Merit Systems Protection Board Research Articles

Career satisfaction in the public sector: Implications for a more sustainable and socially responsible human resource management

AbstractAnchored in emerging theoretical insights regarding sustainable human resource management, with a focus on pursuing socially responsible HR, we propose that enhancing employees' career satisfaction in public sector organisations constitutes a unique opportunity for public sector organisations to improve their internal social responsibility, focussing on employees as key stakeholders. In this context, this study provides original evidence regarding an original framework for examining the determinants and outcomes of employees' career satisfaction in the US federal agencies, with implications for the internal social responsibility of public sector organisations, which is a dimension of sustainable HR. We use a longitudinal study design involving a sample of permanent, full‐time civilian federal employees from two surveys conducted by the US Merit Systems Protection Board. We suggest key factors that affect public sector employees' career satisfaction and aspirations. These key factors may be useful for public sector organisations that wish to design more sustainable and socially responsible HRM centred around the career satisfaction of their internal stakeholders.

The Perspective of Non-Teleworkers on the Impacts of Coworkers’ Telework: Assessing Individual and Organizational Outcomes

Our study investigates the perceived individual and organizational outcomes of coworkers’ telework between teleworkers and non-teleworkers in the US federal government. We address two research questions: (1) how are perceived individual outcomes of coworkers’ telework different between teleworkers and non-teleworkers? and (2) how are perceived organizational outcomes of telework different between teleworkers and non-teleworkers? We incorporate the perspectives of non-teleworkers to better understand a wide range of individual and organizational outcomes of telework. In order to answer these questions, we analyze a unique telework survey administered by the US Merit Systems Protection Board. Our findings indicate that compared to teleworkers, non-teleworkers perceive less positive impact of telework on employees and organizations. Besides ensuring fairness in determining employees’ telework eligibility and participation, our findings suggest that managers and supervisors should also be mindful of unfairness and ineffectiveness non-teleworkers may perceive about coworkers’ telework after their organizations roll out telework.

What Makes You a Whistleblower? A Multi-Country Field Study on the Determinants of the Intention to Report Wrongdoing

Whistleblowers have significantly shaped the state of contemporary society; in this context, this research sheds light on a persistently neglected research area: what are the key determinants of whistleblowing within government agencies? Taking a unique methodological approach, we combine evidence from two pieces of fieldwork, conducted using both primary and secondary data from the US and Indonesia. In Study 1, we use a large-scale survey conducted by the US Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Additional tests are conducted in Study 1, making comparisons between those who have and those who do not have whistleblowing experience. In Study 2, we replicate the survey conducted by the MSPB, using empirical data collected in Indonesia. We find a mixture of corroboration of previous results and unexpected findings between the two samples (US and Indonesia). The most relevant result is that perceived organizational protection has a significant positive effect on whistleblowing intention in the US sample, but a similar result was not found in the Indonesian sample. We argue that this difference is potentially due to the weakness of whistleblowing protection in Indonesia, which opens avenues for further understanding the role of societal cultures in protecting whistleblowers around the globe.

Going beyond the system: The role of trust in coworker support and organization-based self-esteem in dealing with sexual harassment issues

Sexual harassment has been an entrenched problem in the workplace. Using the 2016 Merit Principles Survey from the US Merit Systems Protection Board, this study advances our understanding of the formal reporting of workplace sexual harassment by focusing on the crucial roles of coworker support and organization-based self-esteem. The findings show that both coworker support and organization-based self-esteem provide a sense of an individual’s worth to the organization, and eventually lead to a positive impact on the perceived effectiveness of formal reporting, as well as an indirect effect, through influence on the procedural justice perceptions of the formal reporting system. This study highlights the importance of establishing both a supportive work-group climate and a respectful and inclusive working environment in order to give employees the confidence to formally report incidences of sexual harassment.

Supervision of Telework: A Key to Organizational Performance

Many employers, including the federal government, have introduced or extended their telework arrangements because of the associated advantages, which include cost-efficiency, personnel pool enlargement, and employee well-being and motivation. Despite the continued interest from both academics and practitioners, little understanding has emerged about this work arrangement, with scant studies in public administration and organization literature. Among those studies, consensus has not been formed as to the organizational benefits, especially on performance or employee motivation. Previous studies have also overlooked the heterogeneous characteristics of teleworkers, the dynamics between teleworkers and nonteleworkers, and especially, the role of supervisors in managing telework to achieve proposed benefits. This study adds to previous literature by empirically examining the role of supervisors in managing/motivating teleworkers toward improving organizational performance, using data from the 2011 Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) Telework study. Findings suggest that supervision which includes results-based management and trust-building efforts improves performance of organizations that have telework arrangements.

Advantages of feeling appreciated: An examination of how receipt of gratitude influences the linkages between PSM and behaviour

AbstractIn this article, we examine several situational factors that condition the relationship between public service motivation (PSM) and organizational behaviours. Specifically, we examine how the receipt of gratitude and appreciation is associated with the complex relationships between PSM, work attitudes and turnover intent. We analyse the conditional indirect effects from PSM to turnover intent with a series of structural equation models using data from the 2010 US Merit Systems Protection Board. Our findings indicate that the relationship between PSM and blaming others for diminished performance capacity is moderated by feeling appreciated, which conditions the indirect relationship to turnover intent. In other words, increases in PSM appear to lead individuals to internalize diminished performance capacity and remain with their organization as long as they believe their work is appreciated. These findings provide guidance for structuring feedback to capitalize on the benefits of PSM.

Does the Rank of the Perpetrator and Reporter Affect How Agencies Handle Workplace Aggression? A Test of Resource Dependence Theory

Workplace aggression is a concern in many organizations. Despite this, research has not significantly examined whether or not organizations stop workplace aggression. Little is known about hierarchical aggression, coworker aggression, subordinate aggression, and agencies’ tolerance or rejections of such behavior. This study begins to fill this void by exploring what happens after employees report workplace aggression. More specifically, this study uses data from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to examine workplace aggression committed by coworkers, supervisors, and subordinates and (a) the likelihood that perpetrators/agencies will retaliate against reporters of workplace aggression and (b) the likelihood that agencies will correct the adverse behavior in a manner that satisfactorily addresses the observers’ concerns. The findings in this article demonstrate that reporters of hierarchical aggression are more likely to face retaliation and less likely to get the behavior stopped than reporters of coworker aggression. Reporters of subordinate aggression, on the other hand, were not found to impact retaliation or corrective actions. Furthermore, the findings regarding retaliation were found to vary depending on whether or not the reporter was the target of the aggression.

The Sexual Harassment of Federal Employees: Gender, Leadership Status, and Organizational Tolerance for Abuses of Power

AbstractTheory and research suggest that sexual harassment is often a dominance strategy used to undermine women’s power, but the precise relationships between government employees’ workplace power, organizational climate, and vulnerability to particular types of sexual harassment remain under-specified. This study analyzes data from the 2016 US Merit Systems Protection Board survey of the federal civilian workforce (the most comprehensive and up-to-date national data on workplace sexual harassment) to test predictions about how employees’ workplace power and their agency’s efforts to mitigate abuses of power affect their likelihood of experiencing sexual harassment. Findings reveal that women in leadership positions report more sexual harassment than non-leaders, and that team leaders (i.e., those without formal supervisory authority) and executives (i.e., those with the most authority) report more sexual harassment than women in middle management. At the organizational level, sexual harassment occurs in workplaces with higher levels of non-sexual aggression and among employees who perceive their agency as less proactive in preventing and responding to social inequity. Taken together, findings suggest that sexual harassment is a dominance strategy not unlike other forms of aggression used to undermine women in power, and that workplace climates that are effective at mitigating abuses of power reduce the likelihood of experiencing sexual harassment. These results have implications for how government agencies can implement policies that not only prevent harassment but also promote democracy and equity among an increasingly diverse federal workforce.

U.S. Supreme Court Amicus Brief of Law Professors in Support of Petitioner, Graviss v. Department of Defense Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools, No. 18-1061

This brief was filed by law professors and legal scholars with expertise in civil procedure, federal jurisdiction, and related subjects. In recent years, Supreme Court has frequently addressed whether treat certain litigation requirements as jurisdictional conditions or as nonjurisdictional claim-processing rules. It has laudably strived to bring some discipline over-classification of litigation requirements as It has justifiably criticized drive-by jurisdictional rulings that have mischaracterized claim-processing rules or elements of a cause of action as jurisdictional limitations. The Federal Circuit's decision below exemplifies problem. Disregarding letter and spirit of Supreme Court's precedent, Federal Circuit mistakenly treated as jurisdictional 60-day deadline for filing a petition for review of decisions by Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). See 5 U.S.C. § 7703(b)(1)(A). That Karen Graviss may have filed her petition one day beyond 60-day window was not raised for nearly three years after her petition was filed. She and government had litigated her due process claim on merits in Federal Circuit, and neither government nor initial panel asserted a failure comply with 60-day deadline. The panel ruled in Ms. Graviss's favor on merits, and government sought en banc rehearing in Federal Circuit - -again without asserting that petition was time-barred. It was en banc Federal Circuit that raised issue for first time, eventually concluding that difference between 61 days and 60 days deprived it of subject-matter jurisdiction. This result confounds Supreme Court's recent guidance on the critical differences between true jurisdictional conditions and nonjurisdictional limitations on causes of action. The Court has appropriately acknowledged that deeming a requirement be jurisdictional can thwart fair and efficient adjudication of disputes in federal system. And Court has clarified that time requirements like one at issue in this case -- which does not involve the transfer of adjudicatory authority from one Article III court another -- can be jurisdictional only if Congress clearly states that [it] shall count as jurisdictional. Because there is no such clear statement by Congress that § 7703(b)(1)'s 60-day deadline is jurisdictional, Supreme Court should grant certiorari and reverse Federal Circuit's decision below.

Performance Appraisal Problems in the Public Sector: Examining Supervisors’ Perceptions

Employee perceptions of performance appraisal processes have received considerable attention in the public management literature, but the views of supervisors who actually conduct the appraisals have received relatively little consideration. This article addresses that gap in the literature by examining supervisors’ perceptions of individual employee performance appraisal in the U.S. federal service in an attempt to identify structural and operational problems associated with that system as viewed by those responsible for making it work. Data are drawn from a Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), Merit Principles Survey, which contained a section asking supervisors to evaluate nine potential problems associated with performance appraisal. Responses indicated that inflated ratings, flawed standards, and a lack of support were the most problematic aspects of the appraisal process. An agency’s use of performance-based rewards, a supervisor’s belief that his or her own performance is assessed objectively, and supervisor age are consistent predictors of supervisors’ perceptions.

Do Trustful Leadership, Organizational Justice, and Motivation Influence Whistle-Blowing Intention? Evidence From Federal Employees

Organizational and societal mechanisms that ensure whistle-blowing in the public sector are required. Although many studies have explored a set of whistle-blowing determinants, few have explored the relationship and role of individual and attitudinal factors in influencing whistle-blowing in the public sector. To close this gap, this study considers the theoretical lenses of social exchange and self-determination theories, proposing that trustful leadership and organizational justice are the most likely factors to predict whistle-blowing intention when it is mediated by public service motivation (PSM) and extrinsic motivation. Using the Merit Principles Survey 2010 by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, the study tests a partial mediation model employing structural equation modeling. The results suggest that PSM and extrinsic motivation partially mediate the relationship of trust in leadership and organizational justice and whistle-blowing intention. Finally, the study’s limitations and theoretical, empirical, and practical implications, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

Where's the Joke? The Meaning Behind Sexual Humor

To laugh or not to laugh? That seems to be the question. With every article on workplace stress comesanother recommendation for including more humor on the job. However, there is corresponding researchshowing that office humor may lead to such negative repercussions as sexual harassment charges. In 1980the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published the guidelines that define sexualharassment as "Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physicalconduct of a sexual nature" (Rutter, 1997, p. 10). These guidelines also define harassment as the creationof a hostile or intimidating working environment; it is such an environment that serves as the basis fornumerous work-related lawsuits. The EEOC classifies unwelcome behavior into seven forms, andaccording to a U. S. Merit Systems Protection Board study, the most frequent form cited includes "sexualteasing, jokes, remarks, or questions" (Rutter, 1997, p. 11).

Class Actions in the Federal Circuit

Class Actions in the Federal Circuit

Examining and testing the roles of human resource development (HRD) in the public sector: evidence from US federal agencies

Human resources (HR) are a priority in organizations, and managing the HR force effectively is the best way for them to survive and flourish. As a critical and integral component for achieving public agencies’ missions and objectives, a well-developed and effective public human resource development (HRD) program needs to be in place. The following research questions guided this study: (1) What are the role of HRD systems (i.e. off-the-job training and on-the-job training), and HRD effectiveness in public organizations? (2) Do HRD systems and HRD effectiveness have a positive impact on employee attitudes and behaviors? (3) What are the mediating roles of mission congruence on trust in leaders and satisfaction with the organization? This study uses data from the Merit Systems Protection Board to identify the nature of HRD and the antecedents of HRD effectiveness in the public sector, and to determine the resulting organizational effectiveness of HRD. This research finds that some HRD effectiveness and mission congruence play major roles in meaningfully and significantly boosting employee trust in leaders and organizational satisfaction. Finally, a discussion on the main findings, research, and practical implications for public management theory and practice is provided.

Whistle-Blowing

The act of blowing the whistle on wrongdoing poses an ethical dilemma to the individual, the organization, and society. To help identify the key individual and organizational determinants that encourage or prohibit whistle-blowing in the U.S. federal government, this article presents a logistic regression analysis of survey data collected by the Merit Systems Protection Board, covering 36,926 federal employees from 24 agencies. Findings suggest that, although whistle-blowing is a rare event within most federal agencies, its likelihood is positively associated with norm-based and affective work motives, but negatively associated with several key indicators of organizational culture, including perceptions of respect and openness, cooperativeness and flexibility in the work setting, and fair treatment and trust in supervisors. This indicates intrinsic individual motives, together with organizational culture and leadership, should be taken into account when developing and sustaining policies to promote ethical behavior and responsible public service in the federal government.

An Impartial Adjudicator or a Quasi-Legislator: A Review of MSPB Legislative Rules and Case Law

More than sixty years ago, Mr. Justice BLACK, dissenting to the action of the Court disposing of the case without oral argument, stated that: Unless we make the requirements for administrative action strict and demanding, expertise, the strength of modern government, can become a which rules with no practical limits on its discretion. Absolute discretion, like corruption, marks the beginning of the end of liberty. This case is perhaps insignificant in the annals. But the standard set for men of good will is even more useful to the venal. See New York v. United States, 342 US 882, 96 L. Ed. 662, 72 S. Ct. 152 - Supreme Court, 1951.Five years later, Mr. Justin Miller, a former judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, expressed his general attitude toward administrative agencies, as follows: (1) They violate the constitutional concept of separation of powers and the tripartite form of government contemplated by the Constitution-makers and have brought back to the United States the very system of governmental controls from which our predecessors were trying to escape; (2) They have, in fact, brought back those very evils of arbitrary government which prompted that desire to escape; they frequently get out of hand and sometimes deliberately violate the mandates given to them by Congress... See Advocate before Administrative Agencies, 1956 U. Ill. L.F. 189 (1956).In this research paper, the author will demonstrate that the United States Merit Systems Protection Board, in the absence of a proper judicial review, has received that absolute power to serve its own and not the public's interest, which turned it into that monster that violates the mandates given to it by Congress and the Constitution. As a result of such usurpation of power, the Board has effectively nullified those provisions of a Veterans Preference Act of 1944 that non-veterans do not enjoy, while enforcing other provisions of the act that cover non-veterans rights as well. The author will also show that, because of the Board actions or failures thereof, the selection process for federal positions has become subject to various manipulations, which resulted in other prohibited personnel practices such as nepotism and favoritism, the latter of which evils or its perceptions, has recently prompted the Board to call for Congress to repeal a statute that feeds the same, because of its apparent inability to enforce that law. The author's observation of the Board rules, decisions and practices will lead him to an inescapable conclusion that those veterans, who seek a fair resolution of their employment issues with federal agencies, should do so in U.S. district courts, whenever such opportunity presents itself.

Measuring Agency Attributes with Attitudes Across Time: A Method and Examples Using Large-Scale Federal Surveys

Public management researchers are interested in many characteristics of organizations that cannot be directly captured, making aggregated attitudes from surveys an attractive proxy. Yet difficulties in measuring meaningful attributes over time and across organizations have frequently limited statistical designs to a single organization or time. We offer a method for creating such statistical measures across agencies and time using item response theory. Focusing our attention on U.S. federal administrative agencies, we marshal a variety of questions from surveys commissioned by the Office of Personnel Management and Merit Systems Protection Board and employ statistical models to measure three important attributes — autonomy, job satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation — for 71 agencies between 1998-2010. Our study provides a wealth of data for quantitative public management research designs as well as an adaptable framework for measuring a wide range of concepts.

A Fresh Take on Government Contract Performance: Linking Social and Technical Factors

One critical question addressed by public management scholars is: what are the factors that facilitate high performing government agencies (Rainey & Steinbauer, 1999b)? Contracting for services represents one mechanism to improve the performance of government agencies (Brown & Potoski, 2003; Donahue, 1989; O'Leary, 1996). While research examining contract performance sheds substantial light on circumstances under which contracting achieves intended goals (Amirkhanyan, Kim, & Lambright, 2007; Brown & Potoski, 2003; Kettl, 1993; Sclar, 2000), much of this research examines how either human factors (e.g. trust between contracting partners) or technical factors (e.g. specification of contract terms) influence contract performance. These studies, however, rarely examine both factors simultaneously. As a result, we know little about the how human factors can affect contract performance under shifting technical contingencies. This lack of understanding represents a significant gap in the contracting literature given organizational scholars have long acknowledged that performance suffers when there is a misfit between the social factors that govern human interaction in organizational life and the technical elements of organizational structure (Thompson, 1967; Trist, 1981; Trist, Higgin, Murray, & Pollock, 1963). Our paper seeks to address this gap in knowledge by examining how increases in contract performance due to changes in contract rules training, a technical factor, are contingent upon discretion over contract management and perceived ethical behavior, both social factors. To do this, we rely on a structural equation model to analyze survey data collected by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board from contract managers in 10 federal government agencies. Drawing from sociotechnical frames, we find that that contract managers who have engaged in more rules training tend to believe that they have less discretion and also view the behaviors of others as unethical. The findings also indicate that more training in contracting rules may actually inhibit perceived contract performance, when mediated by discretion and perceptions of ethical behaviors. Therefore, when both social and technical factors are captured, we are able to illustrate the complexity of these concurrent processes and their influence on perceived performance.

Reconsidering the Black-White Disparity in Federal Performance Ratings

The Office of Personnel Management and Merit Systems Protection Board attribute race disparities in federal employee performance ratings to rater bias. Those claims ignore research findings, particularly meta-analyses, consistently showing Black workers exhibiting worse absenteeism and other Organizational Delinquency Behaviors (ODB). Research also consistently shows Blacks scoring lower than others on objective measures of job knowledge, work quantity and quality, and on work-sample tests. Research on rater race effects does not support claims that White supervisors rate Whites higher and Black supervisors rate Blacks higher. Generally, all raters rate Whites higher and Blacks lower, as predicted by the data on objective performance and ODB. Consistently, the Black-White ratings gap is narrower when raters' subjective ratings substitute for, or are combined with, objective performance measures. Finally, the paper proposes a practical stepwise approach for applying recent research findings to allegations of rater racial bias in federal and other public agencies.

Speak softly and carry a big stick: How contract representatives deal with problems

The contracting process is fraught with difficulties. While successful completion of a contract is the goal, problems and challenges often arise. This requires skills in negotiation or mediation. Dealing with these problems, even if it means recommending contract termination, is part of the job of the contract representatives who oversee the specific projects. Data from the Contracting Officer Representatives survey conducted by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (2005) is used. An index of perceived outcomes (deliverables or services were timely, of high quality, complete, contributed to the agency mission, fair and reasonable, and of good value) was constructed. Roughly, half the respondents indicated that they had had to deal with a problem or challenge. Problem-solving actions (discussions with contactors and other governmental officials, the submission of official documentations, and the recommendation of non-payment or termination sanctions) were submitted to a regression analysis (R2 = .19). From a dozen options, only discussion of the problem with contractors and with their own supervisors along with the recommendation of contract termination registered some meaningful importance (Standardized Betas .1 to .2).