Monday, April 7, 2014

Revamping the Bureaucracy - Civil Service Reform(UNIT 4 PART 3)

According to the article, it is time for reform of the Federal civil service system. The author claims that the system is over 60 years old, and, without rigorous reform, it will have major consequences for our country. The article blames the hiring, training, promoting, and classifying mechanisms of the bureaucracy to be the problem. In the bureaucracy, the merit system is used to hire new workers, and the Pendleton Act assures that civil service employees are hired based on merit, not patronage. 
The author cites several surveys and studies about the topic. She says that the system is still set up for clerical government jobs, but most Federal jobs are now "knowledge-based." She claims that the competition for the "nation's top talent" is too high, and the government isn't getting enough. The article lists ways for the government to revamp the bureaucracy systems, such as changing the way workers are paid, reexamining the General Schedule classification system, and giving more flexibility to hiring standards. It concludes by stating that the civil service is in dire need of reform, and that while legislation has yet to be proposed, some politicians are considering opening up conversation about it.

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