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U.S Civil Services System History

U.S Civil Services System History

Introduction

The civil service system is the name generally given to the public personnel management system used for most government employee positions in municipal, state, and federal governments. Civil service or merit-based personnel systems developed as a result of abuses in traditional employment practices in government. History has played a key role in the emergence of U.S civil service reform demands. The political adage "to the victor belong the spoils" best describes the method of civil service recruitment and placement employed during the early 19th century. For instance, rather than making federal appointments based on merit, during this period jobs were given as rewards for political support (Kettle, et al. 1996). Consequently, because of presidential term limits, workers panicked during each election year, they lacked loyalty to the organization, and the constant civil servant turnover led to a lack of institutional memory.

Discussion

The Spoils System

For most of the 19th century, employment in the executive branch of the national government was based on the principle of the spoils system. Known as political patronage or the spoils system, the former method of doling out government jobs was as a reward to individuals on the basis of their political party membership, campaign support, or political contributions to elected candidates. Under this system, which essentially began under Andrew Jackson, nonelected government jobs were given largely as patronage, that is, on the basis of politics rather than merit (Hoogenboom, 1961). This was to ensure both that political supporters would be rewarded, thereby maintaining future support, and to maximize political compatibility with the elected person. To be sure, the educated were drawn upon, since the pool of qualified candidates was small. Nonetheless, otherwise qualified candidates were often left out of the resource pool because they were of the wrong party affiliation, different from the current governing regime. However, reaction against the political patronage or spoils system by the public grew with evidence of waste and inefficiency in government. Public jobs were no longer seen as just "rewards" for political support or party loyalty but important jobs requiring knowledge, abilities, and skills.

Civil Service Act of 1883

Amid growing criticism, the assassination of President Garfield in 1881 by a dissatisfied job seeker raised national attention to the problems of the patronage system. As a result, the Congress established the civil service system with passage of the Civil Service Act of 1883 (Hoogenboom, 1961). Known as the Pendleton Act, the law established the principle of merit in federal government employment and established a Civil Service Commission for administration of the act. The new system established by Congress consisted of a body of rules based on the concepts of merit and political neutrality. Major aspects of the civil service system include the elimination of politics from personnel decisions; the selection of civil service personnel by open, competitive examinations; the appointment of individuals on the basis of merit; and efficient and fair recruitment, selection, and reward systems (Rothbard, 1995).

Although the Pendleton Act helped replace ...