Practical Human Resources for Public Managers : A Case Study Approach

Employers face a myriad of issues when hiring: how to recruit, whom to select, how to interview, Equal Employment Opportunity policies, fair salary offerings, health issues, performance evaluations, behavior/disciplinary actions, turnover, and the list goes on and on. Practical Human Resources Management for Public Managers: A Case Study Approach provides insight into human resource trends and demonstrates how complex situations can be successfully managed by public sector practitioners. The authors take us step by step into the "real world" with examples of historical events that compare "What Happened" with "What Could Have Happened" as well as suggested readings for more in-depth analysis and important points to remember.

Exploring the space between theory and what actually occurs in the world, this book supplies instructional case studies based upon actual events. The authors introduce key human resources issues with clear, concise language and provide techniques to address these issues in a real-world setting. The case studies cover legal and liability issues, recruiting and hiring, employee performance, reward and discipline issues, retention, termination, workplace violence, mentorship, motivation, and managing through transitions.

The authors bring know-how from a wide array of working environments, including teaching and administrative experience in public universities and management in municipalities of various population sizes from a few thousand to more than a million. They have also worked in a variety of capacities within these organizations, which allow them to see different perspectives on how different departments handle similar situations. They use their from-the-trenches knowledge to explore pragmatic ways to deal with human resource issues in public sector workplaces.

Dr. Valcik received his Ph.D. in Public Affairs from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2005. He has written municipal risk management policies for the City of McKinney, worked as a university recruiting analyst for Nortel Networks, and taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in human resource management for the Public Affairs program at The University of Texas at Dallas program since 2007. Dr. Valcik has worked as an administrator for The University of Texas at Dallas since 1997 and currently (2011) holds the position of Associate Director at the Office of Strategic Planning and Analysis.

Ted Benavides currently serves as a faculty member for the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences' Public Affairs Program. He has worked for the Fire Department of the City of Fort Worth, Texas where he was responsible for the administrative and budget matters. He also served as the City Manager of Denton, Texas where he supervised over a thousand employees. He worked for the City of Dallas, Texas for twenty-four years. He held a variety of professional and managerial positions which included budget analyst, capital budget administrator, assistant budget director, director in the Office of Budget and Research, assistant director of health and human services, assistant city manager and the city manager from 1998 to 2004.