Canada’s governments want to become “employers of choice.” Many are striving to be more flexible, knowledge-intensive and learning-based. Reaching these goals will require nothing short of a bold new human resource strategy that can promote change within each government workplace – a strategy that encourages innovative ways of organizing, managing, supporting and rewarding people. How a government meets these challenges will determine its success in providing citizens with the high quality services they need and want. This is the main conclusion from the Canadian Policy Research Networks’ Human Resources in Government (HRG) Project, which examines the impact of extensive downsizing and restructuring in the public service during the 1990s in five jurisdictions (the federal government and the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia). While much remains to be done, we found pockets of innovation within the five governments studied in the HRG Project. These work units have moved away from the traditional bureaucratic model of work toward a new more flexible model. What is significant about this direction for workplace reform is its potential to integrate two key objectives: improved quality of work life and more effective public services, both of which are essential for revitalizing government.
(published in both English and French)
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Creating Healthy Organizations