Public personnel administration: from theodore roosevelt to ronald reagan

Abstract

Public personnel administration has progressed greatly since passage of the Civil Service Act of 1883, but despite this progress for many years there has been widespread dissatisfaction with traditional civil service practices. Because of these criticisms, alternative approaches to traditional civil service have been formulated and have already had much impact. Four such approaches or models are identified and discussed at length in this article: (1) management flexibility; (2) political and public responsiveness; (3) social justice and individual rights; and (4) collective bargaining. In evaluating the present state and future possibilities of public personnel administration, certain realities are often overlooked, specifically the peculiar features of government that make adoption of admired private sector practices impossible or very difficult; the need for much improvement in the “state of the art” in many technical and other aspects of personnel administration; and the deep differences of opinion and divergent values over public personnel policy that make it impossible to foresee a public personnel administration that does not displease many people.