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Introduction
Public personnel management plays a central role in effective governance. Most nations have created civil service systems that attempt to promote merit and neutrality, viewing this approach as the best way to deliver public services effectively. Specifically, the civil service ideal involves protecting government employees from arbitrary decisions concerning hiring and firing or pays to promote good management and strong employee performance. The rise of “New Public Management” ideas in recent years has challenged civil service premises, however. For example, the “flexibility doctrine” emphasizes giving managers more power and discretion to improve the bureaucracy’s performance and heighten political responsiveness (Moynihan 2004).
In short, civil service systems are highly legalistic, while emerging alternative approaches are less so. Statutes, executive orders, and court decisions all shape the environment in which...
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References
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Boeckelman, K. (2016). Civil Service Law and Public Personnel Management. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_1170-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_1170-1
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