Promotion in the Public Service
| Date | 01 May 1924 |
| Author | Thomas C. Murray |
| Published date | 01 May 1924 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271622411300148 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
352
Promotion
in
the
Public
Service
By
THOMAS
C.
MURRAY
Chief
Examiner,
Municipal
Civil
Service
Commission,
New
York
City
THE
following
account
is
based
j
upon
the
procedure
followed
by
the
Municipal
Civil
Service
Commis-
sion
of
the
city
of
New
York,
which
for
years
has
given
great
attention
to
this
particular
phase
of
civil
service
admin-
istration.
It
is
not
claimed
that the
system
used
is
entirely
satisfactory.
It
is
true
that
certain
rules
have
been
formulated,
certain
definite
principles
followed,
and
certain
methods
of
pro-
cedure
adopted.
As
elsewhere
in
the
public
service,
the
New
York
City
Commission
has
been
obliged
to
adapt
its
methods
to
existing
legal
require-
ments,
to
changing
policies
of
munici-
pal
departments
and
to
varying
conditions
of
public
employment.
The
difficulties
to
be
overcome
in
the
formu-
lation
of
a
promotion
system
can
be
readily
understood
by
those
who
are
to
some
extent
familiar
with
govern-
mental
administration,
municipal,
state
or
federal.
ELIGIBILITY
FOR
POSITIONS
AND
EXAMINATIONS
The
Civil
Service
Law
of
the
state
of
New
York
directs
in
part
that
vacan-
cies
in
positions
in
the
competitive
class
shall
be
filled,
so
far
as
practicable,
by
promotion
from
among
persons
holding
positions
in
a
lower
grade
in
the
de-
partment,
office
or
institution
in
which
the
vacancy
exists.
Promotion
shall
be
based
upon
merit
and
competition
and
upon
the
superior
qualifications
of
the
person
promoted
as
shown
by
his
previous
service,
due
weight
being
given
to
seniority.
In
accordance
with
these
provisions,
promotion
examina-
tions
consist
of
two
elements.
The
first
element
is
supplied
by
the
service
records
of
employes,
which,
in
accord-
ance
with
the
municipal
civil
service
rules,
must
be
kept
for
all
employes
in
the
competitive
class.
The
second,
the
mental
examination,
designed
to
test
the
fitness
of
the
candidates
for
more
important
duties,
corresponds
as
far
as
possible,
in
scope,
subjects
and
pre-
liminary
conditions,
to
examinations
as
would
have
been
prescribed
for
original
entrance
to
the
same
position.
Promotion
examinations
are
limited
to
persons
serving
in
lower
but
corre-
sponding
positions
to
those
for
which
the
examinations
are
held.
They
are
also
limited
to
employes
serving
in
the
department
in
which
the
vacancy
ex-
ists,
and,
in
some
large
departments,
eligibility
is
further
limited
to
persons
serving
in
certain
subdivisions,
where
the
work
is
entirely
distinct
from
the
rest
of
the
department.
The
commis-
sion
by
resolution
has
adopted
a
plan
of
organization
of
city
departments,
showing
the
bureaus
and
other
sub-
divisions
to
be
recognized
in
the
prep-
aration
of
eligible
lists
resulting
from
promotion
examinations.
In
some
ex-
aminations,
it
is
found
that
the
duties
of
the
position
to
be
filled
by
promotion
may
be
learned
by
persons
serving
in
several
bureaus.
In
such
cases,
the
commission
extends
eligibility
for
ex-
amination
either
to
employes
serving
in
several
bureaus
or,
in
some
cases,
in
the
entire
department.
In
no
case
is
eligibility
extended
to
several
city
de-
partments
under
different
appointing
officers.
It
is
true
that,
from
time
to
time,
objection
to
this
limitation
of
compe-
tition
has
been
raised
by
persons
not
familiar
with
the
actual
work
of
civil
service
administration;
but
in
no
case
has
a
satisfactory
substitute
to
the
To continue reading
Request your trial