Civil Service Policy Research Articles

Peep show: a framework for watching how evidence is communicated inside policy organisations

Background:Seeing how governments formulate decisions on our behalf is a crucial component of their ability to claim democratic legitimacy. This includes being seen to draw on the knowledge and evidence produced by their civil service policy advisers. Yet much of the advice provided to governments is being increasingly withdrawn from public accessibility. Aims and objectives:To counter this diminishing transparency, I propose a framework for observing how evidence is made and used in the political decision-making process. Although my framework is constructed within the Australian context, I hope to encourage its use in other government and policy settings. Methods:Using an example from my own research into the language of rejected policy advice, I construct a framework for locating how policy actors formulate and communicate their evidence. With primary material drawn from Freedom of Information releases, my framework qualitatively examines three impact factors with which to situate policy advice: text, organisational influences and the interplay between the front and back regions of politics and policy. To counter releases’ limitations, they are contextualised with publicly available, contemporaneous statements. Findings:Text displayed excessive detail, inviting multiple interpretations. Organisational influences suggested an insular culture over-reliant on its reputation. Interplay linked to evidence as ostensibly authority-imparting but ultimately adding to the lack of transparency around how political decisions were made. Discussion and conclusions:Even when processes are hidden from public view, they can be found. By connecting an array of impact factors, my framework here illuminated a complex choreography of civil servants communicating with their government about a contentious policy issue and revealed the political affordances they enabled in the process.

Servant Leadership and Followers Prosocial Rule-Breaking: The Mediating Role of Public Service Motivation.

This research explores the effect of servant leadership on prosocial rule-breaking (PSRB) and the mediating mechanism of public service motivation (PSM) between the association of servant leadership and PSRB. The said phenomenon is examined in the civil service context of Pakistan during the continuing crises of the COVID-19 pandemic, a situation where the traditional civil service policy and rule system has become highly complicated for passionate employees’ service performance and efficiency, and where servant leadership has received greater attention for inspiring the attitudinal and behavioral outcomes of frontline workers during the pandemic. Data were collected from 546 frontline workers of the corona relief tiger force. The findings of the study revealed that servant leadership has a significant effect on PSRB and PSM, and that PSM significantly promotes PSRB. The results also revealed that servant leadership has a significant impact on PSRB via engendering PSM.

PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF CIVIL SERVANTS AS A FACTOR OF SUCCESS OF PUBLIC MANAGER

The article is devoted to the actual issues of professional competence of civil servants in the system of effective public administration. It was found out that official duties of a state body require professional knowledge and certain competencies of a civil servant how to properly apply them. The analysis of the legislative and regulatory framework in the field of civil service shows that a concept as "professional competence of civil servants." Undergoes formation of its foundations and development. The precondition for the formation of competencies for an employee is determined by the position requirements and job responsibilities. The role of the head of the state body, his/her vision and style of management of the institution and staff, his/her fairness and professionalism in the selection of specialists play an important role. The analysis of the procedure of civil servant evaluation, servant’s activities during the last year and the effectiveness of the tasks set by the head of the civil service indicates a constant need to increase the level of professional competence of the employees. Activities of an HR specialist or service, who is responsible for supporting employees in personal, professional and competence growth through elaborating individual plans and training schemes. Approaches to evaluate activities of civil servants and impact of these activities were identified. The current state of implementation of the system of training and re-training, the basic requirements and types of educational services, platforms, including online, were assessed. Basic requirements to professional competence of civil servants necessary for effective work of public authorities were identified. The ways to solve and improve the mechanisms of realization civil service policies, namely improvement of the system of increase of professional competence of civil servants, were suggested. Considering the long-term public administration reform in Ukraine, the government's focus on the gradual provision of public institutions with competent and professional employees who would meet European standards, was identified.

Assessment of Training and Development Practice the Case of Human Rights Commission Hawassa Branch

Training practice and development is very crucial to workers to develop their career while they are engaged in their occupation in particular and the organization or institution in general. Unfortunately, the researcher had hesitated that training practices and development is done well in Hawssa branch. So, the researcher planned to solve the hesitation and did accordingly. The researcher set the assessment of the current the training and development practice and tits importance as a purpose and investigate the findings accordingly in the selected case study organization. The research study is designed to bring an importance of informing the commission about the current training and development practice and in turn, make insured about the civil service policy practice. The researcher used qualitative and quantitative type of study with primary& secondary data collection mechanisms. In addition the researcher used purposive sampling methodology with 100% size population sample and triangulation mechanisms of data analysis methods. The research study used surveying different literatures and in turn reviewing the differences between what the sciences says and the existed current training and development practice of the commission with the selected case study area. At last the researcher with its study of this research concluded the article with important summary.

La reforma del servicio civil en el Estado peruano: análisis de los factores que explican los avances de un proceso que sigue constituyendo un desafío

Civil service policy has fulfilled five years of effective implementation and has data that evidence its progress until the present. Precisely, this article seeks to address the phase of implementation of said public policy, the process of transit to La Ley SERVIR regime´s, trying to provide an approximation of the results that would have throw this new attempt to start a reform in the human resources of the Peruvian State following the case of the nineteen ministries. The analysis will have as its central core twelve grouped variables in three dimensions: organizational characteristics of the ministry, normativity characteristics and tools of transit, and leadership in the ministry´s transit process. Thus, considering said variables, it will be evident that the degree of progress of the ministries manage to be explained in an important way by a number of people that provide their services, the time that the ministry takes in the process of transit, the complexity perception that one has about the tools of transit, the hierarchical position of whoever is the responsible for the transit process. The results of the investigation invite people interested in reform processes to make a reflection about the complexity of the implementation process, The alerts, that the implementation about the necessity of adjustment applications in design, launch and the relevance (of the actors involved in the execution) takes action as long as said policy is legitimate and visible. Said aspects are important for the reform, being that five years have passed since the publication of the first version with the steps that should guide the transit of public entities to the civil service regime and, until the present, only just one entity from the state has managed to conclude said process.

Library Wars: The Making of Librarianship at the Los Angeles Public Library, 1890–1910

ABSTRACT This article explores the professionalization of public librarianship during the Progressive Era. Using the Los Angeles Public Library (lapl) as a case study, it examines the library's gradual adoption of professional standards in the 1890s and the establishment of city-controlled civil service rules in 1902. lapl's experience illustrates the challenges involved in implementing new, often controversial, civil service policies and the impact that these personnel changes had on women library employees. The article also considers women librarians' response to changing workplace expectations and the ways in which they negotiated their new professional identity.

PELAKSANAAN TUGAS SATUAN POLISI PAMONG PRAJA DALAM MENERTIBKAN GELANDANGAN DAN PENGEMIS DI KOTA PEKANBARU

General problem ofhomeless and beggras in fact closely related to the security problems that disrupt good order and discipline and keamanan in urban areas. With the expansions of the homeless and beggars will provide opportuneties for the emergance of unexpected disturbance of peace and order, which i turn woild disrupt the stability to be disrupted development and national ambitions can not be astablished. In this case civil service policy is most responsible agency because they were on duty apparatuses assits local government in maintaining the District Head and maintain public order and Security society, upholding the District Rules and Regulation of the District Head. Based on the homeless and beggars in the city of Pekanbaru, as well as know the Policy Unit blockers factor in regulating civil service homaless and beggars. The method used is descriptive, qualitative and quantitative; Samples that as descriptive data analysis, qualitative and quantitative. This study concluded that based on the results of research that has been done, then the concluded of researchers on the role of Civil Service Police Unit in the discipline vagrants and beggars in the city of Pekanbaru is “Good Enough”. Barriers found in this study is the absence of regulations governing theparticulars of vagrants and beggars, while the current police authority of the Civil Service in the city of Pekanbaru to crub vagrants and beggars who violate public onder just based on the Rules of Pekanbaru City Regionel Public Order so that it this makes the role of the Civil Service Pekanbaru City police are very limited. Also still weak coordination between the police civil service with the Departement of Social Pekanbaru is also a very in fluuetial factor in determining the role of the Civil Service Pekanbaru City police in maintaining public orde in the city of Pekanbaru.

The UK coalition and the civil service: A half-term report

Drawing upon a range of policy documents, government papers and parliamentary reports, as well as published academic and think tank analyses, this article sets out the civil service inheritance bequeathed to the 2010 UK coalition government by its predecessors, examines the pre-election civil service policies of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, illustrates the policy challenges facing the civil service in serving two masters, and analyses the reasons for and early impact of organisational and leadership changes in Whitehall since 2010. The background to, and potential significance of, the 2012 Civil Service Reform Plan are set out. The article provides a succinct overview of the impact of the coalition government on Whitehall during the first two and a half years of its term.

The Durability of EU Civil Service Policy in Central and Eastern Europe after Accession

This article examines the post-accession durability of EU civil service policy in Central and Eastern Europe (CEECs). Civil service professionalization was a condition for EU membership but the European Commission has no particular sanctions available if CEECs reverse pre-accession reforms after gaining membership. Comparing eight CEECs that joined the EU in 2004, the article finds that post-accession civil service developments are characterized by great diversity. The three Baltic States continued civil service reforms, while Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia are classified as cases of post-accession reform reversal. The post-accession pathway of Hungary is identified as a case of reform reorientation. The diversity in post-accession pathways was almost exclusively the result of domestic political constellations, in particular, patterns of government alternation after accession. There were hardly any factors that could have locked in the level of professionalization that had been reached at the time of accession.

Effects of the Institutional Design of the Civil Service: Evidence from Corruption

ABSTRACT This research tests the direct effects of civil service structure on perceptions of corruption. Numerous studies suggest a relationship between civil service structure and corruption, but few test this link. It is hypothesized that corruption depends on the presence or absence of civil service policies, including job duties, tenure and security provisions, discipline policy, and rules on rewards and bargaining rights; the impact of government wages, per capita GDP, and democratization on corruption is also assessed. These hypotheses are tested using World Bank data for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and central and eastern European countries. No statistically significant relationships between civil service structure and corruption are found; however, occasional evidence that corruption is higher in countries with higher total government wage bills was obtained. Results additionally indicate that corruption is lower in countries with higher GDP. While the conclusions presented here are largely exploratory, there is a distinct lack of evidence indicating a relationship between civil service systems and public perceptions of corruption.

German Philosophy and British Public Policy: Richard Burdon Haldane in Theory and Practice

The paper is premised on the well-recorded fact that R.B. Haldane, throughout his working life, remained fascinated with German idealist philosophy. The paper unravels Haldane’s own perception of the relation between his philosophical interests and his diverse policy-orientated work at the beginning of the twentieth century. Many commentators have noted this relation but often pass over it as a curious detail of his biography. The most basic tool his philosophy gave him was a way of analysing problems. This philosophical stance was not an ex post facto rationalisation but conversely was always his first thought on encountering a problem. To solve a policy problem one has to identify the leading ideas of that particular mode of human experience. Haldane believed that finding such rational principles underlying all forms of experience was the first duty of a politician, lawyer or civil servant. He contended that this painstaking ideational analysis would ultimately lead to the most effective policy solutions. The paper focuses first on Haldane’s initial encounter with German philosophical culture in both Edinburgh and Göttingen, second, it unpacks the key philosophical themes which characterize his approach, derived largely from his reading of Hegel’s Science of Logic. Thirdly, it turns - in the light of his philosophical beliefs - to his overt commitments to policy developments in the Edwardian new liberalism, military reform, administrative and civil service policy reorganisation, and finally his extensive work in education policy, particularly in the university sector.

Effects of the Institutional Design of the Civil Service: Evidence from Corruption

ABSTRACT This research tests the direct effects of civil service structure on perceptions of corruption. Numerous studies suggest a relationship between civil service structure and corruption, but few test this link. It is hypothesized that corruption depends on the presence or absence of civil service policies, including job duties, tenure and security provisions, discipline policy, and rules on rewards and bargaining rights; the impact of government wages, per capita GDP, and democratization on corruption is also assessed. These hypotheses are tested using World Bank data for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and central and eastern European countries. No statistically significant relationships between civil service structure and corruption are found; however, occasional evidence that corruption is higher in countries with higher total government wage bills was obtained. Results additionally indicate that corruption is lower in countries with higher GDP. While the conclusions ...

Getting on track: civil service reform in post-communist Hungary

This article explains Hungary's status as a front-runner of civil service reform in post-communist Europe and assesses the consequences of the first reform outcomes for the institutionalization of the politics-administration nexus. It examines the degree of formal politicization of the ministerial civil service inherent in the Civil Service Act of 1992 and argues that the formal legal framework provides important instruments for political intervention in civil service policy. Civil service reform had been on the agenda for almost a decade prior to the regime change, creating strong proponents of reform. The 1992 Act institutionalized a formally politicized politics-administration nexus and has shaped the practice of ministerial personnel policy and subsequent civil service reforms until 2001. The ideological divide in the party system and the absence of a 'tolerant policy entrepreneur' are likely to slow down the process of further civil service reform, while high levels of formal politicization are preserved.

Inertia and Discrimination in the California State Civil Service

Analysis of the California State Civil Service indicates that its occupational wage structure is very stable. Salaries established in 1931 continue to influence current wages, over 60 years later, even while controlling for market wages. This results from the California Civil Service's policy of maintaining the relative wage structure that was established initially in 1931 despite conflicting market wages. Because the California Civil Service explicitly lowered salaries for female‐dominated jobs when it established its initial salary structure, these jobs remained underpaid by $1.6 billion from 1973 to 1993. These findings support notions of wage rigidity and fairness in efficiency wage and institutional labor market theories.

Remaking German democracy in the 1950s: Was the civil service an asset or a liability?

This article offers a new look at the conflicting forces behind decisions on the shape and character of the civil service in the 1950s. It is argued that the controversial measures taken to reaffirm the traditional hierarchical system and reinstate former civil servants were not only the product of policies devised by the Adenauer government and the conservative majority in the Bundestag. The inability of the Western Allies to agree on a clear course of action was also a factor, as was the support for some legislation by the Social Democrats, who were hoping to broaden their electoral appeal and improve relations with the administrative and military elites. Decision makers did succeed in moulding the civil service into an effective tool of government, and in this respect it was an asset in stabilising the new democratic system. Yet the extent to which politically compromised staff members were reinstated was counter‐productive, creating political burdens that outweighed short‐term advantages. Moreover, civil service policy bolstered traditional lines of social and gender stratification, undermining the credibility of a political system ostensibly based on the principle of equal rights and opportunities.

Civil service policies in Indonesia: An obstacle to decentralization?

AbstractDecentralization of a substantial portion of development activity under Indonesia's New Order has been attempted in the context of centralizing civil service reforms. This analysis, based on field observation in two areas distant from the ‘bureaucratic centre’ of Java, South Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara in early 1986, shows some ways in which the structure of the civil service and recent policies governing it have handicapped regional governments in their attempts to develop an apparatus capable of managing decentralization. For example, the structure often leads local officials to prefer rank over technical qualifications in appointments to managerial positions. The analysis also shows how they cope and attempt to maintain their legal prerogatives vis‐à‐vis the central government. In conclusion policy recommendations are offered that would help to achieve a better balance between the New Order's concerns for centralization and decentralization.

Civil Service Policies Since 1981: Crisis in the Administrative Model or Inertia in Policies?

Civil Service Policies Since 1981: Crisis in the Administrative Model or Inertia in Policies?

THE OMBUDSMAN IN BRITAIN: A QUALIFIED SUCCESS IN GOVERNMENT REFORM

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration has not been the dismal failure forecast by critics at the time the office was established in 1967. One alleged defect — not criticizing the substance of administrators’ discretionary decisions — is characteristic to a large degree of other admired ombudsmen. Recruiting the Commissioner and his investigators from the civil service has not had expected harmful effects. On the other hand, the office has fallen short of the performance of other ombudsmen with regard to the public's access to the Commissioner (the MP filter), the efficiency of his investigative methods, and certain limitations on his jurisdiction. Failure so far to remove these defects appears to be the result of inadequate comparative research and analysis in support of reformers’ proposals, the overly cautious and consensual style of civil service policy formulation, and opposition from members of existing institutions (MPS and the officers of civil service unions) who mistakenly believe that their complaint handling activities are threatened by proposed changes.

Rethinking Civil Service Policy

Rethinking Civil Service Policy