The third edition of this volume was published in 1995. In the preface to that book, we offered the opinion that the field of Public Personnel Administration (PPA) or Human Resource Management (HRM)--both terms will be used interchangeably--stood at the threshold of a new age. Specifically, we stated, "It is probably not an excessive burst of hyperbole to suggest that we have entered the third great stage of civil service reform in modern times." Although no acute forecasting talents were needed to generate that observation, succeeding events have reaffirmed and deepened our conviction that PPA (or HRM) is immersed in an epic attempt to alter its techniques, goals, and underlying value system. To opine that "lots has changed" since 1995 is to engage in gross understatement. The previous edition was written and published just as the so-calledreinventionmovement was beginning to take hold in civil service systems. At that point, there was far more speculation than fact as to the ultimate impacts thatdecentralizationand the emphasis onaccountabilitywould exert. Because reform of the civil service is almost a constant, few words carry sufficient power and scope to impart the true meaning of what is now occurring in state and local HRM systems.

We are now far enough into the current reform craze to draw some weighty conclusions, most of whichdoelicit descriptions that should be saved for truly momentous times. An expression such asparadigm shiftmay be hackneyed and melodramatic, but it certainly comes to mind when one surveys the contemporary landscape of public personnel administration. The pace of change is so rapid that it is sometimes bewildering. Moreover, the enthusiasm for revolutionizing basic approaches to human resource management is so great that it represents an almost irresistible force. Seldom has there been a stronger conviction and a more wide-spread consensus about how the public personnel system of the future ought to look. As has been our intent in the other three editions of this anthology, our purpose here is to provide readers with a concise overview of theproblemsandprospectsof modern public personnel administration. The goal has not changed, but the challenge has certainly become more formidable. Whereas previous editions attempted to keep our audience up-to-date on such diverse issues as workplace diversity, the productivity challenge, unionization, ethics, and a plethora of related dilemmas, we must now contend with additional topics that transcend every other facet of the PPA system and permeate the fiber of both the theory and practice of this field.

In a very real sense, HRM is being turned on its head before our eyes. One unmistakable example is the simple fact that the most basic element of public personnel operations--the merit system--is being abolished (or at least fundamentally altered) by reformers. Changes of this nature reverberate through the entire HRM system, affecting every technique and shifting the expectations that managers have of their offices of personnel management. The chapters in this anthology represent another attempt to tap the exciting trends in PPA and to probe their implications. To this end, we have assembled original manuscripts that represent a cross-section of the timeliest and best-informed scholarship in the area of human resource management. The book contains a mix of thought pieces, descriptive analyses, overviews of occurrences in various settings, and theoretical essays. Consistent with our "problems and prospects"' theme--one that has served us well for twenty years--the selections summarize the biggest problems confronting HRM practitioners and offer substantive suggestions for improving the practice of public personnel management. Obviously, then, the chapters focus more on thefutureof the field than on its past.

We are more concerned with.