Sborník příspěvků XVI. mezinárodní kolokvium o regionálních vědách Valtice 19.–21. 6. 2013
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DOI: 10.5817/CZ.MUNI.P210‐6257‐2013‐58 
HUMAN RESOURCES IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
LIDSKÉ ZDROJE VE VEŘEJNÉ SPRÁVĚ
ING. LIBUŠE MĚRTLOVÁ, PH.D.
MGR. ZDEŇKA DOSTÁLOVÁ
Katedra ekonomických studií
Vysoká škola polytechnická Jihlava
Department of Economic Studies
The College of Polytechnics Jihlava
 Tolstého 16, 586 00 Jihlava, Czech Republic
E-mail: mertlova@vspj.cz, dostalova@vspj.cz
Anotace
Článek informuje o výsledcích výzkumu probíhajícího v rámci interního grantu VŠP Jihlava, který je
zaměřený na zkoumání efektivnosti ve veřejné správě, a to z pohledu samotných pracovníků úřadu.
Výzkum je rozdělen do 3 etap, které probíhaly postupně ve velkých organizacích veřejné správy s
výkonem samosprávy i státní správy v přenesené působnosti. Výzkum probíhal na podkladě dotazníků,
které byly předány pracovníkům úřadu, kteří byli vybráni náhodným výběrem a anonymně odpovídali
na 60 otázek rozdělených do šesti okruhů: lidské zdroje, organizační kapitál, informační kapitál,
zákaznický kapitál, měření výkonnosti a inovační kapitál. Respondenti prováděli hodnocení situace v
úřadu na základě vlastního posouzení. Cílem tohoto příspěvku je informovat o výsledcích výzkumu
zejména z pohledu lidského, organizačního a sociálního kapitálu v organizacích veřejné správy.
Klíčová slova
veřejná správa, lidské zdroje, organizační kapitál, informační kapitál, zákaznický kapitál, měření
výkonnosti, inovační kapitál
Annotation
The article informs about results of a research taking place within an internal grant of College of
Polytechnics Jihlava, which is aimed at examining the efficiency in public administration from the
point of view of the office workers themselves. The research took place in the form of questionnaires
given to randomly chosen workers of the offices who anonymously answered 60 questions divided into
six topics: human resources, organisational capital, information capital, customer capital,
performance measuring and innovation capital. The aim of the paper is to inform about the results of
this research especially from the point of view human capital, organizational capital and social
capital in organisations of public administration.
Key words
public administration, human resources, organisational capital, information capital, customer capital,
performance measuring, innovation capital
JEL classification: H 11
Introduction
With the arrival of the era of the knowledge society, the primary source of economic growth was no
longer represented by natural resources and physical labour but by information and knowledge. The
term new economy was coined, meaning information, network, digital, and knowledge economy.
(Truneček, 2001).
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Companies providing services, especially those demanding on knowledge, started to achieve higher
profits, higher market value than companies in traditional production branches of economy.
Investments started to be made into intangible assets like research and development, staff education
and development, creating corresponding company culture and strong customer orientation in terms of
maximal satisfaction of customer needs during selling, providing services, and the follow-up service.
An important step was taken in the research project Meritum, which was intended to:
 Set a single classification pattern for intangible assets,
 Document a system of management and control of companies in order to identify common
European practices in measuring intangible assets,
 Evaluate the importance of intangible assets for capital markets working by means of market
information analysis,
 Create guidelines for measuring and presenting intangible assets (Dvořáková, 2007).
This task was accomplished and it resulted in Guideline for Controlling and Presenting Intangible
Assets. This guideline defines intellectual capital as a combination of human capital, structural capital,
and social capital (OECD, 1999).
People and their creative abilities in using other sources – material and financial – are the decisive
factor of each company’s development, both in the entrepreneurial sector and in the area of public
sector. For that reason, especially large companies and companies with international capital pay the
greatest attention to issues connected with raising qualification, teambuilding, with the emphasis on
the flexibility of workers and their high work enthusiasm and loyalty to the employer.
These tendencies manifest themselves in the area of public administration as well, because modern
public administration is the most dynamic element of institutional and functional development of the
modern state itself. On that account constant changes and innovations are taking place in public
administration with the goal to modernize it and adjust it to the current requirements for high quality
and economical execution of demanded administration and to comply with the citizens’ wishes in
terms of increasing the comfort of providing services and minimizing time and financial costs. This
intention is closely related with the evaluation of the public administration performance, which has
been dealt with in a number of developed countries for about the last twenty years in the context of
both the effort to increase the efficiency of public administration and the attempt to strengthen its
democratic monitoring by the public – its larger capacity of public demonstration (Illner, Kostelecký,
Patočková, 2007).
In 2006 the government of the CR passed the strategy Efficient Public Administration and Friendly
Public Services – Smart Administration for the realization period 2007 to 2015. Its goal is to ensure a
coordinated and efficient way of improving public administration and public services using the
finance from the structural funds in the programme period 2007–2013. The goal is to be reached
through coordination and synergic activities within the Human Resources OP, the Integrated
Operational Programme and national resources (Smart administration, 2007).
1. Material and methods
The intention of the research was to address large organizations of public administration in the region
and arrange for the implementation of a research which would bring answers in the form of either
confirming or disproving of hypotheses aimed at overall evaluation of the level of public
administration in the examined organizations. They were the Jihlava Town Council, the Regional
Authority of the Vysočina Region, twenty-five selected municipalities and twenty-five detached
workplaces of state administration in the Vysočina Region. The research was divided into two parts,
when in the first part employees themselves carried out evaluation of their own work and conditions
for public administration execution. In the other part the research was aimed at clients leaving an
office and evaluated their satisfaction with the work of officers during public administration activities
and communication with clients.
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The presented results are from the first part of the research. The total of 103 respondents was
addressed, which represents 30% employees of the organizations where the research took place.
The questionnaires were filled in by 98 respondents, which means 95.15 %. The stated results
refer to the topics of Human Resources, Basic Capital, Organizational Capital, and Innovation
Capital. These are topics that include fundamental areas of the company’s intellectual capital. The
results published in this article are intended to point out the best and, on the contrary, the most
problematic topics of evaluation. An organization is not indicated directly, it is marked
organization I.
3. Results and discussion
Human resources
The first five questions from this topic were focused on judging the level of education in an
organization when the first one was oriented at processing the programme of employee education, the
second one at assessing education programmes, the third one at educational methods, the fourth at
finding out employee satisfaction with education and qualification increasing, and the fifth at
recording the number of days spent by training. The following two questions (6th and 7th) find out
whether the organization has defined important values, whether these values are accepted by
employees and whether they share them. The next two questions (8th and 9th) examine whether there
is a system of employee performance evaluation and a system of work performance management
introduced. The last, tenth question is aimed at the level of communication in the organization.
Tab. 1: Answers of organization I employees – Human Resources
Answers yes no other options according to question without answer
question 1 97 0 0 1
question 2 88 8 0 2
question 3 0 38 58 2
question 4 93 3 0 2
question 5 96 0 0 2
question 6 70 13 0 15
question 7 67 8 0 23
question 8 66 18 0 14
question 9 63 20 0 15
question 10 48 38 12 0
Source: own research
Fig. 1: Answers of organization I employees – Human Resources
Source: own research
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
questions
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Y es N o O ther pos s ibility  W ithout ans wers  
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Customer capital
Customer capital, its examination and feedback that should follow are definitely one of the most
important issues of both each research dealing with the efficiency of a company’s operation and
the follow-up implementation of measures for improvement in problem areas. The first question
was focused on the form of communication with the client with the options of personal
communication, mediated or non-contact one, the second question dealt with the perception of the
activity of the office by the public as welcome, publicly needed or a necessary evil. The third
question examined whether the organization implements marketing and advertising events, the
fourth one evaluates the approach to the client, whether workers are interested in solving the
client’s requirement, and the fifth question monitors whether customer satisfaction surveys are
carried out. In the sixth question employees answered the question whether they are informed
with the results of these surveys. The seventh question examines whether the organization carries
out customer needs surveys. The eighth question studies whether the office’s website is kept
updated, the ninth question then judges whether the activity of workers provides a complex
solution to the clients’ problems, and the tenth question evaluates whether information materials
are available at the office.
Tab. 2: Answers of organization I employees– Customer capital
Answers yes no other options according to question without answer
question 1 74 8 1 15
question 2 7 69 22 0
question 3 18 68 0 12
question 4 88 1 0 9
question 5 12 76 0 10
question 6 10 59 0 29
question 7 19 58 0 21
question 8 89 2 0 7
question 9 72 11 3 12
question 10 68 17 0 13
Source: own research
Fig. 2: Answers of organization I employees – Customer capital
Source: own research
Organizational capital
The first question examined whether the organization is able to respond to new conditions of the
environment, the second one concerned the style of subordinate workers management –
autocratic, democratic, or liberal, the third question studies whether the manager is able to help
0
20
40
60
80
100
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
questions
number of 
answers
Y es N o O ther pos s ibility W ithout ans wers  
Sborník příspěvků XVI. mezinárodní kolokvium o regionálních vědách Valtice 19.–21. 6. 2013
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subordinate in solving problems. Question 4 was aimed at personal responsibility of officers
(options: I bear/ don’t bear responsibility, both decision-making and responsibility are collective),
the fifth question examines whether the worker directly manages subordinates. The following
three questions are focused on organization chart of the organization, when the sixth question
studies the number of levels – 1, 2, or 3 levels, the seventh one monitors whether team building is
possible and the eighth one examines whether the organization chart enables flexibility in
problem solving. The ninth question inquires whether there are regular meetings of managers with
workers and the tenth one is aimed at monitoring how informed the workers are about the
organization’s strategy, vision and mission.Good evaluation was chosen from the options of the
reaction to new conditions in the environment, the possibilities of teambuilding across the
organization, and the possibilities of applying new methods of work in the organization.
According to the respondents, democratic management style prevails in the organization, with
workers usually not bearing personal responsibility for their decisions, which also corresponds
with the fact that they do not mostly manage subordinate workers. Most respondents know the
organization chart of the organization (question 6), they perceive is as a multi-level structure that
facilitates teambuilding and ensures flexibility in problem solving. Regular holding of meetings
(question 9) is evaluated positively with 84 respondents stating that in their answers. On the other
hand, the responses to the last question about strategy, vision, and mission of the organization
show that there are considerable reserves in the communication of management and workers in
the area of strategy, vision, and mission. This automatically means also reserves in workers’
loyalty, their personal involvement and approach to the activity of the organization as a whole.
Detailed results are presented in table and graph 3.
Tab. 3: Answers of employees – Organisational capital
Answers yes no other options according to question without answer
question 1 89 4 0 5
question 2 23 58 11 6
question 3 76 3 17 2
question 4 7 89 1 1
question 5 17 77 0 4
question 6 2 4 81 11
question 7 71 14 0 13
question 8 74 13 0 11
question 9 84 13 0 1
question 10 66 18 0 1
Source: own research
Fig. 3: Answers of organization I employees – Organizational capital
Source: own research
0
20
40
60
80
100
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Questions
Number of answers
Y es N o O ther pos s ibility  W ithout ans wers  
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Innovation capital
The first question examined the possibility to apply innovation elements of work in the organization;
the second one was aimed at the possibility of personal influencing of innovation implementation. The
third question inquired whether there is a stand-alone unit in the organization with the role to apply
innovations. The fourth question studied whether the organization uses the CAF method of selfevaluation,
the fifth one mapped whether the efficiency of innovation changes is evaluated and in the
positive case, what the frequency of evaluation is. The sixth question continued with the question
whether employees are informed about the results of this evaluation and in the seventh question there
was an inquiry whether employees are rewarded for suggesting a new approach or improvement in the
performed work. The eighth question was aimed at a client, that is whether clients can suggest
innovation procedures for officer work improvement as well. The ninth question examined the
usability of new innovative procedures also in other parts of the organization and the tenth monitored
whether the public is informed about the innovation in the organization.
Table 4: Answers of organization I employees – Innovation capital
Answers yes no Other options Without answer
question 1 66 19 0 13
question 2 15 43 28 12
question 3 15 68 0 15
question 4 1 76 0 21
question 5 9 64 3 22
question 6 6 54 0 38
question 7 23 61 0 14
question 8 16 65 0 17
question 9 6 20 39 33
question 10 51 25 0 22
Source: own research
Graph 4: Answers of organization I employees – Innovation capital
Source: own research
Conclusion
The published paper summarizes the results of the first stage of the research carried out in the
public administration organization in the Vysočina Region dealing with human resources,
customer, organizational and innovation capital.
0
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80
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Questions
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The results can be summed up into the following conclusions:
While evaluating human capital from the point of view of qualification and education, the
assessment of all questions was distinctively positive. The reserves of the organization’s human
capital lie especially in the area of communication and sharing the organization’s values, in the
system of assessing work performance, and consequently also in work performance management.
The issue of communication inside the organization is a problem that it is necessary to solve as
soon as possible, namely e.g. by the choice of suitable seminars or by implementing education
financed from the European Social Funds.
In case of customer capital the largest reserves can be seen in higher interest in the public,
introducing holding marketing events of the organization (although there are discussions whether
they are suitable in public administration), introducing regular satisfaction surveys of clients who
are leaving the office and surveys of needs of the clients who are coming to the office. Then, it is
necessary to continue working with the results of these surveys and to provide employees with
feedback that will ensure improvement of the level of services provided.
In the evaluation of organizational capital it is necessary to give positive evaluation to the
possibility of the company’s conforming to the changing condition, the possibility of building
work teams and the prevailing democratic style of management. The area for improvement is
definitely in increasing personal responsibility in implementing work tasks, a possible reduction
of levels in the organizational chart of the (multilevel) organization, and improving the
communication of the organization’s strategy, vision, and mission to its employees.
Innovation capital of the organization is the area that received the worst evaluation. Low
possibility of personal influencing innovation implementation as well as insufficient evaluation of
innovation changes efficiency, providing workers in this area with no feedback and insufficient
motivation of employees to suggest new methods of work are issues that the organization should
consider and try to put right. It is necessary to ensure early responses to workers’ requirements in
using modern methods of work and in implementing innovative procedures to the office’s
activities as well as in implementing new methods of work performance evaluation and in selfevaluation
of employees’ work.
Literature
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[3] OECD. Guidelines and Instructions for OECD Symposium. International Symposium Measuring
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This paper was created as an output of an internal grant project of College of Polytechnics
Jihlava named Research of the Efficiency of Public Administration Operation, carried out in
public administration organizations in the Vysočina Region in 2011.