GUEST COLUMN.

Many readers would assume that there were dramatic differences between the public sector employees who work in civil service systems and at will (EAW) systems. In fact, there’s a wide body of thought that argues that EAW is a more effective public sector personnel system

However, as my 2024 dissertation for the University of Massachusetts Global demonstrates, the similarities prove to be somewhat more prevalent than the differences and with one exception, there are few advantages of EAW systems over the civil service merit personnel system.

I came to this conclusion based on a nonexperimental, descriptive, and comparative study which identified and described the responses of 214 state and local government members of the Public Sector HR Association (PSHRA) throughout the United States, focusing on their respective personnel systems.  I used the data I collected to determine the differences between the two public sector personnel systems across five distinct elements that define a good HR system:

• Recruits the most qualified candidates

  
  

• Hires the most qualified candidates

  
  

• Promotes qualified candidates

  
  

• Retains the most qualified candidates

  
  

• Is helpful with effective succession planning

Of these five components of an HR system, I found that hiring was the only one that demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the two systems. The fact that hiring is impacted is in large part due to the civil service merit competitive examinations which impede the ability to hire the most qualified candidates.  

As this study challenges the idea that EAW is  a more effective public sector personnel system, further qualitative and quantitative research would help reveal what the impediments are in supporting the New Public Management (NPM) theoretical framework which is a body of thought that has been part of human resource management reform.

Beyond this particular finding, my research in comparing the experiences of the two groups led me to four conclusions, which can be of use in the public sector, regardless of the system under which an individual employee works:

1)    State and local government professionals working within civil service merit and EAW personnel systems need greater management latitude.

PSHRA state and local government professionals in both personnel systems have a bureaucratic theme running within their personnel system, despite EAW having rid itself of the elements that are part of most civil service systems, which have been put in place to protect employees from arbitrary firing.

2)    Although transformational change leadership – which fosters important lasting changes that alter how an organization works -- is essential to keep up with the private sector, HR professionals must integrate it, or the private sector will pull further ahead of the public sector.

Despite the dire need for this type of leadership the data showed the mismatch between importance attached to transformational change leadership and whether transformational change is actually occurring. Both personnel systems are in critical need of improving upon the use of transformational change leadership and understanding its relationship to the five variables within this study.

3)    The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics must be continually referred to for understanding the public and private sector employment gap.

Historically, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has analyzed monthly job openings, hirings, and separations between the public and the private sectors. Compared to the private sector, the ratios are not impressive for the public sector. Academics and practitioners must continue to pay close attention to these ratios and the changing data to determine the temperature of the continual gap between the private and public sectors.

4)    Without transformational change leadership, PHSRA state and local government professionals working within civil service merit systems and EAW personnel systems will not keep up with the private sector.

Transformational change leadership was rated as highly important for PSHRA state and local government professionals working within EAW and civil service merit systems when it comes to keeping up with the private sector. Transformational change was seemingly occurring within both personnel systems regarding recruitment, hiring, promotion, retention, and effective succession planning but at a bare minimum.

Without transformational change leadership, there will be no improvement in the five variables analyzed for this study. The private sector will continue to triumph over the public sector, and citizens in state and local governments may get more frustrated with the perception that government lacks efficiency and effectiveness.

Conclusion

The 214 PSHRA professionals who participated in this study indicated various findings. Although PSHRA professionals working within an EAW system averaged higher in recruitment, hiring, promotion, retention, and succession planning than those working within a civil service merit system, hiring was the only statistically significant difference between the two personnel systems, as civil service merit system competitive examinations mediate the ability of PSHRA professionals to effectively hire the most qualified candidate for the job.

In addition, the need for transformational change leadership averaged very high among both personnel systems, but very little is occurring within recruitment, hiring, promotion, retention, and succession planning.

Moreover, further research should examine why, despite the high need for transformational change leadership, transformational change has stalled or has stopped altogether. Additional research will help scholars and practitioners to understand what has changed to slow down various reform movements that gained momentum in the 1990s.

The contents of this Guest Column are those of the author, and not necessarily Barrett and Greene, Inc. 

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