Bureaucracies Can Become Self-Justifying Systems, and Replicate

Bureaucracies can become self-justifying systems, and replicate ineffective administrative behaviors long after they have ceased to work. The Winter Commission Report (1993) was an attempt to provide advice to states and the federal government on the subject of civil service reform. Both bureaucratic as well as political reforms were deemed necessary to 'clean up' the civil service system and render it more effective in addressing the needs of the public. For some states such as Georgia, this has meant eliminating the traditional examination-based hierarchies and systems in which employees had virtual guaranteed employment for life, and instead employing administrators 'at will' (Nigro & Kellough 2008: 550). Merit-based systems have fallen out of favor and there has been greater deference to the independent opinions of managers to decide which employees can provide superior service to the public.

However, the Winter Commission's view of the civil service system was far from dismissive and it stressed the need to increase the budgets for training. Rather than shifting to at-will employment, instead it stressed the need for promoting based upon skills vs. tenure (Nigro & Kellough 2008: 551). However, given the fact that so many state budgets are increasingly strapped, the idea of increasing training budgets by three percent is likely to be an impossible dream (Fehr 2008). Hostility is also growing amongst the general public about what is seen as the exorbitant benefits of state employees, relative to those of employees in the public sector (Barrow 2010). Even if it does not result in improved services, the trend towards more at-will employment in civil service is likely inevitable.