| dc.description.abstract | During the last two decades the HR-function has moved from being operational
to focus more on strategies and business orientation. There are several reasons
why the HR-function has changed focus, one is that HR has received criticism of
not contributing to business profits (Cunningham 2016; Pynes 2009). To counter
this criticism Ulrich et al. (2013) constructed a model: HR-transformation (HRT).
HRT means that the HR-function delegate responsibility and operative work to line
managers in order to be able to focus on strategic parts of how to manage employees
at a business level, called Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM). HRT has
resulted in a HR-function that fights to strengthen their existence and contribution
to the business. In order to legitimize their contribution, the HR-function and the
researchers on the HR-field has focused on strengthen their profession (Boglind et al.
2014).
The HRT trend is suited for the private sector considering its business focus, but
has also entered the public sector where HR-personnel has a strategic role rather
than operative (Cunningham 2016). The public sector in Sweden is, opposite to
the private, driven and controlled by politicians to ensure welfare and democracy
(Karlsson 2007). To ensure democracy and welfare in an effective way the public
sector is organized according the bureaucratic governance. The employees in the
public sector are therefore regulated by political decisions, laws and transparency
to citizens (Hall 2012; Karlsson 2007). The bureaucratic ideas where the citizens
right to good welfare is central and the ideas in SHRM where the central focus is to
reach business profits can be difficult to reconcile (Knies, Boselie, Gould-Williams &
Vandenabeele 2015).
Furthermore the definition of what HR-strategies are provided by Ulrich et al. (2013)
is constructed in a way that is suitable for the private sector. The fact that this
definition is dominating the HR-field and HR-personnel makes it interesting to investigate in the public sector where this definitions suitability could be questioned.
Therefore this study aims to examine if HR-personnels working with strategies within
recruitment in non profit public organizations, act according to their profession or
to the bureaucratic shape that public organizations are built upon.
The study has been examined through a qualitative method where eight HR-personnel
in nonprofit organizations within the public sector has been interviewed. The result
reveals that the majority of the HR-personnel acts according to their profession
which means that they make decisions based on their expertise, knowledge and
experience. There were also found HR-personnel acting according to the bureaucratic
shape of the public sector; these persons act based on regulations and laws from
the society and politicians. The conclusion drawn from the study is that there are
more ways to define SHRM than the definition Ulrich et al. (2013) provides and that
HR-personnels strategic work, in the public sector, should focus on ensuring welfare
and democracy, not business profits. Future studies should investigate how SHRM
could be described in other contexts, for example in municipally owned companies. | sv |
