Paper Sample on Civil Service Reform: A Brief History

The aspect of civil service reform started in America in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter ever since its inception in 1883. The act was formed to replace the Civil Service Commission by installing in place the modern Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and the Merit Systems Protection Board. The policy led to the development of a new officed manned by a 9200-member board of mobile and elite Senior Executive Service protected from political bullying (Mavor, Broderick & National Research Council, 1991). The reason for the reforms of 1978 date back to the 1976 presidential campaign, after the Georgia Governor and presidential aspirant, Jimmy Carter, had suggested proposed that he would introduce policies that would reduce the ineffectiveness of the government. For example, Carter led the voice of the Americans who were expressing disapproval with the way the government reacted to the Vietnam war, the effects of the recession during the 1970s, and outraged with how President Nixon was wrongfully engaging national agencies in the Watergate scandal (Mavor, Broderick & National Research Council, 1991). The team was also exempted from recast government pay systems and had protection for whistleblowing facilitated by the creation of the Office of Special Counsel. The Civil Service Reform Act eased the policies governing the Hatch Act for approximately 3 million government employees and also encouraged continuous redevelopment of the policies by personnel benchmarking projects. Hence, the Civil Service Reform Act sought to solve the issue of government bureaucracy by removing its complexity and enhancing remoteness to Americans who needed help.

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The passing of the Civil Service Reform Act restructured the long-standing approach of hierarchical, specialized, and untouchable bureaucracies that hindered paperwork, official programs, and policy formation. In its wake, the Civil Service Reform Act enforced service orientation, improved capacity to track and device policies, improve productivity, enhance accountability, and marketization (Foster, 1979). The Federal Labor Relations Authority was mandated to promote equal laws that governed employment among government agencies. The OPM ensured that there was uniformity when interpreting the law in public agencies. The OPM has also improved communication to ensure that Federal line managers learn of civil service reforms and understand the effects of program development conferences on activities of the executive branch (Foster, 1979). The act was implemented in two stages, which involved training and planning programs. Training programs were interested in informing, revising, or developing policies relating to federal agencies, while the planning part was involved with budgeting and assessing branch agencies. Hence, the OPM agency is tasked with offering consultative and technical assistance and undertaking evaluation of compliance. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent and oversight body that scrutinizes the businesses of OPM, also ensures that early retirement plans are not expressively affected by organizational restructuring to go for early retirements (Foster, 1979). GOA also monitors the gathering of information, protecting the rights of senior employees, and developing alternatives for paying, grading, and retention of government employees.

The passing of the Civil Service Reforms Act empowered local and state administrations to certify laws that govern civil service. The new reforms diverted the interests of government operations to adopt an economic approach rather than a political approach (Boeckelman, 2016). The change aimed at emphasizing the impacts of market forces on a person or an economy, instead of relying on government-designed policies. The new reforms exerted pressure on governments to display accountability and limit expenditure through lowering of deferred expenditure, hastening the collection of taxes, servicing costs, reduction of the deficit, and establishment of expenditure ceilings. The reforms enhanced individual accountability as it required people to make choices that were relevant to their goals (Boeckelman, 2016). The reforms also decentralized and limited government jurisdiction, which enables local and state agencies to deliver services, ease revenue collection, and connecting public policy. Also, the reforms ensured that non-governmental and non-profitable organizations offer social services.

Among the civil laws that may have impacted the civil service is the policy that required agencies to recruit qualified personnel from relevant institutions, which follows equality and equity among members of society, as well as career development and selection. Public agencies used aspects like individual skills, knowledge, and personal ability to enhance open competition and fairness among candidates (Boeckelman, 2016). Another policy is the law requiring public agencies to respect their employees’ constitutional and privacy rights and treat all of them equitably fairly without discriminating them based on their nationality, age, race, color, national origin, religion, marital status, gender, or political affiliation, among others (Boeckelman, 2016). The reforms further promoted the need for equal pay for work of the same value, by considering the local and national rates for payment used in the private sector, as well as the provision of recognition and appropriate incentives. Moreover, the reforms stated that employees should adhere to high standards of conduct, integrity, and regards to community interest (Boeckelman, 2016). Another law informs national and local agencies to retain employees based on their competency, correct employees if they exhibit inadequacy, and separating employees who are unwilling or unable to improve their competency to achieve defined standards.

References

Boeckelman, K. (2016). Civil Service Law and Public Personnel Management. Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance, 1-7. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_1170-1 https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-319-31816-5_1170-1

Foster, G. D. (1979). The 1978 Civil Service Reform Act: Post-Mortem or Rebirth?. Public Administration Review, 39(1), 78-86. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3110383?seq=1

Mavor, A. S., Broderick, R. F., & National Research Council. (1991). Pay for performance: Evaluating performance appraisal and merit pay. National Academies Press. https://www.nap.edu/catalog/1751/pay-for-performance-evaluating-performance-appraisal-and-merit-pay