ABSTRACT
Amajor objective of personnel management is to foster agency productivity. Ageneral reasoning underlying the personnel management functions discussed thus far purports that if an organization anticipates its needs for personnel in a timely and accurate way, structures its tasks in accordance with technological and organizational needs, identifies and hires competent people, conducts and uses evaluations of employee performance, trains and develops employees, and compensates workers in ways that are perceived as fair and rewarding performance, then the organization’s workforce will be productive and the organization will accomplish its goals. All of this is logical and at least partially supported by empirical evidence. There is, however, one major caveat: Conflict between employees and supervisors detracts from the productivity increases that could be attained through these efforts.
