disposal.
References
Bezrukova, K., Jehn, K., & Spell, C. (2012). Reviewing Diversity Training: Where We Have Been and Where We Should Go. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 208 - 211.
Brewster, C., Gollan, J., & Wright, P. (2013). Human Resource Management and the Line. Human Resource Management, 829 -830.
Office of Human Resources Accelerated Hiring Handbook. (2014). Retrieved from Health and Human Services: http://www.hhs.gov/asa/ohr/new_ahp_hb.pdf
Payne, M. (2010). A Comparative Study of HR Managers ' Competencies in Strategic Roles. . International Management Review, 1 - 2.
Spence, J., & Keeping, L. (2010). The impact of non-performance information on ratings of job performance: A policy-capturing approach. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 588 -591.
Strayer University
PAD 530 – Public Personnel Management
Organizational Design Organization design serves as the foundation on which all company operations are built. Organizational design influences the leadership structure of a company, setting forth reporting relationships and lines of authority reaching from the executive level to the front line. This provides guidance to employees in terms of reporting relationships that govern the workflow of the agency. An outline of the agency organizational design makes it easier to add new position in the agency. Organization design improves operational efficiency by providing clarity to employees at all levels of the agency. The organizational …show more content…
design of SAMHSA human resource management is a part of a much wider organizational design which falls under its parent body the Department of Health and Human Services.
The organization design of SAMHSA is one that allows the agency to benefit from a structure that has been in place for years and SAMHSA has that experience base to rely on in terms of knowing what is expected from them as an agency within a larger group. The human resource department in SAMHSA is not a standalone unit as all human resource is connected to the Office of Personnel Management and Office of Health and Human Services. The strength of such an organizational design is that it provides additional resources to SAMHSA in that they have more than one agency from which to gather information on what is expected of the human resource team. SAMHSA is a small sub agency and so there is no real human resource department, rather there is a human resource lead as noted by the acting Director of Management and Technolgy under whose portfolio the human resource …show more content…
lead personnnel falls. One major weakness is the fact that SAMHSA does not have a human resource department that is specific to that agency alone, but instead they have a body that represents the ageny as far as matters relating to human resource are concerned. This can cause a lapse in the level of guidance as to reporting relationships of employees. By not focusing attention on the critical role that line managers play in human resource management practices and, thus, the relationship between those practices and important outcomes for both employees and organizations. One result is that the links between human resource management and the outcomes that the firm desires will be difficult to establish (Brewster, Gollan, & Wright, 2013).
Global Linkages and Personnel Management SAMHSA has various linkages both on the local and internation levels. They collaborate with the Federal Government of issues of national interest as well as with global partners in areas that are of international concern. According to one press officer in the Office of Communication at SAMHSA, the agency administrator and some leaders from the agenyc just returned from a global conference where a wide range of issues pertaining to behavioral health and best practice methods of dealing with substance abuse disoder. In addition to seminars that address the core issues that SAMHSA overseas, the agency has linkages to other international bodies that focus on personnel management specific to public health agencies. Most appraisal research has viewed rating inaccuracies as unintentional or unconscious mistakes by managers (Spence & Keeping, 2010) The notion that supervisors are not entirely objective when rating their employees’ performance is not surprising when considered in the context of the consequences of rating decisions. Formal performance appraisal systems are used in roughly ninety per cent of organizations (Spence & Keeping, 2010). These data have significant impact on how employees are selected for promotions and terminations as well. As a result SAMHSA approach to personnel management is important when it affects employee development, and the allocation of money and resources.
Personnel Recruitment and Hiring Practices SAMHSA adheres to all hiring practices set out by Health and Human Services (HHS), Schedule A, and OS 12 which covers recruitment through open competition. SAMHSA human resource system goals have many components which include having Hiring Flexibilities. This is where Management officials are encouraged to utilize all available hiring flexibilities. These flexibilities, which oftentimes reduce the hiring process and possibly eliminate the need to announce or go through a lengthy recruitment process. Some hiring flexibilities include Veterans’ Readjustment Appointments, Disabled Veterans’ Appointing Authority, Direct Hire Authority for Medical Officers and other specified occupations. (Office of Human Resources Accelerated Hiring Handbook, 2014). Next practice of the human resource system is the use of Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the hiring process.
A subject matter experts is someone recognized as possessing a mastery level of knowledge and skill on a particular subject area. SME’s play an integral role in the hiring process. Human resource staff usually encourages the involvement of SMEs and strongly believes that hiring efforts are vastly improved through their use, in SAMHSA’s case this promotes the hiring of a qualified workforce. The final component of the human resource practices and goals address certificate of eligibles. Once a position closes, applicants are qualified, rated and ranked, and hiring officials receive a Certificate of Eligibles. These certificates will be valid for 30 calendar days (Office of Human Resources Accelerated Hiring Handbook, 2014) This provides somewhat of a ranking system in terms of prospective applicant from which the human resource team has to fill a
vacany.
Employee Skills Training Employee training is necessary in any organization if they are to maintain a skilled and well rounded and developed workforce. SAMHSA takes employee training very serious due to the nature of the work that they provide to the nation. New employees undergo vigorous training to ensure they are prepared for the work they are hired to do. Existing employees are not left out as they too receive training throughout the year. Most of trainings are done internally, where experts from outside of the agency comes in and train staff. Employees are also sent to training outside of the agency where they have the opportunity to meet and share their experiences with other employees from similar agencies. This provides a means of learning new practices that can be adopted to improve on what SAMHSA already has in place. The idea of having a best practice comes from adopting various success methods that have worked in solving a particular problem and developing a “best practice” from them. A weakness in SAMHSA training programs is that they are not done on a more regular basis, such as on a quarterly basis. By doing training over a shorter time frame the possibility exists that the retention level previously learned material will increase.
Recruiting and Training Recommendations There is always room for improvement in the how an organization does its training to empower its employees and add value to the organization; the personnel manager has an important role in ensuring that employees are trained in order to add value to the organization (Payne, 2010). In recent times a lot of emphasis has been placed on diversity training which will enhance a company’s employees working relationship. SAMHSA needs to have intensive training in diversity not just for new employees but also for seasoned employees. The possibility exists that as time goes by employees can forget training that they did at the start of their careers, so it is important to have diversity training on a regular basis such as semi-annually. Variables such as employees’ perceptions of prejudice and discrimination, creativity, problem solving, and organizational flexibility are also critical to gauge the impact of diversity training (Bezrukova, Jehn, & Spell, 2012). The next recommendation pertains to recruiting, the agency should engage in more open competition if it wishes to have a highly skilled and experience workforce. Relying only on candidates from the office of personnel management does limit the agency in terms of the available hiring pool from which they have to recruit.
Conclusion
A well thought out organizational design eliminates confusion in terms of reporting hierarchy and can provide a roadmap for internal promotions which creates employee advancement tracks for entry level workers. SAMHSA organizational design is of such that its employees are knowledgeable of whom they report to and who they can turn to if they need clarity on a matter. As globalization affects all sector of public service SAMHSA has sought to be aligned with international bodies which they can learn from in terms of improving their human resource processes. The hiring practices of SAMHSA are guided by the office of Health and Human Services which provides a comprehensive handbook on the entire hiring process. SAMHSA is in a position to grow and improve its human resource management capabilities with all the resources that are at the agency’s disposal.
References
Bezrukova, K., Jehn, K., & Spell, C. (2012). Reviewing Diversity Training: Where We Have Been and Where We Should Go. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 208 - 211.
Brewster, C., Gollan, J., & Wright, P. (2013). Human Resource Management and the Line. Human Resource Management, 829 -830.
Office of Human Resources Accelerated Hiring Handbook. (2014). Retrieved from Health and Human Services: http://www.hhs.gov/asa/ohr/new_ahp_hb.pdf
Payne, M. (2010). A Comparative Study of HR Managers ' Competencies in Strategic Roles. . International Management Review, 1 - 2.
Spence, J., & Keeping, L. (2010). The impact of non-performance information on ratings of job performance: A policy-capturing approach. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 588 -591.