Trinidad and Tobago inherited its local government system from its colonial masters, more so the Spanish and the British. Since then there have been several attempts to modernize the system and make it more appropriate for the development of Trinidad and Tobago. Incremental changes have been made. However, over the last twenty (20) years, there have been concerted efforts towards local government reform in Trinidad and Tobago. This has resulted in revised legislation to give the Municipal Corporation more autonomy. Further reform initiatives are suggested in the Ministry’s Green and White Papers which are in tandem with the policy agenda of the Government to achieve developed country status by 2020.

This paper proposes to conduct an inquiry into the issue of Organisational Change in the context of Local Government Reform and its relationship to effective Human Resource Planning in the Ministry of local Government.

The major argument suggested is that the Local Government Reform initiatives, as a significant aspect of organizational change, has not been in alignment with effective human resource planning strategies and techniques which is critical for facilitating successful execution of the mandate of the Ministry of Local Government.

It is suggested that the Human Resource is the most valuable resource of any organization. Human Resource Planning aims to ensure that the organization has the right people in the right place at the right time in order to achieve its strategic objectives effectively and efficiently. Thus, the absence of the alignment of the reform initiatives with the Human Resource Planning strategies, programmes and activities is likely to have a negative impact on the accomplishment of the Ministry’s reform objectives.

This investigation is to explore the factors involved and make recommendations to create that synergy between Local Government Reform and Human Resource planning.

The University of the West Indies
Mona, Jamaica
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