The implications on SHRM by corporate governance in the Malta public service : an exploratory analysis

Abstract

The Malta Public Service is the crux of the Maltese economy, providing citizens with essential provisions such as education, healthcare, national security, infrastructure, finance and economy and many other vital ‘services’ upon which citizens unknowingly depend. It is therefore crucial that the greatest asset behind this, namely civil servants, are provided with corporate governance practices that allow them to be the best workers they can be by means of diverse strategic human resource management (SHRM) practices. This relies on the relationship built between employees and managerial officials and their approaches in helping civil servants reach their full potential at their place of work for the benefit of the public service in general, the employees themselves on an individual level and ultimately taxpayers and the country’s citizens. This study seeks to establish a better understanding of how corporate governance practices affect SHRM. A qualitative approach was used to explore this through the participation of different civil servants at different levels across different governmental ministries and/or departments thus providing perspectives from both managerial and operational levels. The findings made through this exploratory analysis indicate that SHRM is highly influenced by corporate governance practices in place. This research project highlights a number of practices that may be improved in order to reach a cultural change which serves civil servants across levels with the ability to better their performance through the careful implementation of systems focusing on knowledge transfer, succession planning, career development and employee engagement.