A Study of Employee Appraisal Systems of Major Cities in the United States
| DOI | 10.1177/009102607900800206 |
| Author | Kenneth J. Lacho,G. Kent Stearns,Maurice F. Villere |
| Date | 01 March 1979 |
| Published date | 01 March 1979 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
A
Study
of
Employee
Appraisal
Systems
of
Major
Cities
in
the
United
States
KENNETH
J.
LACHO,
G.
KENT
STEARNS
AND
MAURICE
F.
VILLERE
This research was supported by
Grant
IPS
(/ntergovernmental Personnel
Act)
77
LA
OIC from
the
US.
Civil Service
Commission
of
the
State
of
Louisiana.
The
management
of
human
resources
has
become
an
important
issue for
state
and
local
governments
during
the
1970'5.'
The
growing
interest
in in-
creasing
employee
productivity
can
be
attributed
to a
number
of
pressures
act-
ing
upon
government
managers.
These
pressures
stem
from
the
governmental
employees,
the
public,
and
legal factors.
Unions
and
employee
groups
are
de-
manding
more
pay
and
benefits
from
local
governments."
On
the
other
hand,
there
is a
growing
reluctance
on
the
part
of
the
taxpayer
to
pay
more
taxes."
Spontaneous
taxpayer
crusades
have
de-
veloped across
the
nation
including
such
places as Idaho, Arizona,
Georgia
and
California."
Despite
public
concern
over
the
rise
in
taxes,
there
is a
growing
demand
for
more
services,
reflecting
natural
popula-
tion
growth,
geographical
expansion
of
population
and
the
need
for services by
certain
segments
of
the
population
such
as
the
aged. Yet, local
governments
face
a
scarcity
in
resources
(or
budget
funds)
and
face
spiraling
costs for
the
goods
and
services
they
must
buy. In
addition,
there
is
the
threat
of legal
action
if
local
services
are
not
equitably
provided."
Lastly,
management
in
the
public sec-
tor
is becoming
more
complex. Contrib-
uting
to
the
complexity
is
the
integra-
tion
of
federally
funded
projects
into
local
administration.
These
projects
are
subject
to complex rules,
government
regulations
and
federal
inspection
as to
their
effectiveness.G
In
response
to
these
pressures,
the
public
administrator
has
had
to look for
ways of
getting
more
productivity
out
of
available
resources.
Ways
of
improving
productivity
include
new
procedures
and
technology,
labor
saving
devices,
economies of scale,
and
developing a
labor
force
which
is well
trained,
moti-
vated,
and
managed.
Human
resources
represent
the
larg-
est
and
most
valuable
factor
of produc-
tion
in
the
public sector.
The
develop-
ment
of
employee
skills
and
work
motivation
are
excellent
ways
of in-
creasing
productivity!
One
aspect
of
supervising
employees
is
the
evaluation
of
their
work
perfor-
mance.
Employee
performance
apprais-
A
STUDY
OF
EMPLOYEE
APPRAISAL
SYSTEMS
OF
MAJOR
CITIES
IN
THE
UNITED
STATES
111
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