Civil Service Commission Research Articles

The Constitution Commands It: Legislative Power in a Commission's World

The passage of Michigan’s “right-to-work” legislation sparked a controversy regarding the legislation’s application to the classified civil service. The controversy unearthed a much more fundamental confusion within Michigan’s legal realm: when can the Legislature validly usurp the Civil Service Commission’s authority and regulate the civil service? This Article provides useful insight concerning Michigan’s civil service system and Civil Service Commission – a unique government structure created by constitutional amendment. The Article provides a comprehensive analysis of the Civil Service Commission’s “plenary power,” and, more interestingly, it provides an original evaluation of the Michigan Legislature’s ability to regulate civil service employees. Finally, this Article proposes a novel and sound standard to determine when the Legislature may validly regulate the civil service and applies it to the passage of the “right-to-work” legislation.This Article also discusses the Michigan Court of Appeals decision in UAW v. Green made on January 29, 2014.

ATLAS: An Adaptive Model for Measuring Language Proficiency

By order of the Civil Service Commission of Belgium, Didascalia, a research group at the University of Antwerp, has developed an adaptive system for evaluating second language proficiency. Therefore we have investigated to what extent language proficiency can be measured by computer. We created an adaptive model based on the following two principles. First we ranged the test items on a difficulty scale, using the ponderation and calibration of their distinctive features. Secondly, the test places the examinees on a proficiency scale. Therefore we developed a model based on probability and information theory. The first module of the ATLAS test is currently in use and assesses Approximately 15,000 civil servants for selection and promotion yearly.

The Impact of Veterans' Preference on the Composition and Quality of the Federal Civil Service

The Impact of Veterans' Preference on the Composition and Quality of the Federal Civil Service

Records management and ICTs

The main focus of this issue is on Africa; but we begin with a look at developing countries in general, and end with a paper on Bangladesh. The first paper, ‘Institutional and societal innovations in information technology for developing countries’, by Jeffrey James of Tilburg University, considers the impact of local innovation in IT in developing countries, which is based on various forms of sharing which benefit low-income groups. The paper emphasizes the sharing of mobile phones as the most potent source of spreading information technology in developing countries. The next paper, ‘Advancing HIV/AIDS combination prevention through mass media: a review of practices in sub-Saharan Africa’, by Mesfin Awoke Bekalu and Steven Eggermont of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, presents an assessment of the literature on the use of mass media campaigns to advance biomedical, structural and behavioural approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention in sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade. The findings suggest that the mass media seem to have focused mainly on behavioural interventions – a limitation which calls for serious attention. As in much of the rest of the world, the use of electronic records is becoming increasingly common in Africa, and the third paper in this issue, by Trywell Kalusopa and Patrick Ngulube of the University of South Africa, deals with this topic in the context of Botswana. In ‘Developing an e-records readiness framework for labour organizations in Botswana’, the authors surveyed all 50 registered labour organizations in Botswana and established that e-records readiness in these organizations reflected slow adoption of ICTs, inadequate records management standards and practices and low integration in the national e-readiness framework. The paper recommends actions to be taken to ensure the integration of labour organizations into the information and knowledge society in Botswana. Nigeria is the focus of the next paper, ‘The effect of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on knowledge sharing intentions of civil servants in Ebonyi State, Nigeria’, by Wole Olatokun and Chinazom Irene Nwafor of the University of Ibadan. Adopting a modified Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) as their approach, the authors conclude that extrinsic motivation does not have a significant effect on the knowledge sharing intentions of the employees of the Ebonyi State Civil Service Commission; the main motivating factors in knowledge sharing are enjoyment in helping others and knowledge self-efficacy. The authors recommend that organizations place more emphasis on intrinsic motivation, enhance knowledge sharing facilities and create a feedback system to increase employees’ knowledge selfefficacy. We leave Africa for Asia in the final paper in this issue. In ‘Students’ perceptions of academic use of social networking sites: a survey of university students in Bangladesh’, Israt Jahan of United International University and S.M. Zabed Ahmed of the University of Dhaka report the results of a survey on the perceptions of academic use of social networking sites by students of the University of Dhaka. The results show that the students have a positive attitude towards academic use of such sites, although there are some differences in their opinions. The differences are largely due to the fact that the use of these sites in academic contexts is not well-defined. Academic institutions need to devise policies and strategies on the use of social networking sites to support education and learning beyond the classroom.

The effect of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on knowledge sharing intentions of civil servants in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

This study investigated the effect of attitude on employee knowledge sharing intentions and examined the effect of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on employee attitude and intention toward knowledge sharing. To understand the motivators of employee knowledge sharing intentions, a modified Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) was adopted. Specifically, extrinsic and intrinsic motivations contexts were considered as factors that affect employee attitude and intentions toward knowledge sharing. The descriptive survey design was adopted. The population of the study comprised civil servants in Ebonyi State in Southeastern Nigeria. Random sampling technique was used to select 297 respondents across six ministries in the state’s Civil Service Commission. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using frequency and percentage distribution and correlation. Findings revealed that attitude did not significantly influence employee intentions to share knowledge. Of the four motivational factors, knowledge self-efficacy (r = 0.171, p = 0.003) and enjoyment in helping others (r = 0.002, p = 0.000) were significant and pointed towards a strong role in employee attitudes and knowledge sharing intentions. However, expected organizational rewards and reciprocal benefits were found not to significantly influence employee attitudes and knowledge sharing intentions. These were attributable to the nature of the civil service and low incentives made available for motivating knowledge sharing. The study concluded that extrinsic motivation does not have a significant effect on the knowledge sharing intentions of the employees of the Ebonyi State Civil Service Commission but enjoyment in helping others and knowledge self-efficacy are motivating factors to their knowledge sharing intentions. It was recommended that organizations emphasize on intrinsic motivation as extrinsic motivation only secures temporary compliance. There should also be an enhancement of knowledge sharing facilities and creation of a feedback system to increase the employees’ knowledge self-efficacy.

The Uniform Guidelines and Personnel Selection: Identify and Fix the Right Problem

McDaniel, Kepes, and Banks (2011) argue that the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Civil Service Commission, Department of Labor, and Department of Justice, 1978) ‘‘have substantial influence’’ on personnel selection but are ‘‘inaccurate and inconsistent with professional practice’’ as summarized in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education, 1999) and Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures (SIOP, 2003). Without a doubt, the phrasing in the 1978 Uniform Guidelines is dated (and inscrutable in places) and reflects the state of the art more than 3 decades ago. But surely things such as the current way to discuss what was formerly called content validity cannot have given rise to the use of personnel practices unsupported by scientific evidence, the gerrymandering of personnel selection practices, and a general disregard of the

Abolishing the Uniform Guidelines: Be Careful What You Wish For

The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Civil Service Commission, Department of Labor, & Department of Justice, 1978) were published for the purpose of ‘‘establishing a uniform federal position in the area of prohibiting discrimination in employment practices on the grounds of race, color, religion or national origin’’ (p. 38290). As such, the Uniform Guidelines have fulfilled a unique role in the enforcement of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Given this unique role, the Uniform Guidelines as a whole were not intended to be completely aligned with scientific knowledge or research. True enough, the Uniform Guidelines state that ‘‘the provisions of these Guidelines relating to validation of selection procedures are intended to be consistent with generally accepted professional standards for evaluating standardized tests and other selection procedures’’ (Section 5c). It would be inappropriate, however, to assume that the Uniform Guidelines as a whole should be completely consistent with or even relevant to matters of scientific interest and research. It follows then that a call such as the one made by McDaniel, Kepes, and Banks (2011) for rescinding or making wholesale revisions to the Uniform Guidelines based on scientific research is unwarranted,

Emotional intelligence and human relationship management as predictors of organizational commitment

The study seeks to explain the interactive and relative effects of emotional intelligence and human relationship management on the organizational commitment of Nigerian civil servants .Simple random sampling technique was used in selecting 300 participants from Ministries of Education, Local government affairs, Civil service commission, Agriculture and Governors office of Bayelsa and Oyo States. Of the sample selected, 160 were males and 140 were females. Their ages range between 28 and 55 years with a mean age of 36.7 and a standard deviation of 6.9. Three instruments: Emotional intelligence scales (EIS), Human relationship management scale (HRMS) and Organizational commitment questionnaire (OCQ) were used to collect data from the participants. Data analysis involved the use of Pearson Product Moment Correlation and multiple regressions. The results indicated that the two independent variables, when taken together, were effective in predicting organizational commitment. Each of the variables contributed significantly to the prediction of organizational commitment with emotional intelligence making higher contribution to the prediction of Organizational commitment. Based on the outcome of the study, Emotional intelligence intervention and Human relationship management programmes were advocated in order to enhance the organizational commitment of the civil servants.

Success Results of High Performance and Potential System (HiPPS) Administration of Thai Government Departments

The HiPPS was developed by the Office of the Civil Service Commission (OCSC). The aim of HiPPS was to prepare the Thai government officers with high performance and potential to develop and learn through the workplace as continual learning. The objectives of this research were 1) to evaluate the success in the HiPPS administration of the government departments, 2) to compare the opinions of the five sample groups about the success factors in the HiPPS administration, and 3) to investigate the problems in the use of HiPPS. The data were collected from five groups, 694 total samples from 42 government departments. The instruments were five rating-scale (1-5 level) questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and focus group interviews. Data was analyzed by ANOVA and the content analysis. The results indicated that overall, the average HiPPS administration of the government departments were fairly strength level in grade B ( = 3.37). In the comparison among the opinions of the five sample groups about the success factors: Context, Input, Process, Product, Outcome, and Impact, there were also statistically significant differences at .01 (F=19.536**, 13.010**, 22.143**, 6.493**, 28.010**, and 6.211** respectively). Finally, the most found problems in HiPPS administration were as follows: lacking of cooperation from executives, existence of patronage system, lacking of definite HiPPS responsible unit, frequent change in HiPPS committee, incompetency of human resource management, negative attitude of increasing workload of the officers responsible for HiPPS.

A Tale of Two Cities: Bureaucratisation in Mayor-Council and Council-Manager Municipalities

This paper presents a theory that predicts under what circumstances self-interested politicians ‘bureaucratise’ their administrations, in the sense that they delegate the powers to hire, fire and promote public employees to autonomous bodies (like civil service commissions). The main testable proposition is that, in polities with a higher concentration of powers, politicians will bureaucratise their administrations to overcome time inconsistency problems in their relationships with public employees. This prediction is tested with data drawn from US municipalities, where two main types of local governments co-exist: mayor-council and council-manager. Results show that municipal governments with a higher concentration of powers (i.e. mayor-council) tend to have more bureaucratised administrations.

Problems of recruitment in civil service: case of the Nigerian civil service

This study probed to identify the problems of recruitment in Nigerian federal civil service and to determine the extent of the utilization of job description and job specification in the recruitment process. Stratified random sampling method was used to draw a sample of 190 from five federal ministries grouped into the four major categories of grade levels. Descriptive survey design was employed and descriptive statistics used for the analysis. The survey identified factors such as increasing pressures for employment, utilization of informal sources of recruitment, long military era, federal character principle, lack of independence of the service commission and delegation of recruitment functions as the prevalent problems affecting recruitment in Nigerian federal civil service. As results of these problems, job description and standard personnel requirements were not adequately used in the recruitment process, especially at the lowest category of grade levels. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the federal government should promulgate laws that will protect employees in the private sector in order to reduce consistent pressures for employment in the public sector. Subjective and informal sources of recruitment should be de-emphasized, and instead sources from educational institutions and professional organizations should be encouraged. The number of federal civil service commissioners should be increased with the establishment of zonal and state offices. It was also recommended that the remuneration of the federal civil servants should be increased. Federal civil service should utilize job description when embarking on actual recruitment exercise and personnel requirements should be developed to match position classification in the service. Finally, a proposal of further research agenda was made on the re-examination of the reliability and validity of employee selection instruments in the civil service. Key words: Civil service, recruitment.

Mrs Thatcher's Macroeconomic Adventurism, 1979–1981, and its Political Consequences

Drawing on the influential analysis of Thatcherism by the late Jim Bulpitt, this paper seeks to do two things. First, to use the enquiries of the Treasury and Civil Service Committee of 1980 to underpin an account of economic policy-making in the initial period after 1979 which stresses the inadequacy of accounts which see policy as based upon a coherent, monetarist doctrine. Instead, it is argued that policy in this period is best described as ‘adventurist’, based on strikingly little analysis of its possible consequences. Second, this analysis is linked to the question of Conservative ‘statecraft’, and especially what Bulpitt called the ‘political argument hegemony’, which enabled the Conservatives to win the 1983 election despite mass unemployment. Here, it is argued, notions of economic ‘decline’ were crucial.

The prospects and limitations of civil service reform in korea: Strong initiation, but uncertain sustainability?

This article examines the rhetoric of recent civil service reform measures in Korea, their initial implementation, and growing concerns about their sustainability. Civil service reform in Korea was initiated by an enthusiasm for New Public Management (NPM) and public calls for reform. The changes initiated by the Korean Civil Service Commission and other government organizations have sought to encourage openness, competition, flexibility, diversity, and performance-based management. Despite the bold rhetoric heralding the reform initiatives, outcomes have fallen short of expectations, and many civil servants are losing their confidence and esprit de corps. Considering both the initial promise and the ultimate reality of Korean civil service reform, this article investigates problems and limitations confronting the sustainability of these reform measures

Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus

Book reviewed in this article:The Civil Service Commission 1855 1991. A Bureau Biography, By RICHARD A. CHAPMANModernizing Civil Services, Edited by TONY BUTCHER AND ANDREW MASSEY“If you build it…” Business, Government and Ontario's Electronic Toll Highway, By CHANDRAN MYLVAGANAM and SANDFORD BORINSDemocracy Off Balance: Freedom of Expression and Hate Propaganda Law in Canada, By STEFAN BRAUNReforming Parliamentary Democracy, Edited by F. LESLIE SEIDLE and DAVID C. DOCHERTY

Roosevelt the Reformer: Theodore Roosevelt as Civil Service Commissioner, 1889‐1895

Roosevelt the Reformer: Theodore Roosevelt as Civil Service Commissioner, 1889‐1895

The Civil Service Commissioners: Supporting the Core Values of the British Civil Service and Hearing Appeals Under the Civil Service Code

The Civil Service Commissioners: Supporting the Core Values of the British Civil Service and Hearing Appeals Under the Civil Service Code

TR's Puzzling Leadership - Richard D. WhiteJr.: Roosevelt the Reformer: Theodore Roosevelt as Civil Service Commissioner, 1889–1895. (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2003. Pp. 264. $39.95.)

TR's Puzzling Leadership - Richard D. WhiteJr.: Roosevelt the Reformer: Theodore Roosevelt as Civil Service Commissioner, 1889–1895. (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2003. Pp. 264. $39.95.) - Volume 67 Issue 1

Roosevelt the reformer: Theodore Roosevelt as civil service commissioner, 1889-1895

Covers fascinating period of Theodore RooseveltOCOs life, his first six years in Washington. the Reformer sheds light on an important chapter in the biography of the flamboyant 26th president of the United States. From 1889 to 1895OCobefore he was Rough Rider in the SpanishOCoAmerican War and before he oversaw the building of the Panama Canal and won the 1906 Nobel Peace PrizeOCoOC TeddyOCO Roosevelt served as one of three civil service commissioners. This was significant period of his life because he matured politically and learned how to navigate through Washington politics. He sparred with powerful cabinet officers and congressmen and survived their attempts to destroy him. He cultivated important friendships and allegiances, flourished intellectually, and strengthened his progressive views of social justice, racial theory, and foreign relations. It was period altogether significant to the honing of administrative talent and intellectual acuity of the future president. Richard White Jr. situates young Roosevelt within the exciting events of the Gilded Age, the Victorian era, and the gay nineties. He describes Roosevelt's relationships with family, friends, colleagues, and adversaries. Many of these people, such as Henry Cabot Lodge, Cecil Spring-Rice, Alfred Mahan, Henry Adams, and John Hay would significantly influence Roosevelt when he later occupied the White House. White explores TR's accomplishments in civil service reform, the effect of the commission experience on his presidency decade later, and his administrative legacy. In addition to Harvard UniversityOCOs immense collection of Roosevelt correspondence, White drew from original sources such as the Civil Service Commission files in the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the National Park Service Roosevelt Historical Site at Sagamore Hill, and the records of the National Civil Service Reform League. a

Urban sustainability and public awareness: The role of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy in Canada

The author, Co-Chair, Urban Sustainability Task Force of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, and Special Advisor to the Mayor of the City of Ottawa, is a former senior public servant and international consultant with extensive experience in public administration, policy formulation and program management relating to economic and regional growth, infrastructure development, social development as well as urban planning and conservation. With degrees in International Affairs from Carleton College in Minnesota and Political Science and Economics from Columbia University, he also holds Certificates in Russian Studies from Columbia University and in Military and Strategic Studies from the National Defense College in Kingston, Ontario. Mr Aquilina had a long career in the federal public service which included appointments to the Civil Service Commission, the Prime Minister's Office and the Privy Council Office. He served as Assistant-Deputy Minister in the Departments of Regional Economic Expansion, Secretary of State and Finance. He also occupied the positions of Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Board, General Manager of the National Capital Commission and Chair of the Task Force on Decentralization of Government Operations. As a consultant, he provided senior advice to the governmentof Lebanon on public service reform and headed a task force in Ethiopia on public finance reform. He was also a senior member of two missions from Canada to the governments of Benin and Haiti. The text that follows is an edited version of a paper presented at the international symposion on "The Natural City, " Toronto, 23-25 June, 2004, sponsored by the University of Toronto's Division of the Environment, Institute for Environmental Studies, and the World Society for Ekistics.

From Witchcraft to Proposed Twenty-First Century Reforms: The Ongoing Saga of Training and Development in Canadian Government

[In the federal government of Canada] … up to ten or fifteen years ago, the use of the title personnel officer or training officer would have been sufficient to have one tried for witchcraft.1a aNote: (a) In Canada the terms, “Civil Service” and “Public Service,” are used synonymously. (b) Values are defined in this article as enduring beliefs that influence the choices we make from available means and ends. —Commissioner Sylvain Cloutier of the federal Civil Service Commission, June 19, 1965. (Comment attributed to CH Bland, Chairman of the Public Service Commission of Canada)