Authors: Petros Katsimardos, Konstantinos Bouas, George Aspridis, Ioannis Rossidis

Title: Introducing HR agility in times of austerity

Abstract

One of the most important factors for boosting the effectiveness and efficiency of public sector organizations is the introduction of agility in Human Resources Management. Several types of policy initiatives have been used aiming to reinforce agility as an integral part of an overall administrative reform strategy. This article assesses the scope and impact of the initiatives implemented to enhance agility in the HRM policy in the Greek crisis taking into account administrative reform theory principles and concepts. Focusing in the case of agility, it will test the hypothesis that although crisis urges for reform initiatives to be undertaken, results are neither efficient nor sustainable. In crisis context there is a distortion of the reform notions and perspectives which alters the goals the time frames and the approaches used. Article draws from key policy papers and strategic documents’ suggestions concerning enhancement of mobility to assess compatibility with HRM policy as implemented in order to comply with obligations deriving from the EU/IMF Adjustment Program for Greece. Data from the functional review of the Greek central administration are be used to support the hypothesis. An evidence based analysis is used to verify the assumptions. Finally, strategy options and prerequisites needed for the implementation of a sustainable agility HR policy are presented. It is suggested that enhancing agility in a sustainable way is attainable only in the context of development of a coherent and holistic HR reform strategy.