Management of human resources

Corruption, particularly in the form of favouritism, nepotism and abuse of authority, can affect all human resource (HR) management processes, notably recruitment and promotion, compensation, conditions of service and personnel records. Improving HR management is therefore an important way to combat corruption in service delivery, with a view to sanctioning corrupt officials and attracting and retaining qualified and scrupulous staff along the service delivery chain. While evidence is inconclusive on the extent to which salaries can reduce or increase incentives for corruption, there is an emerging consensus that increasing salaries above subsistence level may contribute to reducing corruption, if combined with effective controls and management of staff and resources.[1]

Preventing corruption in HR management involves merit-based HR and recruitment policies, transparent pay packages and internal controls, as well as integrity management systems, including the implementation of codes of ethics, ethics training and whistleblowing mechanisms.[2] Information management systems can also improve organisational efficiency and the effectiveness of financial and operational administration. Pay management systems also need to be in place to eliminate ghost workers or leakages of salary-related financial flows.



Raising public officials’ ethical standards by establishing or improving codes of conduct and providing adequate training on the interpretation and application of these codes and standards is also an approach which is gaining momentum to address corruption in service delivery.[3]

Footnotes

Author

Iñaki Albisu Ardigó; Marie Chêne

Reviewer:

Matthew Jenkins

Contributing experts:

Umrbek Allakulov (Water Integrity Network)

Shaazka Beyerle (US Institute of Peace)

Simone Bloem (Center for Applied Policy)

Claire Grandadam (Water Integrity Network)

Jacques Hallak (Jules Verne University – Amiens)

Mihaylo Milovanovitch (Centre For Applied Policy)

Muriel Poisson (International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP-UNESCO)

Juanita Riano (Inter-American Development Bank)

Marc Y. Tassé (Canadian Centre of Excellence for Anti-Corruption)

Vítězslav Titl (University of Siegen)

Davide Torsello (Central European University Business School)

Patty Zakaria (Royal Roads University)

Date

01/09/2017

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