Motivating Government Managers for Retrenchment: Some Possible Lessons from the Senior Executive Service

Abstract

In the past five years, two issues, civil service reform and cutback management, have emerged as major areas of interest in public administration. Although the issues are clearly related, they are rarely discussed in tandem.' Cutback management has been analyzed most often in political terms: What options are available to political decision makers in a time of fiscal retrenchment? What kinds of political strains are placed upon the system when the demands of some groups cannot be met? Civil service reform has been discussed primarily in terms of increased governmental efficiency, productivity, and responsiveness. Underlying the responsiveness theme is the recurring notion that better control of the bureaucracy leads to-or is synonymous with-better control of the budget.