The American Civil Service has done a remarkable job of serving the country. To represent the market dynamics of the twenty-first century, it must be reformatted because it needs to be updated. The introduction of technology and the enormous increase in talent have benefited the civil service. However, it continues to employ obsolete methods for hiring, managing human resources, operating, competing for talent, paying employees, and exercising leadership. The outdated operations management systems harm governmental effectiveness. The most common scenario occurs when the government workforce in the United States is modernized and transformed to more closely resemble the private sector. In that case, it will be more effective and efficient in addressing the issues of the twenty-first century.
The civil service was not designed for any well-functioning government. Indeed, it was developed in response to the decades-long bureaucracy that has typified American public service (Huber & Ting, 2021). It was created for the public sector employees who physically supervised everything, the clerks who worked with paper-based systems and rudimentary equipment like card readers. Computers and other technologies, however, have replaced these outdated processes. One of the best-educated workforces can be found in the American public sector (Van Seters, 2021). Notably, the public sector employs more educated workers than the private sector, with at least 20% of civil servants possessing one or more degrees as opposed to the private sector’s 13% (Born & Rutledge, 2021).
The private sector is more effective and efficient than the public sector because its techniques and procedures can adapt to the demands and realities of the twenty-first century. The primary step to modernizing the civil service and bringing it into compliance with the 21st-century marketplace is to reform it to resemble the private sector (Moreira & Pérez, 2021). The Federal General Schedule categorization, which has been in effect for a long time, needs to be changed as a first step. Notably, the General Schedule’s classifications need to adequately describe professionals’ functions in the twenty-first century. For instance, the compensation is not consistent with the federal vocations. Performance and occupation—rather than job class—determine remuneration in the private sector.
The Civil Service General Schedule, based on experience and years of service, guarantees that a person’s compensation is based on the job class for which they are employed. The civil service would become more competitive and attract talent by changing the general schedule to ensure that talent is compensated based on performance, boosting its effectiveness and efficiency (Mascott, 2018). The recruitment mechanisms are another area of the civil service that requires restructuring to meet the demands and realities of the twenty-first century. People are given permanent jobs in the civil service. Once hired, a public servant stays in the position until retirement, resignation, or termination due to disciplinary reasons (Nigro et al., 2014). As a result, many underperforming employees and others in the civil service are too elderly to work in the modern workplace.
The civil service needs procedures for firing underperforming employees, unlike the commercial sector, where job performance determines tenure. By utilizing contract labor, this scenario can be changed (Born & Rutledge, 2021). Contract employment should be used to staff the civil service. Only those who achieve the performance standards specified by their employers will have their contracts renewed after a predetermined time (Sifunda-Evelia, 2017). The civil service would be more competitive with a contract workforce. Additionally, focusing more on performance would increase workers’ productivity and efficiency.
In conclusion, because of the emphasis on performance, responsibility, integrity, and responsibility, the American public can have faith in the fairness and integrity of a civil service that applies human resource techniques similar to those used in the private sector. Introducing reforms would bring biblical principles, emphasizing professionalism and honesty, to managing human resource activities. Employees of the civil service would become more accountable and receptive to the requirements of the public if it were reformed to resemble the private sector. The American public can have faith in a civil service that employs human resources strategies similar to those used in the business sector for fairness and integrity.
References
Born, G. B., & Rutledge, P. B. (2022). International civil litigation in United States courts. Aspen Publishing.
Huber, J. D., & Ting, M. M. (2021). Civil service and patronage in bureaucracies. The Journal of Politics, 83(3), 902-916. Web.
Mascott, J. L. (2018). Who Are Officers of the United States? Stan. L. Rev., pp. 70, 443. Web.
Moreira, D., & Pérez, S. (2021). Civil service reform and organizational practices: Evidence from the Pendleton act (No. w28665). National Bureau of Economic Research. Web.
Nigro, L., Nigro, F., and, J. (2014). The new public personnel administration. 7th. Independence, Kentucky. Cengage. Web.
Sifunda-Evelia, M. (2017). Human resource management practices: A biblical perspective. Singapore: Partridge. Web.
Van Seters, J. (2021). The Edited Bible. In The Edited Bible. Penn State University Press.