Merit by Any Other Name—Refraining the Civil Service First Principle

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2005.00435.x
• Author: Colleen A. Woodard
• Date: 01 January 2005
• Published date: 01 January 2005

The Reflective Practitioner 109

The Reflective Practitioner

Colleen A. Woodard

Federal Technology Services, Inc.

Merit by Any Other Name—Reframing the

Civil Service First Principle

Merit has traditionally served as the foundation of public human resources management (HRM)

policy and practice. Today, the concept is more closely associated with compensation (merit

pay) than with values that drive behavior in federal HRM. As the Departments of Homeland

Security and Defense struggle to create new HRM systems that promote results-oriented govern-

ment, the question arises, how does merit inform practice in these new systems? In this article, I

identify the values that are influencing federal HRM decision making now and develop a model

for merit-based HRM systems in a less regulated environment through a view from three lenses:

the historical evolution of the merit concept in American government, how merit is treated in the

law, and how merit has been applied in Title–5 exempt organizations. This discussion will help

to create HRM policies and practices that are grounded in values that managers and employees

can embrace and that translate into behaviors that promote both good relationships and results-

oriented performance.

After 30 years of experience in public human resources

management (HRM) and five years of teaching HRM in

public administration graduate programs, I am ready to

accept that merit as a management concept is most widely

recognized today as a type of pay-for-performance system

(merit pay) with little, if any, connection to its role as the

historic cornerstone of public HRM systems. Once a vi-

able descriptor for the policies and practices that elimi-

nated political influence in government hiring and pro-

moted neutral competence in the workforce, merit-based

HRM has been under siege for some time as public orga-

nizations struggle to transform their personnel systems into

more efficient and effective tools of management that re-

flect public values while effectively supporting their busi-

ness requirements. With the Departments of Homeland

Security and Defense, which are now developing HRM

systems for a large portion of the federal workforce, we

need a clear description of what constitutes merit in public

HRM systems and a set of values that managers can use to

guide their daily interactions with employees. So, if the

word “merit” no longer works for defining the basis for

treating employees in public organizations, what language

can we use to denote the values that will inform policy,

define practice, and guide behavior in the larger public

HRM arena? I suggest that language is already being used

both in the arenas of democratic governance and the law—

fairness and equity. To identify the values that are actually

guiding HRM policies and practices today and to frame a

model for merit-based HRM systems, I have looked at the

historical evolution of the merit concept in American gov-

ernment, how merit is treated in the law, and how merit

has been applied in Title 5–exempt organizations. In a time

of change and in a less regulated workplace, culture and

values guide behavior. Public-sector managers need more

than the language of business to guide their performance.

From a public policy perspective, merit is still the un-

derlying principle for public HRM. It is legally framed as

Colleen A. Woodard is the chief executive officer of Federal Technology

Services Inc., which provides human resources services and consulting to

federal organizations. She teaches in public administration graduate pro-

grams, speaks, publishes, and develops and conducts training on human

resource management topics. Dr. Woodard holds a PhD in public adminis-

tration from Virginia Tech. E-mail: cwoodard@fed-tech.com.