As years progress, the nature of bureaucracy and the workforce that surround them either undergo transformation or may remain stagnated depending on the effectiveness of the leadership empowered to implement strategic planning initiatives. Popular leaders of the past viewed American government bureaucracy from a different perspective.
In the era of Wilson, there was constant competition among groups competing for scarce resources. On the other hand, there were the political spoilers who took advantage of the patronage politics that was rampant in the infant American democracy. Wilson complained bitterly about the massive influx of European immigrants flooding the country.
Currently, according to Governing (2018), when postal services workers are excluded, approximately 2 million serve as full-time federal government employees. This is a large force that needs to be handled with prudence. To overcome tensions in the nation’s superfluous bureaucracy and keep a lid over future racial altercations, the best method would be to create a harmonious balanced bureaucracy drawn from people of walks of life. To be surrounded by ‘gentlemen’ as was during the reign of Washington can be a recipe for disaster in modern American politics. Washington believed in the use politics to select the best candidates to run the affairs of his government.
To ensure citizen safety and protection, agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) among others, should be run by the best of the best. Selecting personnel should be based on merit and not on political inclination and favoritism. One factor that seems to be the cause of the problems associated with public personnel administration is related to shifting policies and alliances. Diminishing political participation result from the lack of national political coherence and meddling by greedy bureaucrats, lobbyists, and industrial magnates driven by the urge to either climb the ladder of success or cause political disunity and entanglement.
Rosenbloom (2009) feels the term “merit” to be a misnomer. The examination factor used to generate the best public service personnel demonstrated that it was a means to marginalizing select communities like Latinos and African-Americans whose representation in the workforce was limited. In essence, the merit factor was a handicap to equal employment. To ensure American public service personnel stay up to the task, the laws and regulations that call for equal pay for all citizens regardless of age, creed, color, national origin, political and religious affiliation, sex and gender should be enforced.
References
Governing: the State and Localities (2018). Federal Employees By State. http://www.governing.com/…/federal-employees-workforce-numb…
Rosenbloom, D.R., Kravchuk, R.S., & Clerkin, R, M. (2008). Public Administration: Understanding Management, Politics, and Law in the Public Sector. New York: McGraw-Hill
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