【正文】 nned downsizing, difficulty in attracting new generations to public service, and the changing nature of public service. However, the human resource crisis also presents an opportunity to fundamentally change those features of public sector human resource management practices that have bee outdated for contemporary anizations and position government agencies for the twentyfirst century by meaningfully reforming the civil service. This transformation would require public sector anizations to take a more strategic view of human resource management and to give greater policy attention to human capital issues. Introduction In 1989, the National Commission on the Public Service (monly referred to as the Volcker Commission) issued a report on the state of public service characterizing it as a “quiet crisis,” which referred to the slow weakening of the public service in the 1970s and 1980s. This period was marked by loss of public confidence in its elected and appointed officials, heightened bureaucrat bashing by the media and political candidates, and a distressed civil service. For different reasons, the quiet crisis of earlier decades continued through the 1990s and is present today. The current crisis is building as large numbers of government workers are expected to retire in the ing years and not enough younger people are in the pipeline for government jobs. Adding to the crisis is understaffed government agencies, a skills imbalance, and a lack of welltrained supervisors and senior leaders. These concerns are reinforced by a preliminary report of the second National Commission on Public Service (Light, 2020), which paints a more dire picture and foreshadows a more pronounced crisis. Light contends that “the United States cannot win the war on terrorism or rebuild homeland security without a fully dedicated federal civil service” (p. 2). Millick and Smith (2020, p. 3) have a similar reaction when they state “while the first National Commission on Public Service referred to a ?quiet crisis? in the civil service, the second Commission is facing what can only be called an imminent catastrophe.” Scholars and practitioners alike have been projecting serious shortages in qualified workforce in federal government (Light, 1999。Soni,1997) show that in spite of increased diversity in the workplace, anizational capacity to fully utilize and effectively manage diversity remains limited. There are many reasons for this limitation. For example, the inability and lack of willingness on the part of anizational leaders and members to recognize effective diversity management as a salient workplace issue or that institutional and cultural biases and barriers can limit agencies? approaches to diversity. Successfully managing diversity is a challenging process, but with a clear vision, careful planning and a willingness and mitment to change, government can develop a petitive advantage as an employer and a producer of services to the American people. Riccuci (2020) argues that agencies need to develop the ability to address such challenges as munication breakdowns, misunderstandings, and even hostilities that invariably result from working in an environment with persons from highly diverse backgrounds, age groups, and lifestyles. To the extent that the demographics of the workforce reflect that of the general population that it serves and it is effectively managed, the delivery of public service will be greatly enhanced. Public sector anizations must assess and understand the current demographic plexion of their workforce in conjunction with projected forecasts for change (Workforce 2020, 1997). “Public sector anizations that perfunctorily develop diversity programs solely for the purpose of avoiding liability in potential lawsuits pletely miss the point about the importance of diversity programs. They will fail to adequately plan for their own successful performance as well as the future governance of American people,” notes Riccucci (2020, p. 31). Improving Human Resource Management Practices Proposals to reform civil service and public sector human resource management (HRM) in the twentyfirst century fall into three categories. The first proposal advocates cutting costs and downgrading the career workforce (Klingneramp。Klee man,1992). This approach reflects the antigovernment values prominent in the late 1990s. Advocates of this approach criticize public sector HR management as being rulebound, inflexible, driven by legal mandates, risk averse, and a constraint on managers. They see little connection between HR management and anizational mission and remend eliminating the inhouse HR department and outsource the majority of its functions. The second proposal calls for upgrading the pensation, status, and responsibilities of the career civil service employees. This approach emphasizes the strong oversight role of OPM to preserve the merit principles and ensure consistency in HR management in the federal government. Advocates of this approach value expertise embodied in HR professionals and consistency in personnel polices, as well as the necessity and importance of pliance with legal mandates. This approach is based upon the traditional principles of merit, that is, personnel practices based on knowledge, skills, and abilities, fairness, and social equity. The third proposal argues that the essence of modern human resources management is workforce planning. This strategy remends that federal agencies? human resource activities should be guided by longterm planning rather then shortterm problems. This approach advocates the importance of identifying and connecting present and future petencies with the outes identified in an anization?s strategic plan. It includes taking an inventory of what is available in the current workforce and what is needed, and how to close the gap. Spiegel (199