Picking up the HRM pieces: Why fit doesn’t fit in the public sector

Abstract

This chapter is focused on notions of the concept of fit in the human resource management of the public sector. We argue that the concept of ‘fit’ does not fit public sector organizations. To fully understand fit in public sector context we will contextualize HRM and fit, explore the HRM challenges in public sector organizations and provide an alternative approach using notions of requisite variety and loose coupling. Complexity, multiple goals, and dynamics are characteristics of most public sector organizations that are subject to institutional and political mechanisms, affected by multiple stakeholders and often limited by a lack of simple and one-dimensional goals in contrast to many private sector organizations. This chapter contests the general SHRM fit paradigm for public sector organizations.