Public Sector Human Resource Management
This domain tests the operational HR cycle: how work becomes a classified position, how a selection is made defensible, how pay and penalties are decided, and which employee-relations rules constrain a manager.
Core rules and concepts
- Job analysis (what the work is) precedes job evaluation (what the job is worth); classification, grade, and pay follow from both.
- Selection must be job-related and documented: defined minimum qualifications, structured and scored criteria, and a record explaining why the chosen candidate outranked others.
- Where the selection rate of any protected group falls below four-fifths of the highest group's rate, adverse impact is indicated and the instrument must be validated or revised.
- Pay systems combine comparability surveys, locality adjustment, and step or grade progression. Performance pay is only credible when appraisal criteria are observable and calibrated.
- Penalty selection is reasoned, not reflexive: seriousness of the offence, the employee's record, notice of the rule, consistency with precedents, and mitigating factors, all applied in writing.
- Collective bargaining distinguishes mandatory subjects (conditions of employment) from permissive and prohibited ones; management-rights clauses preserve direction of the workforce.
Worked example
200 applicants apply: 120 from group A and 80 from group B; 72 and 36 are selected. Selection rates are 60% and 45%. The ratio 0.45/0.60 = 0.75, below 0.80, so adverse impact is indicated. Reasoning: the test uses selection rates, not the raw counts - group B has a smaller pool, which magnifies its lower rate. The proportionate remedy is to validate the assessment against job performance or replace it, not to lower the standard arbitrarily.
Traps that cost marks
Confusing job analysis with job evaluation; claiming "best qualified" without scoring records; treating seniority progression and performance pay as interchangeable; imposing a first-offence penalty harsher than precedent supports without explaining the departure.