Review of Municipal personnel administration

Abstract

Reviews the book, Municipal personnel administration by E. D. Woolpert (Ed.) (1942). The tone and outlook of the book in general is objective and practical. The object is not to suggest complete overhauling of personnel administration overnight where obvious disparity exists between accepted standards and practices in given organizations. Instead, the personnel officer is made to realize that changes for the improvement of public service must be introduced by progressive steps. Progressive municipal officials and personnel psychologists can hardly afford to do without this volume designed as a practical guide. The general administrator will find it very useful in delineating the principal techniques derived by personnel experts and learning the relationship between these techniques and management problems confronting the chief administrator and his department heads. The personnel officer will find the text indispensable for two reasons: first, the principles and activities of a comprehensive personnel program are developed from discussions of the personnel problem; and second, the position of personnel administration in the broader framework of administrative management is portrayed quite effectively. In addition, students of municipal administration, particularly those interested in public service careers, will find the book most profitable in obtaining a balanced picture of the interests and approaches of the administrator and the personnel officer. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)