Foreign Systems, Familiar Refrains: Civil Service Reform in Comparative Perspective

• Author: Mark W. Huddleston
• Date: 01 March 1982
• DOI: 10.1177/0734371X8200200205
• Published date: 01 March 1982
• Subject Matter: Articles

49

FOREIGN

SYSTEMS,

FAMILIAR

REFRAINS:

CIVIL

SERVICE

REFORM IN

COMPARATIVE

PERSPECTIVE

Mark

W.

Huddleston

University

of

Delaware

Abstract

The

civil

service

reforms

of

the

1970’s

in

the

United

States

were

closely

paralleled

by

similar

reforms

in

other

Western

nations.

This

article

identifies

five

themes

in

civil

service

reform —

non-

discrimination,

public

sector

labor

relations,

decentralization,

political

responsiveness,

and

private

sector

influences

—

and

discusses

how

they

have

shaped

changes

in

personnel

systems

at

home

and

abroad.

Although

civil

service

systems

still

vary

significantly

from

one

country

to

another,

common

social,

political,

and

economic

pressures

are

forcing

a

marked

convergence

in

personnel

practices

and

institutions.

Introduction

The

decade

of

the

1970s

was

one

of

thoroughgoing

civil

service

reform

in

the

United

States.

Perhaps

not

since

the

1880s

were

so

many

fundamental

changes

wrought

in

the

structure

of

personnel

systems

at

national,

state,

and

local

levels

of

government.

Personnel

functions

were

decentralized;

public

sec-

tor

unions

were

given

new

status;

recruitment

and

training

programs

were

overhauled

to

mitigate

discrimination;

and

new

promotion

and

incentive

systems

were

installed

to

increase

productivity

and

improve

responsiveness.

Students

of

public

administration

have

generally

understood

this

wave

of

reform

to

be

a

response

to

changes

in

the

American

political

environment.

This

is

a

reasonable

interpretation

of

events;

certainly

we

should

not

expect

that

the

personnel

function

would

have

been

more

isolated

from

the

vicissitudes

and

upheavals

in

American

politics

in

the

last

ten

or

fifteen

years

than

any

other

public

institution

or

process.

Nevertheless,

it

is

important

to

note

that

the

United

States

has

not

been

alone

in

this

reformist

spirit.

Virtually

every

other

Western

industrialized

nation

has

been

going

through

a

similar

period

of

administrative

self-examination.

Moreover,

the

themes

of

civil

service

reform

have

been

strik-

ingly

similar.

Although

not

all

systems

have been

concerned

with

all

the

issues

that

have

preoccupied

the

United

States

this

last

decade,

the

echoes

from

the

corridors

of

foreign

bureaucracies

ring

familiar

enough

to

our

ears

that

they

warrant

close

examination.

The

purpose

of

this

article

is

to

put

the

American

experience

in

perspective

by

briefly

reviewing

some

of

these

common

themes

in

civil

service

reform.

At

one

level,

the

essay

can

be

read

simply

as

a

summary

of

administrative