The Office of Personnel Management: a study in the politics and administration of American governance

This study examines the origins, development, and political significance of the U. S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) during the ten-year period from its founding in the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. The premise of the dissertation is that OPM has been significantly involved in the transformation of the guiding beliefs about the public service in America and that OPM's administrative actions have had important impacts on the institutions and capacity of American governance. OPM has been infused with values of political responsiveness to the detriment of competing values of merit, competence, and technical effectiveness. The study creates an analytical framework which reveals a fundamental realignment of the relationships of political institutions, values, and administrative organizations. The developmental events in OPH's history are traced in detail through the Carter and Reagan administrations. The contribution of OPM's policies and actions to the shift of values and institutional relationships is documented. The ultimate result has been the weakening of the institutions of the presidency as well as the public service. GPM’s policies have furthered the politicization of the federal personnel system and have contributed to the decline of public agency competence and performance. The study develops an evaluational framework for examination of OPM's performance in regard to legislative intent, the policy objectives of successive administrations, and the criteria of the public interest. The dissertation evaluates OPM's problematic performance both in what it has produced and in what it is as an organization of democratic governance. The current crisis of the public service, as documented by recent studies, is analyzed. The study concludes by identifying the essential aspects of the future role of the central personnel office in devising solutions to the challenges of effective human resource management in the public sector.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Public Administration

Department dc:contributor.department

Public Administration

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1989

Author dc:creator

• Lane, Larry M.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Wolfe, James F.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Goodsell, Charles T.
• Roback, Thomas H.
• Rohr, John A.
• Wamsley, Gary L.

• United States

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/54229

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/54229