Preface

The number one government-wide initiative, as outlined in President Bush's "President's Management Agenda," is the strategic management of human capital. According to Knowledgeworkers.com, human capital is the accumulated value of an individual's intellect, knowledge, and experience. In the U.S. federal government, a human capital crisis exists. The factors contributing to a human capital dilemma include a knowledge bleed due to retirement eligibility, changing perspectives on work, and escalating knowledge loss. According to a Joint Hearing on the Federal Human Capital, by 2005 more than half of the 1.8 million non-postal civilian employees will be eligible for early or regular retirement. An even greater percentage of the Senior Executive Service, the government's core managers, will be eligible to leave.

All government agencies are now wrestling with how best to develop a human capital strategy for their organization. Many of these agencies have scored a "red" (lowest rating) on the Government Score-card in the way they are approaching their strategic management of human capital.

This book takes a collective look at the existing human capital frameworks being used in government and provides a unifying structure, with four key pillars, on which government agencies can develop their human capital strategy. Using a knowledge management perspective on which to base the insights important to developing a human capital strategy, this book provides extremely timely and informative help to the government agencies addressing a human capital crisis. I hope that it will be a key reference for government agencies to follow in developing their human capital strategy. It is geared primarily for federal senior executives, human capital planners and managers, knowledge managers, and organizational development professionals in government as well as in industry and academe.

I would like to thank Karen Maloney, Katie Hennessy, Dennis McGonagle, Mamata Reddy, and the rest of the staff at Elsevier for publishing this book. I would also like to thank my colleagues in government, industry, and academia for helping me to shape and refine my views, especially Shereen Remez, Lee Salmon, and Alex Bennet for their encouragement and endorsements. The views expressed are my own, and not the official views of the organizations mentioned.

I also want to thank my colleagues and students at Johns Hopkins University for encouraging me to write this book. And most of all, my family deserves my adoration for allowing me to sneak upstairs to complete this book. Enjoy!

Jay Liebowitz
Johns Hopkins University
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