Can Pay for Performance Succeed in Government?

1988 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
James L. Perry ◽  
Beth Ann Petrakis
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Pay For Performance ◽  
Merit Pay ◽  
Recognition System ◽  
Civil Service Reform ◽  
Current Program ◽  
Pay System

Pay-for-performance programs have become increasingly popular in recent years. The federal government introduced a merit pay system for managers under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. The failure of the system led to its reform in 1984. The current program, the Performance Management and Recognition System (PMRS), is described and assessed. The paper offers a prognosis for PMRS's future. Other public sector experience is reviewed to identify the probable success of managerial merit pay.

Self-Selection into Public Service When Corruption is Widespread: The Anomalous Russian Case

2020 ◽  
pp. 001041402095766
Author(s):  
Jordan Gans-Morse ◽  
Alexander Kalgin ◽  
Andrei Klimenko ◽  
Dmitriy Vorobyev ◽  
Andrei Yakovlev
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Career Paths ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
Self Selection ◽  
Demographic Traits ◽  
Experimental Games

Drawing on experimental games and surveys conducted with students at two universities in Russia, we compare the behavioral, attitudinal, and demographic traits of students seeking public sector employment to the traits of their peers seeking jobs in the private sector. Contrary to similar studies conducted in other high-corruption contexts, such as India, we find evidence that students who prefer a public sector career display less willingness to cheat or bribe in experimental games as well as higher levels of altruism. However, disaggregating public sector career paths reveals distinctions between the federal civil service and other types of public sector employment, with federal government positions attracting students who exhibit some similarities with their peers aspiring to private sector careers. We discuss multiple interpretations consistent with our findings, each of which has implications for the creation of effective anti-corruption policies and for understanding of state capacity in contexts where corruption is widespread.

Three Federal Demonstration Projects: Using Monetary Performance Awards

1994 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilbert B. Siegel
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Air Force ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Pay For Performance ◽  
Merit Pay ◽  
Evaluation Research ◽  
Blue Collar ◽  
Gain Sharing ◽  
Monetary Rewards

Three federal demonstration projects have been using monetary rewards for performance with mixed results. Two of the projects, Navy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, use individual merit pay in research and development environments. A third, an Air Force project, involves blue collar employees, and utilizes gain sharing. This article analyzes evaluation research conducted to date. Results show it is difficult to separate pay outcomes from the effects of multiple interventions. However inconclusive, there is evidence that improvements have been produced without many of the side effects which have been described in the literature on pay-for-performance in the federal government.

Effects of Performance-Contingent Pay on Employee Attitudes

1988 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brigitte W. Schay
Keyword(s):  
Performance Appraisal ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Pay For Performance ◽  
Merit Pay ◽  
White Collar ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Employee Attitudes ◽  
Civil Service Reform ◽  
Civilian Employees

This article compares the effects of two different pay-for-performance systems implemented as a result of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. Analyses are based on responses to five annual attitude surveys administered between 1979 and 1984 to civilian employees at four Navy R&D laboratories. Two of the labs, located in California, implemented pay for performance for all their white collar employees under a CSRA demonstration project testing an integrated approach to pay performance appraisal and position classification. The other two labs, located on the East coast, served as a comparison group for the federal-wide merit pay system covering supervisors and managers. Overall results were found to be more positive for the two demonstration labs in California.

scholarly journals Towards a Managerial Public Service Bargain: The Estonian Civil Service Reform

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cerlin Pesti ◽  
Tiina Randma-Liiv
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Civil Service Reform

Abstract The aim of this article is to explore and explain the 2012 civil service reform in Estonia. The study builds on the concept of public service bargain, which facilitates the operationalization of changes in the civil service system. Although public service bargain has attracted a lot of interest of public administration scholars, it has not been previously applied in the civil service research in Central and Eastern Europe. The theoretical part synthesizes previous literature on typologies of public service bargain, thus elaborating an analytical framework for the empirical study. The empirical study addresses the following research question: did the civil service reform change the public service bargain in Estonia and if so, how ? The empirical research was carried out by relying on desk research, secondary literature on Estonian administrative reforms and participant observation. The study builds partly on the materials collected for the EUPACK case study on Estonia. The analysis shows that the civil service reform brought along changes in all three components of public service bargain: reward, competency and loyalty, although the agency-type bargain was retained. The shift towards the managerial public service bargain is evidenced in the greater emphasis on flexibility in employment relations, the use of fixed-term contracts, increased private-sector-style practices at all levels of the civil service, an emphasis on performance management, and the reduction of job security. Despite the widespread criticism of NPM, the Estonian civil service reform presents a “textbook case” of managerial NPM-oriented reform. It is argued that substantially diminished rewards may contribute to a vicious circle of temporary civil servants, including problems with recruiting new officials and a further increase in their turnover, ultimately leading to a “temporary state”. The loyalty of civil servants may in turn shift towards instrumental, short-term and easily influenced or changing loyalty, thus challenging the fundamental values of democratic governance.

Facilitating Civil Service Reform on Performance Management in Liberia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Rogger ◽  
Hanzhuo Zhang ◽  
Vincent Pons ◽  
Jennifer Ljungqvist ◽  
ERIKA DESERRANNO
Keyword(s):  
Performance Management ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Civil Service Reform

Laboratories for Change: Lessons from 15 Years of Demonstration Projects

1993 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 675-687
Author(s):  
Paul R. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Personnel Management ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Civil Service Reform ◽  
Evaluation Strategy ◽  
The Past ◽  
Project Plan ◽  
The Future ◽  
Civil Service Reform Act

Personnel demonstration projects in the federal government were first authorized by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. Several projects have been conducted in the past 15 years. The author draws a number of lessons from this experience, including how to select ideas to test, factors to consider in developing a project plan and an appropriate evaluation strategy, and how to conclude projects successfully. He also uses that experience to identify qualities in individuals and organizations that support successful innovations, and concludes that demonstration projects have the potential to play an even more significant role in federal personnel management in the future.

Implications of Salary Structure and Merit Pay in the Fifty American States

1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendell C. Lawther ◽  
H. John Bernardin ◽  
Earle Traynham ◽  
Kenneth Jennings
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Merit Pay ◽  
Improve Performance ◽  
Pay Systems ◽  
The Public ◽  
Salary Structure ◽  
American States ◽  
System Maintenance ◽  
Implementation Problems

The burgeoning literature concerning merit pay in the public sector primarily focuses on themes such as its ability to improve performance, implementation problems in merit pay system maintenance, and a much more limited review of how merit pay should be integrated with salary structure. There are no studies of merit pay and salary structure, however, that compare experiences across local, state and federal government. Compensation specialists from all 50 states were surveyed to determine current practices in the area of pay structure and merit pay systems. Results indicate that many states are having difficulty in effectively integrating structure and merit pay.

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