Major historical eras in public personnel administration since the American Revolution

Public Personnel Administration

The objective of this work is to trace the major eras or period of personnel administration since the American Revolution. Included will be the strengths and weaknesses of each era and as well a description of the selection practices that were predominant in each era will be provided. This work will further describe the effect each era has had on the development of personnel issues such as employee rights, recruitment, classification, compensation, benefits, training and labor relations. Finally, this work will discuss the values important in each era and will as well provide examples which demonstrate how values, such as responsiveness, administrative efficiency and individual rights might sometimes conflict with certain functions of personnel administration.

INTRODUCTION

Public Personnel Administration is a role rife with responsibilities that often conflict one with the other and this in addition to the difficulties that present themselves as the Personnel Administrator has as one of their primary focuses the avoidance of conflicts and difficulties among the 'human' factors of the organization. Since the American Revolution there have been eras of time that are differentiated by the specific characteristics of the way that personnel administration proceeds and as well the precise elements within the American society at these different junctures are that which have impacted and shaped the development of personnel administration. Characterize the administration of personnel in the United States.

DEVELOPMENT of PUBLIC PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION POLICY

The work of Thomas Maloney entitled: "Personnel Policy and Racial Inequality in the Pre-World War II North" published in the Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 30 No. 2 (Autumn, 1999) pp. 235-258 states the fact that in the period between the years 1910 and 1940 the population of the black individuals in the northern U.S. "nearly tripled, rising from just over 1 million to more than 2.6 million, signaling the start of the 'Great Migration' out of the blacks out of the South. The situation was characterized by a decline in agricultural labor needs and exacerbated by need of industry workers and is expressed by Maloney as being "a step into the unknown' for those employers who hired the black worker. This is only one example of the conflicts that might be faced in the initiative of hiring. Other historical events and situations of society have influenced Public Personnel Administration and some of those have been noted in the work entitled: "Personnel Management" written by Michael J. Jucius states that historical changes in the United States can be accredited to:

1) Technological conditions;

2) Cultural and social background;

3) Governmental relations;

4) Trends in employee's role;

REINVENTING GOVERNMENT: THE 1990S

During the decade of the 1990's which was an era characterized by significant changes the phrase "reinventing government" because popular. Many changes for operation and management of government agencies was proposed and implemented during this decade. Reform was not only the U.S. But throughout the world. In this view the leadership should be responsible for setting policy while allowing managers to assist in the best method of accomplishing their goals. Stated as well is that: "Historically in the United States and many other countries, the major responsibility for personnel policy has rested in a central personnel agency such as agencies like the U.S. Civil Service Commission, or later the U.S. Office of Personnel Management..." (1999)

THE DECENTRALIZATION of AUTHORITY for PERSONNEL FUNCTIONS.

A central personnel agency for the government whether state of local has the responsibility for specific functions such as "examining the qualifications of applicants, analyzing and classifying jobs, structuring the performance appraisal process, and determining pay and benefits. One purpose for centralizing these responsibilities is to ensure that applicants and employees are treated equitably in the employment process. But reformers have long argued that "excessive" centralization of authority over these processes robs managers in line agencies and bureaus of needed flexibility in dealing with particular organizational or individual contingencies." (1999)

In terms of 'employee selection' Kellough states that: "Line managers and supervisors, of course, have always exercised some authority in the selection process. Typically the final selection decision rests at their level, but their discretion has been constrained by rules limiting their choices to applicants whose names appear at the top of a list of eligible candidates certified by a central personnel office. This is the "rule of three" in the federal service and in many other jurisdictions" (1999) Factors of this process that have been the focus of criticism are as follows: (1) it is suggested that: "managers could make better hiring decisions if their discretion was not so confined. Managers may feel that they know the requirements for a position because of their proximity to the job, and they may believe that certain individuals who are not reachable because they are not among the top three candidates (or four or five given the rule used) on the list may in fact possess certain abilities that qualify them for selection above those at the top. Implicit in this view is the notion that a centralized examination process will not necessarily capture all of what is important on the job; and (2) Additionally, the traditional process is faulted because many believe that too much time passes from the initial application stage to the point where a list of eligible applicants is compiled and forwarded to a manager trying to fill a vacancy by the time their names are actually presented to a manager for consideration for selection, it is argued, many of the best applicants will have found work elsewhere.

Kellough relates that there has been an ongoing and strong interest in the delegation of authority increase in order that selection to line for agencies and managers is increased. Within this structure "...central registers would be abolished and individual agencies would be responsible for constructing their own job examination and selection procedures. Suggestions for reinventing public personnel administration have enthusiastically embraced such proposals." (Kellough, 1999)

CHARACTERISTICS of the ERAS

In the early part of the 1900's fair pay was not heard in relation to white and black workers, and further it was not heard of that a woman should receive equal pay. The civil rights issues contained in this subject area are voluminous in document form however it can be simply stated that when the public personnel policy is not in alignment with principles, ethics and integrity then there will tend to be those who are not paid as well, or who do not have the same benefits available to them. For example, the black worker just following the civil war was believed to be of low intelligence thereby rendering it very unlikely that he would receive pay equal to other men. The same is true for female workers during the mid to latter part of the 1900s as it was highly unlikely that anyone would offer to a woman the same amount that was offered to men to secure their employment.

In the work of Raadschelders entitled: "A Coherent Framework for the Study of Public Administration" stated is that: "The identity crisis of public administration, discussed on both sides of the Atlantic since the Second World War, is a debate about both its academic stature and its relevance to society. American students of Public Administration, who are rooted in a practical approach, have time and again addressed this issue by stating the need for a comprehensive theory that would unify the study." (2005) RAadschelders makes the suggestion that perhaps it is best defined by stating that public administration is "essentially multidisciplinary and maybe interdisciplinary..." (2005) in other words Raadchelders (2005) expresses that an entirely new view of what comprises the many aspects of public personnel administration have been proposed and that those theories are critically in need of case study research.