Merit system

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The merit system is the process of promoting and hiring government employees based on their ability to perform a job, rather than on their political connections. [1] It is the opposite of the spoils system.

Contents

History

The earliest known example of a merit system dates to the Qin and Han dynasties. To maintain power over a large, sprawling empire, the government maintained a complex network of officials. [1] Prospective officials could come from a rural background and government positions were not restricted to the nobility. Rank was determined by merit, through the civil service examinations, and education became the key for social mobility. [2] After the fall of the Han Dynasty, the nine-rank system was established during the Three Kingdoms period. The concept of a merit system spread from China to British India during the 17th century, and then into continental Europe. [3]

United States

The United States civil service began to run on the spoils system in 1829 when Andrew Jackson became president. The assassination of United States President James A. Garfield by a disappointed office seeker in 1881 proved its dangers. President Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau who believed that the president owed him a civil service position and in not giving him the position, threatened the very being of the Republican Party. In 1883, the system of appointments to the United States federal bureaucracy was revamped by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which made the merit system common practice. [4] The merit system determines the fitness of the candidate by the ability to pass a written competitive examination, given by a commission of examiners. The answers submitted by candidates must be unsigned, so as to obviate the possibility of favoritism on the part of the examiners. A list is made of the successful candidates, arranged in the order of their merit as shown by the results of the examination. Appointments must be made from this eligible list in the order of rank unless good cause can be shown why one of higher rank should be set aside for one standing lower on the list. [4]

Proponents of the system admit that the system does not always lead to the choice of most competent candidate but is effective in eliminating those most incompetent. [4] In addition the possible exclusion of most competent candidate is outweighed by the system's benefits such as limiting the ability of nepotism and political favoritism. The power of appointment being vested in the president of the United States by the United States Constitution, it is not within the power of the United States Congress to fetter the president's action by the enactment of laws restricting the exercise of the power of appointments. Thus, in the United States, the merit system has been extensively applied by the voluntary action of the president following self-imposed rules. It has been judicially determined that the civil-service rules promulgated by the president of the United States do not have the force of general law and confer upon members of the civil service no right to invoke the aid of the courts to protect them against violation thereof. They are the president's laws, and the president alone can enforce them. [5] Working under the supervision of the president is the Merit Systems Protection Board. The MSPB follows nine core principles [5] when governing the executive branch workforce.

Performance Assessment

Forced Ranking

Forced Ranking is a system in which performing employees are ranked into groups a company has established. The term 'Rank and Yank' was created by the former CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch. The 'Rank and Yank' encouraged terminating the employment of poor performers and replacing them with new personnel. Many like Welch and Former Chief Executive of Microsoft believe in replacing poor performers while others, such as Tom Barry, former Managing Director at BlessingWhite, believe in 're-engaging underperforming employees.' [6]

Consequences of Performance Assessment

As the United States has become Anti-Bureaucratic, it has moved away from the outdated depiction of Merit System. Twenty-eight states have established an 'At Will' environment where civil service employees can be fired at any time without cause. In 2014 the Department of Veteran Affairs became overwhelmed with problems with scheduling appointments. Congress called for immediate action and ordered the Department of Veteran Affairs to lay off 'miscreant' employees. Donald F. Kettl explores in his work, The Merit Principle in Crisis, 'At will' practices and whether they're beneficial to the bureaucratic practices of the government. Kettl states that due to an increase in government programs, firing 'miscreant' bureaucratic employees would only 'weaken the government's ability to steer'. Such repercussions such as Kettl's are not the only measures taken by employers. [7]

Pros

The importance of the merit system in a workplace is to provide good quality work to the public. When merit is truly assessed in the process of hiring or promoting personnel, an honest, effective, and productive workplace is created. [8] Employees build organizations and the service they provide to customers allows the organization to be successful. Without its employees or customers, an organization would be doomed. Motivated and happy employees are the key principle of the merit system. Employees who are satisfied with their jobs are likely to provide a higher level of productivity (more work in less time, costing organizations less money), less likely to quit (low or lower employee turnover rates), great communication for voicing workplace concerns (trust and comfort between supervisor and employees), little to no abuse of company benefits/incentives, i.e.: lunch breaks, sick leave, bonuses, etc. Bottom line, administration is responsible for providing and setting the atmosphere and standards of a workplace that result in success. [9]

Cons

The merit system has been criticized that it leads to uncooperative behaviors among employees, creating conflict that can negatively affect productivity. It is based on performance compensation that encourages competition among employees, creating a competitive environment that puts employees at odds with one another. This can lead to unwanted behavior that can affect productivity. Disrupting team unity to look better on reviews and personal goals becomes more important than team goals. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

Meritocracy is the notion of a political system in which economic goods or political power are vested in individual people based on ability and talent, rather than wealth, social class, or race. Advancement in such a system is based on performance, as measured through examination or demonstrated achievement. Although the concept of meritocracy has existed for centuries, the first known use of the term was by sociologist Alan Fox in the journal Socialist Commentary in 1956. It was then popularized by sociologist Michael Dunlop Young, who used the term in his dystopian political and satirical book The Rise of the Meritocracy in 1958. Today, the term is often utilised to refer to social systems, in which personal advancement and success are primarily attributed to an individual's capabilities and merits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act</span> 1883 United States federal law

The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act is a United States federal law passed by the 47th United States Congress and signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur on January 16, 1883. The act mandates that most positions within the federal government should be awarded on the basis of merit instead of political patronage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spoils system</span> Elected party giving jobs to supporters

In politics and government, a spoils system is a practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its supporters, friends (cronyism), and relatives (nepotism) as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party—as opposed to a merit system, where offices are awarded or promoted on the basis of some measure of merit, independent of political activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil service</span> Non-elected branch of governmental service

The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil servant, also known as a public servant or public employee, is a person employed in the public sector by a government department or agency for public sector undertakings. Civil servants work for central and state governments, and answer to the government, not a political party.

Civil service examinations are examinations implemented in various countries for recruitment and admission to the civil service. They are intended as a method to achieve an effective, rational public administration on a merit system for recruiting prospective politicians and public sector employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bureaucrat</span> Member of a bureaucracy

A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can compose the administration of any organization of any size, although the term usually connotes someone within an institution of government.

Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people have provided to artists such as musicians, painters, and sculptors. It can also refer to the right of bestowing offices or church benefices, the business given to a store by a regular customer, and the guardianship of saints. The word patron derives from the Latin patronus ('patron'), one who gives benefits to his clients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public administration</span> Academic discipline; implementation or management of policy

Public administration or public policy and administration is the academic discipline that studies how public policy is created and implemented. It is also the subfield of political science that studies policy processes and the structures, functions, and behavior of public institutions and their relationships with a broader society. The study and application of public administration are founded on the principle that the proper functioning of an organization or institution relies on effective management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Civil Service Commission</span>

The United States Civil Service Commission was a government agency of the federal government of the United States and was created to select employees of federal government on merit rather than relationships. In 1979, it was dissolved as part of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978; the Office of Personnel Management and the Merit Systems Protection Board are the successor agencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Senior Executive Service (United States)</span> Federal civil service job classification

The Senior Executive Service (SES) is a position classification in the civil service of the United States federal government equivalent to general officer or flag officer rank in the U.S. Armed Forces. It was created in 1979 when the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 went into effect under President Jimmy Carter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil service of Japan</span>

The Japanese civil service employs over three million employees, with the Japan Self-Defense Forces, with 247,000 personnel, being the biggest branch. In the post-war period, this figure has been even higher, but the privatization of a large number of public corporations since the 1980s, including NTT, Japanese National Railways, and Japan Post, already reduced the number.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil Service Reform Act of 1978</span> United States legislation

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, (CSRA), reformed the civil service of the United States federal government, partly in response to the Watergate scandal. The Act abolished the U.S. Civil Service Commission and distributed its functions primarily among three new agencies: the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA).

The United States federal civil service is the civilian workforce of the United States federal government's departments and agencies. The federal civil service was established in 1871. U.S. state and local government entities often have comparable civil service systems that are modeled on the national system to varying degrees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Executive Order 13087</span> 1998 United States executive order

Executive Order 13087 was signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton on May 28, 1998, amending Executive Order 11478 to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in the competitive service of the federal civilian workforce. The order also applies to employees of the government of the District of Columbia, and the United States Postal Service. However, it does not apply to positions and agencies in the excepted service, such as the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The "Half-Breeds" were a political faction of the United States Republican Party in the late 19th century.

The Public Service of Canada is the civilian workforce of the Government of Canada's departments, agencies, and other public bodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil service reform in the United States</span>

Civil service reform in the United States was a major issue in the late 19th century at the national level, and in the early 20th century at the state level. Proponents denounced the distribution of government offices—the "spoils"—by the winners of elections to their supporters as corrupt and inefficient. They demanded nonpartisan scientific methods and credential be used to select civil servants. The five important civil service reforms were the two Tenure of Office Acts of 1820 and 1867, Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, the Hatch Acts and the CSRA of 1978. In addition, the Civil Service Act of 1888 signed by President Grover Cleveland drastically expanded the civil service system.

The Public Service Commission of Canada is an independent government agency that safeguards merit-based hiring, non-partisanship, representativeness of Canada's diversity, and the use of both official languages in the Canadian public service. The PSC aims to protect the integrity of hiring and promotion within the public service. As well, the Commission works to protect the political impartiality and non-partisanship of public servants. The Commission develops staffing policies and provides guidance to public service managers and recruits Canadians into the public service. To ensure the staffing system in the government is properly maintained, the PSC has the authority to audit and investigate to ensure departments and managers make improvements. While typical government departments are headed by Ministers, the PSC is an independent agency that is headed by a President who reports to the Canadian Parliament.

Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois, 497 U.S. 62 (1990), was a United States Supreme Court decision that held that the First Amendment forbids a government entity from basing its decision to promote, transfer, recall, or hire low-level public employees based upon their party affiliation.

According to the United States Office of Government Ethics, a political appointee is "any employee who is appointed by the President, the Vice President, or agency head". As of 2016, there were around 4,000 political appointment positions which an incoming administration needs to review, and fill or confirm, of which about 1,200 require Senate confirmation. The White House Presidential Personnel Office (PPO) is one of the offices most responsible for political appointees and for assessing candidates to work at or for the White House.

References

  1. 1 2 Monitoring Merit. Institute of Public Administration of Canada. p. 15. ISBN   978-1-55061-049-9.
  2. ↑ Burbank, Jane and Cooper, Frederick. (2010). Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN   0-691-12708-5.
  3. ↑ Kazin, Michael, Edwards, Rebecca, and Rothman, Adam. (2010). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Chicken Nugget Political History Volume 2. Princeton University Press. ISBN   0-691-12971-1.
  4. 1 2 3 McIlhenny, John A. (1917). "The Merit System and the Higher Offices". American Political Science Review. 11 (3): 461–472. doi:10.2307/1944248. ISSN   0003-0554. JSTOR   1944248 . S2CID   144425374.
  5. 1 2 "Merit System Principles". U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020.
  6. ↑ Rao, Pramila (2013). Taking Sides Clashing Views in Human Resource Management. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 217–232. ISBN   978-0-07-352736-9.
  7. ↑ Kettl, Donald F. "The Merit Principle In Crisis." Governance 28.4 (2015): 421-424. Business Source Complete. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
  8. ↑ "Merit System Principles and Performance Management." U.S. Office of Personnel Management. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
  9. ↑ Caldwell, D. (1978). Employee Motivation Under Merit Systems. Public Personnel Management, 7(1), 65.
  10. ↑ Johnson, Susan Moore. Pros and Cons of Merit Pay. Fastback 203. Publications, Phi Delta Kappa, Bloomington, Indiana. 1984.
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