STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES IN ETHIOPIAN PUBLIC SECTOR: THE CASE OF SELECTED BUREAUS

Every organization, whether it is public or private, operates with and through people. Public organizations in particular are judged on the basis of the performance of their human resources. Such competent human resources (employees and managers) become available only through the systematic and planned human resource development practices. Currently, public organizations are under continual pressure from the society to increase their effectiveness and quality with fewer resources while simultaneously being expected to demonstrate greater accountability and transparency in the processes. Hence, public organizations are required to strategically develop their human resources and integrate their knowledge with the new demand of the public to enhance organizational performance. The general objective of this investigation, therefore, is to explore strategic human resource development practices in selected public organizations. With a view to achieving this objective, descriptive research designs were applied. Moreover, the researcher employed mixed research approach, where qualitative approach made to be embedded within the quantitative approach. The data were collected by means of different data gathering instruments, such as questionnaires and individual interviews from a sample of 349 employees working in three regional Public Service and Human Resource Development Bureaus. The data analysis was done using SPSS version 27.0. Accordingly, the study found out that there is good SHRD practice with some areas of improvements. Particularly, the responses indicate a positive result showing the existence of average SHRD practices in the study organizations. Except for top management/leadership commitment towards HRD, with higher standards deviation that shows a wider range of opinions, the remaining responses signals better agreement among respondent. Overall, the data indicates positive HRD practices, while there are areas where perceptions varied.