2. Reasons Why We Study
Personnel
• Decisions made in personnel have a direct bearing on
who makes and implements government policies
• Personnel decisions themselves are policy matters
• The cost of running organizations has risen
dramatically
• Size and scope of government make personnel
concerns important
3. Development of the Civil
Service
• Civil Service – nonpartisan group of government workers who obtain work through merit and competence
and enjoy the benefit of seemingly permanent employment.
• Two demands:
• Fair and competent administration
• Responsive to partisan claims
• Period 1: Spoils/Patronage System (1789 – 1883)
• Created by Andrew Jackson to build grassroots support.
• No expertise necessary
• Jobs given to those with the “right” political loyalties
• Seen as populist politics that supported the common man and emphasized a distrust of the aristocracy
• Period 2: Merit System (1883 – 1995)
• Merit system – appointments and hiring based on exams, qualifications, and training.
• Why?
• Industrial revolution
• Assassination of President James Garfield by Charles Giteau
• Pendleton Act (1883)
• Creates Civil Service Commission
• Establish job classifications
• Administer exams
• Oversee merit employees
• Promote neutral competence
4. Development of the Civil
Service
• Period 3: Executive Leadership (1995 – Present)
• Management of the bureaucracy based on presidential
leadership and business management tools.
• Government becomes more results driven and market
oriented.
• Period 4: Today
• Embodies all three systems
• Carry out programs fairly (merit)
• Respond to political forces (patronage)
• Respond to principles of management (executive)
5. The Structure of
Personnel Systems
• Formal Arrangements
• Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
• Formerly the Civil Service Commission
• Changed with Civil Service Reform Act of 1978
• Establishes pay rates
• Establishes job classifications
• Oversees hiring, training, promoting and firing.
• Administers the civil service exam
• Oversees the merit system
• OPM monitored by the MSPB and Office of Special Counsel (appeal decisions)
• The Merit System
• 93% of national executive branch employees under merit system (merit
pay).
• Pendleton Act (shifting those under civil service)
10. The Structure of
Personnel Systems
• Separate Merit Systems (30% of federal employees)
• Some agencies have their own separate merit systems for pay
• Examples:
• U.S. Postal Service
• Department of State
• Public Health Service
• Tennessee Valley Authority
• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Why separate?
• Make public employment more attractive to professionals
• Allow agency greater freedom in hiring and firing
• Greater employee screening
• Some jobs can’t be classified along the same lines as the General Schedule
11.
12. The Structure of
Personnel Systems
• Excepted Service
• OPM provides exceptions for certain agencies to fill special jobs
without the use of traditional competitive hiring procedures under the
General Schedule.
• Divided into Schedule A, B, C and noncareer senior executives.
• Schedule A
• Standard qualification requirements not practical.
• No exam.
• Schedule B
• Standard qualification requirements not practical.
• Must take noncompetitive exam (not required in Schedule A)
• Schedule C
• Patronage appointees
• Non-career SES employees (1,400)
14. The Structure of
Personnel Systems
The Executive Schedule
• Level I
• Secretary of State.
• Secretary of the Treasury.
• Secretary of Defense.
• Attorney General.
• Secretary of the Interior.
• Secretary of Agriculture.
• Secretary of Commerce.
• Secretary of Labor.
• Secretary of Health and Human Services.
• Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
• Secretary of Transportation.
• United States Trade Representative.
• Secretary of Energy.
• Secretary of Education.
• Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
• Secretary of Homeland Security.
• Level II
• Deputy Secretary of Defense.
• Deputy Secretary of State.
• Deputy Secretary of State for Management and
Resources.
• Administrator, Agency for International Development.
• Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
• Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
• Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security.
• Under Secretary of Homeland Security for
Management.
• Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.
• Deputy Secretary of Transportation.
• Chairman, Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
• Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers.
• Director of the Office of Science and Technology.
• Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
• Secretary of the Air Force.
• Secretary of the Army.
• Secretary of the Navy.
15. The Structure of the
Personnel Systems
Executive Schedule
• Level III
• Deputy Secretary of Defense.
• Deputy Secretary of State.
• Deputy Secretary of State for Management and
Resources.
• Administrator, Agency for International Development.
• Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
• Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
• Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security.
• Under Secretary of Homeland Security for
Management.
• Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.
• Deputy Secretary of Transportation.
• Chairman, Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
• Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers.
• Director of the Office of Science and Technology.
• Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
• Secretary of the Air Force.
• Secretary of the Army.
• Secretary of the Navy.
• Level IV
• Chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board.
• Chairman, Federal Communications Commission.
• Chairman, Board of Directors, Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation.
• Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
• Chairman, Federal Trade Commission.
• Chairman, Surface Transportation Board.
• Chairman, National Labor Relations Board.
• Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Chairman, National Mediation Board.
• Level V
• Members, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
• Members, Federal Trade Commission.
• Members, Surface Transportation Board.
• Members, National Labor Relations Board.
• Members, Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Members, Merit Systems Protection Board.
• Members, Federal Maritime Commission.
• Members, National Mediation Board.
• Members, Railroad Retirement Board.
16. The Size of the Federal
Bureaucracy
• Political appointees (5823) – get jobs through political connections
• President appoints with confirmation by the Senate (663)
• President appoints with no confirmation (1405)
• Agency head appointments (1725)
• Civil Service Employees
• General Civil Servants (2.74 million)
• Get jobs through merit system of examinations administered by the Office of
Personnel Management
• Enter government at a young age and work their way up
• Career professionals (270,000)
• Developed scientific or technical career outside of government and then entered public
service.
• Appointed to top level positions
• Senior administrators
• Senior technical specialists
• Management specialists
17. Appointees (approx 6000)
(i) President nominates, Senate confirms
(ex: Secretary of State)
(ii) President nominates, no Senate approval required
(ex: Undersecretary of State)
(iii) Agency head nominates, no Senate approval required
(ex: Assistant Deputy to the Undersecretary of State)
Civil Servants
Career Professionals (GS9+; approx 250,000)
Street Level Bureaucrats (GS8-; approx 3,000,000)
23. Why does bureaucracy
grow?
• Technological complexity
• Government grows naturally as the size of the
population grows.
• Public Pressure
• Crisis situations
