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Review of Public Personnel Administration
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What's this?

Decentralization of HR Functions

Lessons From the Singapore Civil Service

Mussie T. Tessema

Winona State University,mtessema{at}winona.edu

Joseph L. Soeters

Tilburg University Royal Netherlands Military Academy, jmlm.soeters{at}mindef.nl

Alex Ngoma

University of Zambia, amngoma1232000{at}yahoo.com

In the past two decades, nearly every country in the world has felt the urge to decentralize some of its human resource (HR) functions. This article uses Singapore as a case study to illustrate how this urge has been addressed in civil service reforms during the past two decades. In so doing, the article also highlights the necessity as well as the theoretical and practical implications of the decentralization process to the organizational arrangement of HR functions in the civil service of Singapore. The article concludes that, as countries seek to decentralize HR functions in the civil service, understanding how this process works is cardinal to enhancing coordination and the efficient delivery of public services. For without this understanding, it is not possible to determine which functions must be decentralized and which ones must not be. Some popular myths and misconceptions about decentralization are also explored.

Key Words: human resources • reform • civil service • decentralization • Singapore

This version was published on June 1, 2009

Review of Public Personnel Administration, Vol. 29, No. 2, 168-188 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0734371X09332542
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