5.2 Organisational development and culture
The Department's People Plan 2012 has set the following organisational development goal:
Building organisational systems that align to realise a workforce with the capability to perform in a complex environment and to adapt to change.
With respect to culture, the Department's People Plan 2012 has set the following goal:
Developing a culture of people who recognise and value different perspectives, work together well and engage with others to create desired outcomes.
Work towards these goals focuses on workforce planning, recruitment, learning and development, further development of the performance management system, and the new recruitment and induction systems.
This work is set in the context of the Department's workforce demographics. Many staff members will be reaching retirement age in the next 10 to 15 years. At the same time, there are many young people coming into the Department whose expectations of their work environment differ from those of older colleagues. Forty-eight percent of new staff members are women, which is a changing demographic for the Department.
A capability framework has been developed. This has five elements: (i) leadership ability, (ii) valuing the work, (iii) emotional intelligence (interpersonal skills and self awareness), (iv) problem solving, and (v) skilled use of knowledge. Underpinning each of these elements is a set of competencies drawn from the Lominger suite common to many public service departments. The framework and competencies have been incorporated into all role descriptions, and underpin individual 'personal performance in role' assessments, the monthly operating review system, and the remuneration system.
Capability development is also focused on building Māori capability internally, in the interests of conservation management, and a Māori capability framework is being developed.
The Department's standard operating procedures system is a key aspect of the way it promotes accountability, manages legal and health and safety risks, and promotes standardised ways of undertaking tasks in the interests of efficiency and effectiveness. A revision project is currently underway to help staff manage, write, and use standard operating procedures more effectively in their everyday work.
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Actions in 2008-2009
The focus will be on:
- Preparing an organisational workforce plan to address the need for more flexible employment arrangements, to redress the balance of women in managerial positions, and to manage and support the life cycles of staff of all age groups, and enable the transfer of institutional knowledge.
- Implementing a new recruitment strategy and system to help attract and retain talent.
- Designing and implementing an integrated learning and development framework that enables systematic skills development through all levels in the Department, and is supported by online learning management tools.
- Aligning planning and performance reporting with the core elements of capability and roles, and fully implementing the new remuneration system.
- Beginning the design of the new employment arrangements for the 2009 Collective Agreements, focusing on a concept of total rewards that supports both collective effort and individual values.
- Implementing an induction process for all new staff.
- Completing the review of the standard operating procedures system.
Links to State Services Development Goals: 1 Employer of Choice, 3 Value-for-money State Services, and 6 Trusted State Services
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