PRESIDENT OBAMA AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: A MERIT SYSTEM FOR THE 21 ST CENTURY? Stephen E. Condrey, Ph.D. University of Georgia
Dec 27, 2015
PRESIDENT OBAMA AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: A MERIT SYSTEM FOR THE 21ST CENTURY?
Stephen E. Condrey, Ph.D.
University of Georgia
PRESIDENT CARTER Ran against the “bureaucracy”
Beginning of main-stream anti-government sentiment in the U.S.
Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 Office of Personnel
Management (OPM)
Merit Systems Protection
Board (MPSB)
Merit Pay for Managers
HR Pilot Projects Senior Executive Service (SES)
PRESIDENT CLINTON
National Performance Review Fewer rules and
regulations Further
decentralization or “disaggregation” of federal human resource management
Improved Labor/Management Relations
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
First MBA President
Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO)
National Security Personnel System (NSPS) Merit Pay Fewer Employee Rights
Chilled relations with Labor Unions
PRESIDENT OBAMA
Appoints John Berry as Director of OPM
Berry is most visible OPM Director in 30 years
Obama potentially poised to make major HR reforms
Obama harkens back to President Kennedy and a call to public service
American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) – HRM Policy Committee
“I believe this is an historic opportunity for comprehensive reform of our civil service system. The stars are aligned in a way that occurs only once in a generation. We have a President who deeply values service and wants to restore the dignity and respect for our civil service to what it was during Kennedy’s stirring call. We have a Congress that is willing to help and a public that increasingly recognizes that our current approaches to hiring, rewarding, appraising and training our employees are inadequate.”
John Berry, OPM Director
December 2009
“The very procedures that were supposed to ensure job applicants are evaluated based on merit are discouraging applicants from completing the arduous quest of actually getting a civil service job.”
John Berry, OPM DirectorFebruary 2010
PRIMARY REFORM FOCUS: SIX AREAS Recruitment
Pay System Reform
Performance Management
Training and Development
Improved Labor/Management Relations
In-Sourcing
RECRUITMENT
Increased focus on recruitment
Recruitment process has become disjointed and elusive
1.9 million federal employees; hire 300,000 per year
Overhaul of USA Jobs site – unveiled in January 2010
PAY SYSTEM REFORM Possible introduction of pay-for-performance
Possible consolidation of pay systems and overhaul of the Federal General Schedule (GS)
Possible favoring career ladders and career bands over the traditional GS system Apprentice Journey-level Expert
Rank-in-person vs. rank-in-grade
Federal employees and unions will resist major pay system reform
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Possible unified performance management system
More closely tied to overall training and career progression
Three level proposed: In-good standing Outstanding Not-in-good standing
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Increased emphasis on training and development
Specific funds set aside for training and development
Encouraging a cultural shift that values and rewards training
Closer ties between training and development and career progression
IMPROVED LABOR/MANAGEMENT RELATIONS All agencies must have
labor/management councils and collaboration plans by March 2010
Reversal of Bush administration policies
Unions want decision-makers at the table
Increases scrutiny of “metrics” such as grievances as a measure of success
“If there’s a management team that’s HR and labor relations, we’re not going to play.”
John Gage, PresidentAmerican Federation of Government EmployeesFebruary 2010
PRIVATIZATION In-sourcing and a
reduction in privatization
Experience with Iraq and Afghanistan has influenced public opinion of outsourcing
However, privatization is the “new spoils” for modern governments – no longer – tightly associated with individual jobs