The 1978 Civil Service Reform Act may be considered President Carter's most impressive domestic political victory. This victory can be linked to the efforts of many, but specifically to Alan K. (Scotty) Campbell, who served as the chief architect of the legislation and began implementing the act as first director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Thirty years later, personnel reform is again a presidential priority. As part of the 2002 Homeland Security Act, the Bush administration introduced provisions to enhance flexibility and performance, yet the contemporary reforms met considerable resistance. In an effort to compare and contrast these two reform efforts, this article draws upon historical evidence to examine how Campbell effectively engaged diverse stakeholders in the policy design process, why he championed performance-based pay, and how as a political appointee, he guided lasting change on the federal level.
Alan Campbell Collection. (n.d.). Syracuse University Special Collections Research Center.
2.
AFL-CIO. (2005, January 28). News for working families: Bush administration moves to gut civil service system. Retrieved December 10, 2007, from http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/ns01282005.cfm
3.
Ballenstedt, B. (2008). Performance pay perils. Retrieved February 28, 2008, from http://www.govexec.com
4.
Ban, C. (2000). The national performance review as implicit evaluation of CSRA: Building on or overturning the legacy? In J. P. Pfiffner & D. A. Brook (Eds.), The future of merit: Twenty years after the Civil Service Reform Act. Washington, DC: The Woodrow Wilson Center Press.
5.
Barr, S. (2006, May 18). Funding roadblock for DHS performance pay. Retrieved May 6, 2008, from: www.washingtonpost.com .
6.
Campbell, A.K. (1974). The public service. In Watergate: Implications for responsible government (pp. 63-76). New York: Basic Books.
7.
Campbell, A.K. (1978a). Accountability: The bottom line of reform. The Bureaucrat, 7(4), 1-5.
8.
Campbell, A.K. (1978b). Civil service reform: A new commitment. Public Administration Review, 38(2), 99-103.
9.
Campbell, A.K. (1978c, May). The not-so-quiet revolution in civil service . Conference Report on Public Personnel Management Reform, 150-194.
10.
Campbell, A.K. (1978d, January-February). Revitalizing the federal personnel system. Public Personnel Management, 1-5.
11.
Campbell, A.K. (1978e). Testimony on civil service reform and organization. Civil service reform. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
12.
Campbell, A.K. (1978f). What's right with federal employees. Civil Service Journal, 18(4), 1-6.
13.
Campbell, A.K. (1980). Civil service reform as a remedy of bureaucratic ills. In C. H. Weiss & A. H. Barton (Eds.), Making bureaucracies work (pp. 153-166). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
14.
Campbell, A.K. (1994). Response to "The three faces of civil service reform." In H. D. Rosenbaum & A. Ugrinsky (Eds.), The presidency and domestic policies of Jimmy Carter (pp. 689-692). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
15.
Carter, J. (1978, January 19). State of the union address. Retrieved December 10, 2007, from www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/documents/speeches/su78jec.phtml
16.
Chief Human Capital Officers Council. (n.d.). Strategic plan fiscal years 2005-2006. Retrieved December 10, 2007, from http://www.chcoc.gov/PublicFiles/ChcocFile19.pdf
17.
Department of Homeland Security Human Resources Management System.Homeland security: Human resources management ( 2004, February 20). Federal Register, 69, 8030-8071.
18.
Etzioni, A. (1961). A comparative analysis of complex organizations . New York: Free Press.
19.
H.R.5005. To establish the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes (2002).
20.
Huddleston, M.W., & Boyer, W.W. (1996). The higher civil service in the United States: Quest for reform. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
21.
Ingraham, P.W. (1983). The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978: The design and legislative history. In P. W. Ingraham & C. Ban (Eds.), Legislating bureaucratic change: The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (pp. 13-28). Albany: State University of New York Press .
22.
Ingraham, P.W., & Getha-Taylor, H. (2006). Great expectations but hazards ahead: Applying lessons learned from past demonstration projects to emergent federal HRM systems. In Norma Riccucci (Ed.), Public personnel management: Current concerns, future challenges (4th ed., pp. 18-35). New York: Longman.
23.
Ingraham, P.W., & Moynihan, D.P. (2000). Evolving dimensions of performance from the CSRA onward. In J. P. Pfiffner & D. A. Brook (Eds.), The future of merit: Twenty years after the Civil Service Reform Act (pp.103-126). Washington, DC: The Woodrow Wilson Center Press.
24.
Ingraham, P.W., & Perry, J.L. (1994). The three faces of civil service reform. In H. D. Rosenbaum & A. Ugrinsky (Eds.), The presidency and domestic policies of Jimmy Carter (pp. 677-688). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
25.
Ink, D. (2000). What was behind the 1978 civil service reform? In J. P. Pfiffner & D. A. Brook (Eds.), The future of merit: Twenty years after the Civil Service Reform Act (pp. 39-56). Washington, DC: The Woodrow Wilson Center Press.
26.
Kettl, D.F., Ingraham, P.W., Sanders, R.P., & Horner, C. (1996). Civil service reform: Building a government that works. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
27.
Light, P.C. (1992). Watch what we pass: A brief legislative history of civil service reform. In P. W. Ingraham & D. H. Rosenbloom (Eds.), The promise and paradox of civil service reform (pp. 303-326). Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
28.
Macy, J., & Campbell, A.K. (1979). Reflections on reform . Civil Service Journal, 19, 31-37.
29.
Moynihan, D.P. (2004). Protection versus flexibility: The Civil Service Reform Act, competing administrative doctrines, and the roots of contemporary public management debate. Journal of Policy History, 16, 1-33.
30.
National Academy of Public Administration. ( 1979). Interviews with Alan K. Campbell. Syracuse, NY: Alan K. Campbell Public Affairs Institute, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.
31.
Newland, C.A. (1992). The politics of civil service reform. In P. W. Ingraham & D. H. Rosenbloom (Eds.), The promise and paradox of civil service reform (pp. 63-92). Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
32.
Newland, C.A. (2000). Politics of transition from the administrative to the facilitative state. In J. P. Pfiffner & D. A. Brook (Eds.), The future of merit: Twenty years after the Civil Service Reform Act (pp. 200-225). Washington, DC: The Woodrow Wilson Center Press.
33.
Partnership for Public Service. (2007). Federal human capital: The perfect storm. Washington, DC and Alexandria, VA: Partnership for Public Service and Grant Thornton.
34.
Perry, J.L. (1992). The merit pay reforms. In P. W. Ingraham & D. H. Rosenbloom (Eds.), The promise and paradox of civil service reform (pp. 199-216). Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
35.
Rutzik, K. (2006, September 18). Senior execs pan performance pay system. Retrieved December 10, 2007, from http://www.govexec.com
36.
Thakur, S., Keen, M., Horvath, B., & Cerra, V. (2003). Sweden's welfare state: Can the bumblebee keep flying?Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund.
37.
Thompson, F.J. (1988). Political responsiveness and merit systems: An overview. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 8, 1-6.
38.
U.S. Civil Service Commission. (1977, June 2). Memorandum for the president: Executive order establishing the presidential management intern program. Unpublished memorandum.
39.
Van Riper, P.P. (1958). History of the United States civil service. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson and Company .
