Volume 36 No. 2 Summer 2007 Pu is published specifically ...

PublicPersonnelManagement

Volume 36 No. 2 Summer 2007

Public Personnel Management is published specifically forhuman resource executives andmanagers in the public sector.Each quarterly edition containsin-depth articles on trends, casestudies, and the latest researchby top human resource scholarsand industry experts.

International Public Management Associationfor Human Resources

1617 Duke Street

Alexandria, Virginia 22314

Tel 703-549-7100

Fax 703-684-0948

www.ipma-hr.org

Public

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IPM

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36N

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2007

n Performance Management for Public Personnel: Multi-Analysis Approach Toward Personnel

n Federal Employees with Disabilities with Regards to Occupation, Race, and Gender

n Transforming Higher-level Civil Service in a New Age: A Case Study of a New Senior Civil Service in Korea

n An Efficiency-Based Approach on Human Resource Management: A Case Study of Tainan County Fire Branches in Taiwan

n Organizational Trust, Trust in the Chief Executive and Work Satisfaction

PublicPersonnelManagementIPMA-HR's quarterly journal focusing on trends, case studies, and the latestresearch by top human resource scholars and industry experts.

2007 Executive Council

PresidentOscar B. Jackson, Jr., IPMA-CPOklahoma Office of Personnel Management

President-ElectPam Kannady, IPMA-CPKansas City Public Library

Past-PresidentFred M. Weiner, IPMA-CPCity of Whittier, Calif.

Council MembersKaren Aulie, IPMA-CPSaskatchewan Agriculture, Food and RuralRevitalizationCanada

Harry BrullPersonnel Decisions International

Cheryl Cepelak, IPMA-CSUniversity of Connecticut Health Center

Steve A. Harman, IPMA-CPCity of Livermore, Calif.

Lynn Hellinger, IPMA-CPNational Institute on AgingNational Institutes of Health

Jesse E. Hoskins, IPMA-CPGovernment Accountability Office

Nancy Kiyonaga, IPMA-CPState of New York Department of CivilService

John LavelleThe World Bank

Joseph T. Lunt, Jr., IPMA-CPCity of Shreveport, La.

Kimla T. Milburn, IPMA-CPCity of Annapolis, Md.

Richard L. Stokes, IPMA-CPUniversity of Tennessee

Rafael Viscasillas, IPMA-CPHennepin County, Minn.

Margaret Whelan, IPMA-CPCity of Los Angeles, Calif.

Samuel Wilkins, IPMA-CPSouth Carolina Budget & Control

Executive DirectorNeil E. Reichenberg, CAE

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Copyright © 2007

Elizabeth Kirkland, EditorJoe Grimes, Deputy EditorDebbie Tankersely-Snook, Special Assistant






Publications Advisory Board

Thomas J. Acquaro,IPMA-CP, MPA

City of Sunny Isles Beach, Fla.

Anne M. Allen, PHRCity of Cocoa, Fla.

Erika BacherNew York State Department of Civil

ServiceAlbany, N.Y.

Sallie A. Baldwin,IPMA-CP, Ph.D.

Compass Corporation for RecoveryServices

Northwood, Ohio

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City of Durham, N.C.

Maury Buster, Ph.D.Alabama Personnel DepartmentMontgomery, Ala.

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West Virginia Higher Education PolicyCommission

Charleston, W.V.

Brenda Byrd-PelaezOsceola County GovernmentKissimmee, Fla.

N. Joseph CayerArizona State UniversityPhoenix, Ariz.

Douglas Detling, IPMA-CPCity of Medford, Ore.

Fiona Edgar, Ph.D.University of OtagoDunnedin, New Zealand

Karlene H. Ferguson,IPMA-CP

IPMA-HR Colorado Board ofDirectors

Boulder, Colo.

Daniel R. FlukasArizona Department of

Environmental QualityPhoenix, Ariz.

John FordU.S. Merit Systems Protection BoardGaithersburg, Md.

Kimberly L. FrockCarroll County GovernmentWestminster, Md.

Robert P. Gill, CCPThe Gill Group, Inc.Morganton, Ga.

Ronald GremoreChampaign County GovernmentUrbana, Ill.

William M. Haraway, III,Ph.D.

University of West FloridaPensacola, Fla.

Steve JohnsonCity of Yuba City, Calif.

Kris Keyes, IPMA-CPNewport News WaterworksNewport News, Va.

La Trisse W. KuzinskiCity of Glendale, Ariz.

Sanghyun LeeRepublic of KoreaJongro-gu, Seoul

James E. Lowery, IPMA-CPCole County Residential Services,

Inc.Jefferson City, Mo.

Patricia Marsolais, IPMA-CPDallas Civil Service DepartmentDallas, Texas

Leonard A. Matarese,IPMA-CP

City of Buffalo, N.Y.

Craig McClure, Ph.D.National Science FoundationArlington, Va.

Patrick A. Parsons,IPMA-CP, SPHR

City of Peoria, Ill.

Dolores RodgersHouston Airport SystemsHouston, Texas

Sharon SatreUSDA Animal and Plant Health

Inspection Service (Servicing theU.S. Merit Systems ProtectionBoard)

Minneapolis, Minn.

Brigitte W. Schay, Ph.D.U.S. Office of Personnel Management

Employment ServiceWashington, D.C.

Anna Marie Schuh, Ph.D.Roosevelt UniversityChicago, Ill.

Elizabeth A. SheatsCity of Royal Oak, Mich.

Gilbert B. SiegelUniversity of Southern CaliforniaRancho Palos Verdes, Calif.

Carol A. Stone, IPMA-CPCity of Howell, Mich.

Mindy Stooksbury,IPMA-CP, PHR

Maryville City Schools, Tenn.

Albert Thigpen,IPMA-CP, Ed.D.

City of Port Arthur, Texas

Ana Urquijo, IPMA-CPCity of Douglas, Ariz.

Ingrid S. VelkmeVillage of Western Springs, Ill.

IPMA-HR's quarterly journal focusing on trends, case studies, and the latest research by top human resource scholars and industry experts.

Public Personnel ManagementVolume 36 No. 2 Summer 2007

Contents

Performance Management for Public Personnel: Multi-Analysis Approach Toward Personnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93By Kamil Ufuk Bilgin

Federal Employees with Disabilities with Regards to Occupation, Race, and Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115By Chon-Kyun Kim, Ph.D.

Transforming Higher-level Civil Service in a New Age: A Case Study of a New Senior Civil Service in Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127By Pan Suk Kim

An Efficiency-Based Approach on Human Resource Management: A Case Study of Tainan County Fire Branches in Taiwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143By Chun-Hsiung Lan, Liang-Lun Chuang, and Chi-Chung Chang

Organizational Trust, Trust in the Chief Executive and Work Satisfaction . . . . .165By Ronald W. Perry, Ph.D. and Lawrence D. Mankin, Ph.D.

PublicPersonnelManagementIPMA-HR’s quarterly journal focusing on trends, case studies,and the latest research by top human resource scholars andindustry experts.

Online Access now provided with all print subscriptions to Public Personnel Management!

Visit http://www.ipma-hr.org/and click on “Publications”to access Public PersonnelManagement online.

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A subscription form for Public Personnel Managementappears on page vi to pass along to your colleagues!

Copyright ©2007

International Public Management Association for Human Resources1617 Duke StreetAlexandria, VA 22314tel: 703-549-7100fax: 703-684-0948Internet: www.ipma-hr.orgE-mail: [email protected]

“An Efficiency-Based Approach on Human Resource Management: A Case Study of Tainan CountyFire Branches in Taiwan,” Chun-Hsiung Lan, Liang-Lun Chuang, and Chi-Chung Chang, 36(2), 143

“Causes of Employee Turnover in Sheriff Operated Jails,” William H. Price, D.B.A., RichardKiekbusch, Ph.D. and John Theis, J.D., Ph.D., 36(1), 51

“Civil Service Reform, At-Will Employment, and George Santayana: Are We Condemned to Repeatthe Past?” Russell L. Williams, Ph.D. and James S. Bowman, Ph.D., 36(1), 65

“Federal Employees with Disabilities with Regards to Occupation, Race, and Gender,” Chon-KyunKim, Ph.D. , 36(2), 115

“Legal Issues for HR Professionals: Reference Checking/Background Investigations,” William J.Woska, J.D., 36(1), 79

“Organizational Trust, Trust in the Chief Executive and Work Satisfaction,” Ronald W. Perry, Ph.D.and Lawrence D. Mankin, Ph.D., 36(2), 165

“Performance Management for Public Personnel: Multi-Analysis Approach Toward Personnel,”Kamil Ufuk Bilgin, 36(2), 93

“The Supreme Court Rulings in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger: The Brave New World ofAffirmative Action in the 21st Century,” Robert K. Robinson, Ph.D., SPHR, Geralyn McClureFranklin, Ph.D., and Karen Epermanis, Ph.D., 36(1), 33

“The U.S. Supreme Court Clarifies Constructive Discharge Under Title VII: Responsibilities &Opportunities for Human Resources Practitioners,” Martha Crumpacker, D.B.A. and Jill M.Crumpacker, Esq., SPHR, 36(1), 1

“The Validity of Assessment Center Ratings and 16PF Personality Trait Scores in Police SergeantPromotions: A Case of Incremental Validity,” Kevin G. Love, Ph.D. and Sarah DeArmond, M.S.,36(1), 21

“Transforming Higher-level Civil Service in a New Age: A Case Study of a New Senior Civil Servicein Korea,” Pan Suk Kim, 36(2), 127

Index to Volume 36 – by Title

Kamil Ufuk Bilgin, 36(2), 93Martha Crumpacker, D.B.A. and Jill M.Crumpacker, Esq., SPHR, 36(1), 1Chon-Kyun Kim, Ph.D., 36(2), 115Pan Suk Kim, 36(2), 127Chun-Hsiung Lan, Liang-Lun Chuang, and Chi-Chung Chang, 36(2), 143Kevin G. Love, Ph.D. and Sarah DeArmond, M.S.,36(1), 21Ronald W. Perry, Ph.D. and Lawrence D. Mankin,Ph.D., 36(2), 165

Robert K. Robinson, Ph.D., SPHR, GeralynMcClure Franklin, Ph.D., and Karen Epermanis,Ph.D., 36(1), 33William H. Price, D.B.A., Richard Kiekbusch,Ph.D. and John Theis, J.D., Ph.D., 36(1), 51Russell L. Williams, Ph.D. and James S.Bowman, Ph.D., 36(1), 65William J. Woska, J.D., 36(1), 79

Index to Volume 36 – by Author

Guidelines for Contributors

As a leading, peer-reviewed journal in public sectorhuman resources, Public Personnel Managementparticularly encourages manuscripts from apractitioner’s perspective, as well as submissions onemerging national and international trends in publicpersonnel management. Articles in response topreviously published manuscripts are also welcome.

1. Public Personnel Management, the journal of theInternational Public Management Association for HumanResources (IPMA-HR), encourages contributions on allaspects of personnel management in the public sector.Manuscripts for publication should be sent to the editor.Authors are strongly advised to consult one or morerecent issues of the journal before submittingmanuscripts for publication. For questions or guidance indeveloping a manuscript, you may contact ElizabethKirkland, Editor, at [email protected].

2.Manuscripts are subject to a blind review process.Reviewers submit their recommendations as toacceptance, revision or rejection. In the cases of revisionor rejection, the unidentified reviewers comments will besent to the author.

3. Contributions should be accompanied by a statementthat if accepted for publication in Public PersonnelManagement, they will not be published elsewherewithout the agreement of the editor.

4. Articles are accepted for publication on theunderstanding that they are subject to editorial revisionand that the right of publication in any form or languageis reserved by the Association.

5. Manuscripts should be in English. Submit five copiesof the manuscript. If less than five are submitted, youwill be requested to send the additional copies.Manuscript copies must be double-spaced throughout,and submitted on 81⁄ 2" x 11" white paper, single sided.Pages must be numbered consecutively. Manuscriptsmust also be submitted on a diskette at the time ofsubmission in Microsoft Word text format. All diskettesmust be PC-readable. Authors should keep an original ofthe manuscript. Manuscripts may also be submitted viaemail to Debbie Tankersely-Snook at [email protected]. E-mail submissions are acceptable on firstsubmission and must be sent as “attached” files with theattached file in Microsoft Word text format.

6. Place the title of the manuscript, the author’s name,address, telephone number, email address (required) anda biographical sketch of no more than 50 words on aseparate cover page—please DO NOT send completeresumes for a biographical sketch. In the case ofcoauthors, respective addresses, telephone numbers,email addresses, and biographical sketches should beclearly indicated, as well as the author who is to receivecorrespondence (primary author). Please notify theeditor of any change of address that occurs while a paperis under review, or in the process of publication.

7. The essential contents of the manuscript should besummarized in a single-paragraph abstract on a separatesheet following the cover page. The title of the articleshould appear again above the abstract, without theauthor’s name, as a means of identification. Manuscriptsare circulated for review without identifying the author.

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9. All tables, photographs, maps, charts and diagramsshould be referred to as “Figures” or “Tables” and shouldbe presented either in position or at the end of themanuscript. All tables, charts and diagrams should alsoappear on the diskette. They should be numberedconsecutively (in arabic numerals) as they appear in thetext and should have informative titles. Their positions inthe manuscript should be indicated if presented at theend of the article.

10. For general style and submission questions, IPMA-HRfollows the guidelines included in the APA (AmericanPsychological Association) Publication Manual; or, youmay contact the editor.

11. Public Personnel Management does not acceptmanuscripts that use the author/date style of references.Authors should use the automatically coded endnotes(not footnotes) function in the MS Word program.References should be presented as endnotes and benumbered consecutively in superscript. All notes shouldbe presented in a separate, double-spaced listing at theend of the article in both the paper copy and disketteversions of the manuscript.

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13. Articles may be reproduced for internal,noncommercial use without authorization, provided thesource is identified. Requests for permission to publish,reproduce, or translate articles should be made to theeditor.

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PerformanceManagement for Public Personnel: Multi-Analysis ApproachToward Personnel By Kamil Ufuk Bilgin

This study, based on the author’s experience of organizational research done inthree different large government agencies (namely the Administration of DisabledPeople under the Prime Ministry, the General Directorate for Social Services andProtection of the Child, and the General Directorate of Highways) in his country,examines some of the steps involved in implementing an organizational reform forthe public personnel according to performance management in publicadministration in order to, as a consequence, ensure that performancemanagement becomes more effective for the public personnel. In line with thisconcept there is the need to put forward more measurable targets in order todetermine performance goals of human resources within the agency, which meansincreased success in work.

Introduction

The most important characteristic of public personnel is to provide public service. Agovernment agency is considered to be effective if the target mass is satisfied with theservices. However, according to the modern understanding of government, agencies—the budgets of which are formed by the taxes paid by citizens—should seek to beefficient as well.1 Therefore, the performance of public personnel should beconsidered in public administration.

Reform works on the implementation of performance management in TurkishPublic Personnel Management were initiated in Turkey five years ago in line with therecommendations mentioned in the 1997 annual report of the Organisation forEconomic Co-Operation and Development.2 The aim was to prevent favoritism,corruption and bribery, and to give added importance to equality, impartiality, merit,career and efficiency. The first field the reform covers is related to the newcomers.There is an entrance exam required for public personnel. The exam is conducted oncea year by an autonomous and specialized center. The second field of reform covers theexisting public personnel. The “Regulation on Advancement” No. 12647 enacted in1999 envisages that public personnel should receive 75 hours of training and succeedin the exam (attain a score of at least 70%) in order to be promoted. Finally, with theCouncil of Ministers Resolution of 2000 (2000/1658), 3,576 government agencies(including 110 central, 101 autonomous, 3,328 local governments and 37 State

Public Personnel Management Volume 36 No. 2 Summer 2007 93

Economic Enterprises or “SEEs”) are required to reorganize according to performancemanagement and to establish the most appropriate standard posts. This paper explainsthe process of restructuring according to performance and of establishing standardposts both in scientific ways and in ways observed by the author at some governmentagencies regarding how analysis required by the resolution are being carried out.

Performance ManagementPerformance management can provide the link between “what’s” (objectives, targetsand performance standards) and “how’s” (behaviors, competencies and processes) ofpersonnel performance.3 Figure 1 shows how, in a performance management system,departmental-level objectives will be derived from business strategy and objectives,which will then be translated into team and individual objectives.4 Often, companiesuse the acronym SMART to help set effective objectives:5

S Specific or StretchingM MeasurableA Agreed or AchievableR RealisticT Time-bound

Performance management can be defined as “a strategic and integratedapproach of increasing the effectiveness of organizations by improving the perform-ance of the people who work in them and by developing the capabilities of teams andindividual contributors,” and also can be seen as “a continuous process involvingreviews that focus on the future rather than the past…”6 Performance management is

Public Personnel Management Volume 36 No. 2 Summer 200794

* Beardwell, I. And Holden, L. (2001). Human Resource Management a Contemporary Approach.Harlow, England: Pearson Education, p.541.

Figure 1: Cascading of Objectives*

Business strategy and objectives

Department objectives

Team objectives

Individual objectives

not simply the appraisal of individual performance: it is an integrated and continuousprocess that develops, communicates and enables the future direction, core compe-tencies and values of the organization, and helps to create a horizon of understand-ing. It identifies who or what delivers the critical performance with respect to businessstrategy and objectives7 and ensures that performance is successfully carried out.Hence, performance management is a holistic process that ensures that the followingare developed and effectively carried out:8

1. Setting of corporate, department, team and individual objectives2. Performance appraisal system3. Reward strategies and schemes4. Training and development strategies and plans5. Feedback, communication and coaching6. Individual career planning7. Mechanisms for monitoring the effectiveness of performance management

system and interventions.

Figure 2 outlines the steps of systematic and integrated performance manage-ment. It is argued that for performance management to be effective these activitiesshould be carried out throughout the year as a normal part of the interaction betweenpersonnel and manager, and not simply through the annual performance appraisal.9


* Beardwell, I. And Holden, L. (2001). Human Resource Management a Contemporary Approach.Harlow, England: Pearson Education, p.539.

Figure 2: The Performance Management Cycle*

Businessstrategy

1.Setting direction

and planning

3. ReviewingReward decision

2. Coaching and support

Training anddevelopment

Resourcing

Personnelrelations

Although the detractors of performance management do have valid evidence asto the flaws of the system, other researchers claim that the positive aspects of per-formance management significantly outweigh negative aspects.10 On the other hand,an analysis of the positive aspects as proposed by performance management systempromoters is necessary.11 The following is a list of asserted benefits of an effectivelyimplemented and monitored performance management system:12

• Improved personnel work performance13

• Personnel with potential for advancement are identified14

• Planning for future HR needs is augmented15

• Business objectives are realized16

• Improved morale17

• Improved customer satisfaction18

• A clear linkage between pay and performance is achieved19

• A competitive advantage is obtained20

• Improved quality of supervision21

Performance measurement has been touted as an improvement for governmentfor decades. Agencies have not, however, always built the capacity for measurementthat can highlight both progress and the need for critical investments to a range ofstakeholders—citizens, businessmen, legislators, interest groups, etc.22 Furthermore,the question of the applicability of performance management in the public sector pre-vails. However, rather than seeking an answer to this question, one should prefer todevelop rational performance-enhancing strategies in public administration23 becausethose strategies are substantially grounded in well-developed literature on perform-ance measurement. Furthermore, the most innovative and productive agencies, as evi-denced by the cases described later, do not simply execute one good program. Rather,they integrate advanced management techniques into a comprehensive approach toproductivity improvement. Productive government agencies stress multiple measures:internal capacities, outputs produced and outcomes achieved. They use performancemeasurement and evaluation to help establish goals and measure results, estimate andjustify resource requirements, reallocate resources, develop organization improve-ment strategies and motivate personnel to improve performance.24

Cost utility analyses may be conducted in public services for public interest oreffectiveness may be measured directly. These, however, are radical political prefer-ences. Taking on a performance management-based approach, performance measure-ment helps to objectively answer questions such as the following:25

1. Is an agency doing its job?2. Is it creating unintended side effects or producing unanticipated impacts?3. Is it responsive to the public?4. Is it fair to all or does it favor certain groups, either inadvertently or

deliberately?5. Does it keep within its proper bounds of authorized activity?6. Overall, is it productive?


In the process of providing answers to those questions, productive governmentsstress multiple measures: internal capacities, outputs produced and outcomesachieved. They use performance measurement and to help establish goals and meas-ure results, to estimate and justify resource requirements, reallocate resources, todevelop organization improvement strategies and to motivate personnel to improveperformance.26

Public managers and policymakers now have performance measurement toolsto help carry out their responsibilities to deliver and improve services. These toolsencompass at least eight different strategies:27

1. Establish goals and measure results2. Estimate and justify resource requirements3. Reallocate resources4. Develop organization improvement strategies5. Motivate personnel to improve performance6. Control operations7. Predict periods of work overload or underload8. Develop more sophisticated capacities for measurement

The first are particularly important to building confidence in government’s oper-ations among its private and public sector stakeholders.

The performance of all resources of an organization should be enhanced in per-formance management. However, the most important organizational resource amongthose is human resources. Therefore, performance management in terms of humanresources can be defined (in the most coherent and stretching manner) as follows:28

“Performance management is the process of establishing a common understand-ing in the organization of the organizational goals to be achieved and of the perform-ance to be put forth by the personnel in this context; and guiding personnel so as toenhance the degree of contribution they shall make by working for the commonefforts paid to achieve such goals; and the evaluation, remuneration, appraisal anddevelopment of personnel.”

To successfully complete this process the planning of the human resources ofthe organization should be based on performance. Secondly, performance should bemonitored according to a plan. Thirdly, the planned and monitored performanceshould be measured, or in other terms, evaluated. Within this explanation, organiza-tions can take a broad view of how the performance management process encompass-es the way people are managed and elements are included in it. The process couldembrace:29

• Strategy and objectives• Job definition• Objective setting• Coaching and counseling• Performance review• Skills training


• Performance related pay• Training and development

We see the performance management process (see Figure 3) as an integratedcycle of performance planning (definition of job responsibilities, setting performanceexpectations, goal or objective setting at the beginning of the period); performancecoaching (monitoring, feedback coaching, development), and performance review(formal performance appraisal at the end of the period) conducted between managersand personnel to track and improve individual and corporate performance and to pro-vide information for one or more personnel functions. As an integrated process itensures that personnel:30

• Are aware of what is expected of them and how their contribution fits into the“big picture”

• Have been involved in establishing the objectives they are required to achieve• Receive appropriate support and coaching throughout the period• Understanding how their performance is to be measured and can track how

well they are doing• Are given challenges that they feel are important but attainable• Are given appropriate recognition and reward for their achievements


Hartle, Frank (1994). Performance Management – What Is It Going? p. 97 in Mitrani, A., Dalziel, M.& Fitt, D. (Eds.), Competency Based Human Resource Management, Value-Driven Strategies forRecruitment, Development and Reward. London: Kogan Page.

Figure 3: The Performance Management Process (An Integrated Cycle)*

Performance Review

Performance Planning

* Definition of Job Responsibilities

* Goal Setting

Performance Results versus Expectations

Personnel Function Applications

Reward Training SuccessionPlanning

DisciplineProcedures

Performance Coaching

* Monitoring progress

* Coaching

* Feedback

Performance Management Process: Multi-AnalysisApproachThis process starts with the analysis of the organization. Then come job analysis andjob measurement. Job design is done in light of the data obtained from such analy-ses. Following job design, workforce and position analysis are conducted in order toreach the most appropriate standard posts, the quality and quantity of which werepreviously set by the agencies (See Figure 4).


Figure 4: Performance Management

ORGANIZATION ANALYSIS

1. Defining organizational structure2. Drawing organizational flowchart 3. Restructuring4. Drawing the new organizational

flowchart

ORGANIZATION ANALYSIS

1. Job Description2. Job Specification

WORK MEASUREMENT

1. Motion Study2. Time Study

JOB DESIGN

1. Job Enrichment2. Job Enlargement3. Job Rotation4. Larger Units of

Accomplishment

Workforce Analysis Position Analysis

1. Actual number of personnel 1. Number of post for Administrators2. Reserve number of personnel 2. Number of post for Careers3. Additional number of personnel 3. Number of post for Administrative

staff

Multi-AnalysisApproach

Organizational AnalysisThe first stage in a range of activities undertaken to enhance public personnel per-formance is organizational analysis. Organizational analysis in short identifies needs—such as taking out the duties, which are irrelevant to goals of the agency units,abolishing, merging, changing or re-establishing some units—based on the existingand updated goals and duties of an organization.

An examination into the organization should be done taking into considerationall angles in order to define the fundamental characteristics of the personnel in chargeof realizing the common goal(s) and to establish the main structure required for work-ing effectively.

Identifying the Existing Organizational Structure Organizational analysis should start with identifying or taking a picture of the existingorganizational structure. For this purpose the main resources, which make up thefoundation of the organization, should be analyzed. These resources are relevant laws,goals and policies that require the establishment of the organization. Subjects andareas important in terms of the service rendered by the organization should be ana-lyzed. Past experience and traditions should be taken into consideration. The analy-sis should include certain restrictions or drawbacks which have arisen throughout thehistory of the organization. Finally other institutions that the organization works withshould be contacted and information related to the service rendered by the organiza-tion and the personnel of the organization should be obtained.

The existing organizational scheme of the government agency should be drawnwithin the light of such data obtained through organizational analysis. The main serv-ice units, administrative units and consultative supervisory units in charge of realizingthe duties within the scope of the goals of the agency should be identified. Unitswhich are entirely nonfunctional should be identified and a recommendation shouldbe made as to their abolishment. Units with decreasing functionality should be iden-tified. A recommendation as to merge these with similar units should be made. Anoth-er recommendation should be made to establish new units if there are emergingduties. An organizational report should be drafted at this stage in order to take a pic-ture of the existing situation in the government agency and to evaluate the structur-al problems.

RestructuringA decision should be made as to the organizational principles and model of the organ-ization following the identification of the existing structure and functioning of theorganization and the evaluation of the structural problems. Organizational principlesin public administration should be established according to the main characteristicsof public service such as continuity, effectiveness, systematism, equality and publicinterest. Performance in public administration means the effective, efficient and cor-rect use of resources in order to achieve the goals of the agency. Organization as an


instrument of achieving the goals should be carried out in line with the following prin-ciples of organization:31

• Principle of unity of purpose• Principle of division of work and specialization• Principle of scope of control• Principle of hierarchal structure• Principle of unity of command• Principle of responsibility• Principle of equal authority and responsibility• Principle of transfer of power• Principle of managing according to exceptions• Principle of balance• Principle of simplicity and comprehensibility• Principle of flexibility and reorganization

There are various organizational models in public administration. These modelsinvolve approaches such as centralized management, decentralized management andhierarchal management and should be relevant to the goals of the organization.Therefore, government agencies should adopt organizational models according totheir goals of establishment:32

Societal goals: Relating to society in general, e.g., to produce goods and serv-ices, to maintain order, to generate and maintain cultural values. This category dealswith large classes of organizations that fulfill societal needs.

Output goals: Relating to the public in contact with the organization, e.g.,through consumer goods, business services, health care and education. This catego-ry deals with types of output defined in terms of consumer functions.

System goals: Relating to the state or manner of functioning of the organiza-tion independently of the goods or services it produces or of its derived goals, e.g.,the emphasis on growth, stability, profits, or modes of functioning, such as being tight-ly or loosely controlled or structured. Organizations have options in these areas; theway the system functions and what it generates irrespective of products can becomegoals for the members.

Product goals (or product characteristic goals): Relating to the character-istics of the goods or services produced. Examples: an emphasis on quality or quan-tity, variety, styling, availability, uniqueness, or innovativeness of the products.Organizations vary widely and deliberately in this respect.

Derived goals: Relating to the uses to which the organization employs its influ-ence in pursuit of other goals. Examples: Political aims, community services, person-nel development, investment and plant location policies that affect the state of theeconomy and the future of affected communities. Organizations generate consider-able power, which they can use in consistent ways to influence their members andtheir environments. This power is used independently of product goals or systemgoals.


All the aforementioned organizational goals should be taken into account inorder to choose the most appropriate model(s) such as to the number, position andcharacteristics of the mass target the government agency is obliged to serve, the worksconducted (whether goods or services are produced), the technological features usedduring production and the geographical and climatic conditions encountered duringthe provision of the service in order to choose the most appropriate model(s). Themodel to be selected should be in accordance with the performance of the organiza-tion and personnel, and should provide a modern basis for accountability towards thetarget mass.

At the final stage of organizational analysis the recommended and new organi-zational scheme should be adapted. The structural situation of the agency underanalysis and the new, envisaged structure should be reviewed. This effort is formal-ized when “organizational schemes” are drawn. Organizational schemes are preparedfor different purposes such as understanding the structure, functioning, duties of theorganization and the number of posts in the organization. Organizational scheme isrequired after an organizational analysis is made during the studies on standard posts.Only after the existing situation of the organization has been seen on paper shouldthe final shape of the envisaged organizational structure, which is in line with the orga-nizational goals of the agency, appear and be laid on the table for discussion and eval-uation by the managers of the organization.

Job AnalysisThe term “job analysis” describes the process of obtaining information about a job.33

This information is useful for a number of business purposes.34 Regardless of how itis collected, it usually includes information about the tasks to be done on the job, aswell as personnel characteristics (education, experience, specialized training) neces-sary to accomplish tasks.35 Sound HR management practice dictates that thorough jobanalyses always be done, for they provide a deeper understanding of the behavioralrequirements of jobs.36 An overall written summary of task requirements is called ajob description, and an overall written summary of worker requirements is called ajob specification.37 (See Figure 5.)

Job Description For many years, managers have relied on job descriptions and performance appraisalsas basic tools in managing performance.38 But job descriptions are commonly out ofdate and are not really descriptive of the actual duties on the jobs.39 Appraisals areoften too general and not specifically related to the work being done.40 Two elementsstand out in this description: task requirements and people requirements.41 In manycases, the characteristics of jobs are “givens” to personnel. They include, for example,the equipment used, the arrangement of the work space, the division of labor, andthe procedures, methods and standards of performance of the job. From these data,the job analyst produces a job description or written statement of what a worker actu-


ally does, how he or she does it, and why. This information can then be used to deter-mine the competencies (knowledge, skills, capabilities, and other characteristics)required to perform the job. Elements of a job description may include: job title, jobactivities and procedures, working conditions and physical environment, social envi-ronment, and conditions of employment.42

Job Specification Job specifications are the competencies—the personal characteristics deemed neces-sary to perform a job. Job specifications depend on the level of performance deemedacceptable and the degree to which some abilities can be substituted for others.43 Thespecification is actually derived from the description by translating the job activitiesand requirements into particular skills and abilities, but to a certain extent the levelof ability demanded is dependent upon management policy and standards.44


Figure 5: Job Description And Job Specification In Job Analysis

JOB ANALYSIS

A process for obtaining all pertinent job facts

JOB DESCRIPTIONA statement containing items

Items such as:

Job title LocationJob summaryDutiesMachinesToolsEquipment materialsFormsWorking conditionsHazards

JOB SPECIFICATIONA statement of the human

qualifications necessary to dothe job. Usually contains

such items as:

EducationExperienceTrainingJudgementInitativePhysical effortPhysical skillsResponsibilitiesCommunication skillsEmotional characteristics Unusual sensory demands

* Beach, Dale S. (1980), Personnel-The Management of People at Work, Macmillan Publishing,New York, p.166.

Work Measurement Work measurement is the combination of two studies used to identify factors influen-tial in the performance of human resources in an organization by analyzing the workof human resources.45 These are the two studies of motion and time. Time study isgenerally called “work measurement.” Work study involves the systematic analysis ofthe existing operations, processes and working methods.46

Motion Study The concept of “motion study” introduced by Frank Gilbreth is referred to as “work-flow analysis,” or “work sampling,” in some resources. Motion study is the scientificmonitoring and recording of the workflow to increase performance and making ananalysis to adopt the most suitable standard for workflow.47 Motion study, which aimsto find problems that adversely affect work in organizational terms, is conducted inthe following seven stages:48

1. Choosing the work on which work study is to be done2. Recording the workflow3. Analyzing the workflow4. Developing a new, high performance workflow5. Defining the new workflow6. Establishing a standard for the workflow defined7. Monitoring the application of the standard

Time Study Time study, in other words “work measurement,” is a technique used to analyze howcertain work is done under certain conditions in order to define a standard time forthat work based on the most appropriate performance of that work.49 The purpose isto measure the time required to complete certain work to reveal time losses, and toinform the management about the measurements.50 The time mentioned is the stan-dard time for the measured work. However, there are three assumptions involved inthe identification of standard time: 1) that the personnel observed is qualified for thatwork, 2) that the personnel will carry out the work measured in an above-averagemanner or at least be averagely successful in doing it, and 3) that the physical condi-tions such as heating, illumination and ventilation in the work environment and theequipment used are ergonomic. For work measurement the following are needed inorder to be realized:51

1. Choosing the work to be measured2. Recording the working conditions3. Measuring each element of the work in terms of time4. Identifying a standard time, leaving a margin for flexibility for rest, personal

needs and other cases5. Defining the work, the standard time for which has been identified


Job DesignThe design of jobs—their content and structure—affects both productivity and per-sonnel motivation and morale.52 One important component of the modern effort toimprove productivity and the quality of work life has been to emphasize job designsthat contain some or all of the following features:53

• Autonomy, individual and group decision making for planning and carryingout the work activities

• Opportunities for social interaction• Whole units of work so the personnel can experience a sense of accomplish-

ment• Utilization of a variety of skills and abilities• Feedback on results achieved permitting self-evaluation of performance

Mechanistic or bureaucratic organizational climates are more conducive to sim-ple, standardized jobs having limited decision making. On the other hand, organicorganization climates are supportive of enriched jobs and self managed work teams.54

In order to reach these results in job design, the written request, opinions andrecommendations—internal or external to the agency—should be taken into consid-eration in order to abolish, transfer or change jobs or processes that do not contributeto the work. Secondly, the questions of what, where, when, how, why and who shouldbe asked for each and every process carried out in the agency, and jobs should bedesigned according to the answers given. Thus, jobs carried out would be questionedin terms of purpose, place, order, method and people and can be reduced, increased,abolished, renewed, simplified, developed or enriched. The style and order of ques-tions are shown in Figure 6.55

Job Enrichment Job enrichment means adding certain planning and controlling tasks to the doing.56

As noted earlier, this is often called vertical job loading or vertical job enlargement.For example, a machine operator performing according to conventional engineeringprinciples would load his machine, operate the controls and remove the part fromthe machine. If his job were enriched, the operator would read the drawing of thepart to be machined, obtain materials and hand tools, set up the machine the partsand inspect his own work.57 Favorable results with job enrichment in terms of suchmeasures as quality, quantity, attendance, costs and morale have been found in suchdiverse applications as for that of chemists and production workers in a chemicalscompany, janitors in an electronics firm, stockholder correspondents in a telephonecompany, and tax examiners in the Internal Revenue Service.58


Job Enlargement Job enlargement is a generic term that broadly means adding more and different tasksto a specialized job.59 It may widen the number of tasks the workers must do, that is,add variety. When additional simple tasks are added to a job that was initially simplein nature, this process is called horizontal job loading or horizontal job enlargement.This too presumably adds interest to the work and reduces monotony and boredom.Vertical job loading or enlargement is the same as job enrichment, as previously discussed.60

Job RotationHaving personnel on a routine, repetitive job move from one routine job to anotherevery few hours or days is a form of job rotation that has been found in some instancesto relieve boredom and monotony.61

Larger Units of Accomplishment To the inspector who visually examines objects as they come endlessly off the produc-tion line, his job can indeed be monotonous. However, by segregating the productionunits into batches or runs, he can achieve a greater sense of accomplishment when


Figure 6: Basic Questions For Job Design

What can it be / should it be?What is the objective?

Where can it be /should it be done?Where is it done?

When can it be / should it be done?When is it done?

How can it be / should it be done?How is it done?

Why can it be / should it be done?Why is it done?

Who can it be / should it be done by?

JOB DESIGN

Who is it done by?

each batch is complete. Many people have undertaken tasks that seemed endless.However, by establishing sub-goals on the road to completion, a sense of making realprogress can be gained as an individual completes his or her work.

Workforce AnalysisWorkforce analysis is required along with organizational analysis, job analysis and jobdesign in order to determine the most appropriate number of personnel in a govern-ment agency. This analysis shows the rate of personnel absent or leaving their jobs.The simplest way of calculating wastage is through a turnover analysis. This can becalculated using the following simple formula:62

Therefore the most appropriate number of “standard” posts to be determinedshould first deal with the actual number of personnel to physically carry out the job;next, the number of reserve personnel in case of absence due to sickness, accidents,leaves or similar personal reasons; and finally the number of additional personnel forcontingencies such as death or resignation.63

Position AnalysisPosition analysis in performance management is the last analysis to be conducted inorder to determine the most appropriate public personnel for the agency. Positionanalysis is used to identify managerial posts, career posts and administrative serviceposts for the tasks within the scope of foundation goals.

Standard Position for Managerial PostsManagerial posts should be opened when new units are established after the conclu-sion of the aforementioned organizational analysis. These posts are for the followingthree groups of units generally found in government agencies:

1. Main units: career units that serve foundation goals2. Administrative units: administrative units supporting main units3. Consultative supervisory units: Public relations, research development, law

and control units

Standard Position for Career PostsA need arises for career posts if the prominent factor is quality in job requirementsprepared according to job definitions made to carry out a job or a duty. If the organ-


Number leaving in one year

Average number of personnelX 100% = x%

ization which conducted the analysis is a technological company or an investor, thenumber of career posts will and should be high. This requires the company to organ-ize according to the horizontal and wide base model instead of the vertical model ofthe hierarchal organizations. Therefore, the number of subordinates within the scopeof managerial supervision may increase since these shall mainly be career posts. Thusthe manager shall act as a coordinator, who distributes duties to the subordinatesaccording to their expertise in line with the purposes of the unit, guiding the subor-dinates instead of supervising them since the subordinates in this post shall be expertsin their field. Career posts should be classified into two subgroups as career postsworking in main units specific to the agency, and expert posts (training, budget, exter-nal affairs, planning, EU experts, physicians, lawyers, etc.) working in other units.

Standard Position for Administrative Staff PostsFinally auxiliary staff posts should be opened in the agency for works or duties whichrequire no qualification or expertise to render a general service. Secretary, data com-piler, driver, document/archive officer, janitor, watchman are some positions in auxil-iary services which require no qualification. Job descriptions, job requirements areeasily prepared due to the simplicity of such works. The number of such posts shouldbe calculated according to the numerical measurement of the relevant works. Twomethods are used to identify such standard posts.

First Method The steps of the first method to determine the number of standard posts are as follows:

1. Each work to be carried out in the agency is measured, and the total workload (hours/year) is calculated in the units this work is carried out.

2. This figure then is divided by the yearly average work performance(hours/year). The yearly average work performance for public personnel inTurkey is 1,696 hours.

3. The figure at hand is the number of standard posts in the unit where workmeasurement has been conducted. The managerial post (1) is added to thisfigure.

Let us assume that the yearly workload in the unit where work measurement hasbeen conducted is 8,480 hours. This is divided by 1,696 to attain the number of stan-dard posts (5). The managerial post (1) is added to this figure.

Second Method The steps of the second method to determine the number of standard posts are

as follows:


1. The mean time in hours and the amount of each work is determined in theunit which is subject to work measurement in the agency. Therefore an aver-age standard performance is attained for duties of each post.

2. Then the figures related to the three-year average of the agency are calculat-ed in terms of annual work/hours.

3. The workload amounts and units for each work under each post are dividedby average performance calculated for each staff in order to reach the workload in terms of time required (hours) for that post.

For example, if the amount of work/number of processes that personnel cancarry out at the selected unit is five in an hour according to work measurements doneat the government agency, the average standard performance of the relevant post isfive works/hour. Let us assume that the three-year work average in a governmentagency is 42,400. This figure is divided by five, which yields 8,480 hours/year; and thisshould then be divided by the annual average work performance in Turkey (1,696hours/year). Thus the standard post is 8,480 / 1,696 = 5. This is the most appropriatenumber of personnel determined according to the performance of the unit where work measurement has been conducted. The managerial post (1) is added to this figure.

ConclusionPerformance management in public personnel management is to render the work ofan organization measurable, and to identify and run the posts most appropriate forsuch work. For this purpose the governmental organization and the work producedshould be analyzed. Later the organization and work should be rendered efficient andeffective in line with the organizational goals. The most appropriate standard postsare identified afterward. Work should be measured as much as possible in order toidentify standard posts. It will then become possible to recruit the most appropriatenumber, quality and variety of public personnel according to performance manage-ment. Performance evaluation of the existing public personnel shall be realisticthrough the establishment of standard posts. As the influence of the understandingof performance management increases in public administration, favoritism can be pre-vented, government agencies shall reach the optimal organizational size and the num-ber and quality of services shall increase. The most important problems encounteredin the work conducted in this field are as follows:

1. Measurement of works in the public service is difficult. 2. Public personnel resist change.3. Public personnel do not want to lose their jobs or refrain from low perform-

ance. 4. Public administrators do not want their units to be abolished or merged due

to inefficiency.5. It is difficult to gather the necessary information and documents for analysis. 6. Managers have personal requirements.7. Traditional rules of the agency make analyzing difficult.


8. It is difficult to calculate the number of standard posts in line with the finan-cial status of the country with posts identified according to international orscientific standards.

9. Public personnel trade unions react negatively. 10. The management should be determined to adopt the new situation.11. Personnel should be given training to adopt the new situation.

Notes1 Bilgin, K.U. (1997). Kamu Personel Yönetimi (Public Personnel Management). Ankara: Imaj

Publishing-house, 3.

2 OECD (1998). Annual Report on Competition on Policy Developments in Turkey, 1997, 22 May,Paris.

3 Beardwell, I. & Holden, L. (2001). Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Approach.Harlow, England: Pearson Education, p. 540.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid, p.541.

6 Armstrong, M. & Baron, A. (1998). Out of the tick box. People Management, 4, 15, 38-39.

7 Hendry, C., Bradley, P. & Perkins, S. (1997). Missed a motivator? People Management, 3(10): 20-25.

8 Beardwell, op. cit., p. 538.

9 Ibid, p. 539.

10 Glendinning, Peter M. (Summer 2002). Performance Management : Pariah or Messiah, PublicPersonnel Management, 31, 2, p. 162.

11 Ibid, p. 163.

12 Ibid, p. 164.

13 Allan, P. (1994). Designing and Implementing an Effective Performance Appraisal System, Reviewof Business, 16, 2, 3-9, in Glendinning, op. cit.

14 Ibid.

15 Longenecker, C. & Fink, L. (1999). Creating Effective Performance Appraisals, IndustrialManagement, 41, 5, 18-25, in Glendinning, op. cit.

16 Anonymous (1996). Yes—you need Performance Management, Management, 43, 1, p. 29, inGlendinning, op. cit.

17 Ibid.

18 Anonymous (1997), in Glendinning, op. cit.

19 Anonymous (1998). The Benefits of Performance Management, Worklife Report, 11, 2, 10-13, inGlendinning, op. cit.

20 Randall, I. and Hayes, C. (1995). Performance Appraisal Anxiety. Black Enterprise, 25, 6, p. 60,in Glendinning, op. cit.

21 Markowich, M. (1996). We can make performance appraisal work. Compensation & BenefitsReview, 26, 3, 25-29, in Glendinning, op. cit.


22 Nyhan, Ronald C. & Marlowe, Herbert A., Jr. (1995). Performance Measurement in the PublicSector: Challenges and Opportunities, Public Productivity & Management Review, 18, 4, p. 333.

23 Hatry, Harry P. & Wholey, Joseph S. (1992). The Case for Performance Monitoring, PublicAdministration Review, 52, 6, p. 604.

24 Holzer, Marc & Yang, Kaifeng (2004). Performance Measurement and Improvement: AnAssessment of the State of the Art, International Review of Administrative Sciences, 70 (1), p. 16.

25 Ibid. p.17.

26 Ibid.

27 Fisk, Donald M. & Hatry, Harry P. (1992). Measuring Productivity in the Public Sector, p. 139, inMarc Holzer (Ed.) Public Productivity Handbook, New York: Marcel Dekker.

28 Canman, D. (2000). Insan Kaynaklar Yonetimi (Human Resources Management). Ankara,Turkey: Yarg Publishing Hause, p. 135.

29 Hartle, Frank (1994). Performance Management—What Is It Going? p. 96 in Mitrani, A., Dalziel,M. & Fitt, D. (Eds.), Competency Based Human Resource Management, Value-DrivenStrategies for Recruitment, Development and Reward. London: Kogan Page.

30 Ibid. p.96-97.

31 Bilgin, K.U. & Ayturk, N. (2003), Turkiye’de Kamu Kurulufllarinda Norm Kadro (Norm Kadro inTurkish Public Institutions), pp. 163-164 in Turk dare Dergisi (The Journal of TurkishAdministration). Ankara, Turkey: Cisleri Bakanligi (The Ministry of Internal Affairs), 438.

32 Perrow, Charles B. (1970). Organizational Analysis: A Sociological View. Belmont, California:Brooks/Cole, 135-136, in Knight, K.E. & McDaniel, R.R.,Jr. (1979). Organizations: AnInformation Systems Perspective, Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, p. 9.

33 Palmer, M. & Winters, K.T. (1993). Insan Kaynaklari (Fundamentals of Human Resources).Istanbul, Turkey: Rota Publishing, p. 43.

34 Yuksel, Oznur (2000). Insan Kaynaklari Yönetimi (Human Resources Management), Gazibookhause, Ankara,Turkey, p. 82.

35 Sabuncuoglu, Z. (2000), Insan Kaynaklari Yönetimi (Human Resources Management), Bursa,Turkey: Ezgi Bookhause, 57-58.

36 Landy, F. J., Shankster-Cawley, L., & Moran, S.K. (1995). Advancing Personel Selection andPlacement Methods, pp. 252-289 in Howard, A. (Ed.), The Changing Nature of Work, SanFrancisco: Jossey-Bass, as cited in Cascio, W.F. (2003), Managing Human ResourcesProductivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, p. 160.

37 Cascio, W.F. (2003), Managing Human Resources Productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits.New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, p. 160.

38 Walker, J.W. (1980). Human Resource Planning. New York: McGraw-Hill, p. 15.

39 Ibid.

40 Ibid.

41 Cascio, Wayne F. (1998). Applied Psychology in Human Resource Management. London:Prentice Hall, p. 133.

42 Ibid, p.134.

43 Cascio, op. cit., p. 137.


44 Beach, D.S. (1980). Personnel—The Management of People at Work. New York: MacmillanPublishing, p. 166

45 Kanawaty, G. (1997). Ifl Etudu (Introduction to Work Study), p. 31, in Zuhal Akal (Ed.), Trans.Ankara, Turkey: MPM Publishing.

46 Prokopenko, J. (1995). Verimlilik Yonetimi (Productivity Management: A Practical Handbook), p. 149, in Baykal, O., Atalay, N. & Fidan, E (Eds.), Trans. Ankara, Turkey: MPM Publishing.

47 Kanawaty, op. cit., p. 83.

48 Ibid, p. 84.

49 British Standards Institution, (1979). Glossary of Terms Used in Work Study and Organizationand Methods (O and M), BS 3138, p. 13, in Timur, H. (1984). Is Ölcumu, Is Planlamasi,Verimlilik (Work Measurement, Work Planning, Productivity), published by TODAIE (PublicAdministration Institute for Turkey and the Middle East), Ankara, Turkey, p. 25.

50 Timur, H. (1984). Is Ölcumu, Is Planlamasi, Verimlilik (Work Measurement, Work Planning,Productivity), published by TODAIE (Public Administration Institute for Turkey and the MiddleEast), Ankara, Turkey, p. 25.


52 Beach, op. cit., p. 161.

53 Ibid, p. 164.

54 Ibid.


56 Ibid, p.162.

57 Ibid, p. 163.

58 Ibid.

59 Beach, op. cit., p. 163.

60 Ibid.

61 Ibid.

62 Beardwell, op.cit., p. 135.

63 Kaynak, Tugray (1996). Insan Kaynaklari Planlamasi (Human Resources Planning). Istanbul,Turkey: Alfa Publishing, 26-35.

Author

Kamil Ufuk Bilgin

Turkiye ve Orta Dogu Amme Idaresi Entitusu (TODAIE)1.Nolu cadde No. 806100 YucetepeAnkara, Turkey+90 (312) [email protected]


Kamil Ufuk Bilgin is a professor of public personnel management at the PublicAdministration Institute for Turkey and Middle East, specializing in performance man-agement for public personnel. In the past, Bilgin has been a member of the faculty ofadministrative sciences at a university’s division of public administration. His majorareas of research interest include adaptation of Turkish PA into European communityadministration, employment of disabled people and public personnel management. Heis currently engaged in research that focuses on the effects of affirmative action ondiversity in the concept of the performance management for Turkish public administra-tions. Bilgin has done research on public sector experience, including organizationalanalysis, productivity of public personnel and the rights and obligations of Turkish pub-lic personnel. He has published two books and more than 50 articles in public adminis-tration scientifit journals, including the Journal of Public Administration of theInstitute, as well as university journals. Bilgin has also given more than 30 seminars forpublic agencies, and has delivered seven papers to national symposiums and fourpapers to international congresses.


Federal Employees with Disabilities withRegards to Occupation,Race, and Gender By Chon-Kyun Kim, Ph.D.

Authors’ note: An early version of this article was presented at the November 11-13, 2004International Conference on Social Science Research in New Orleans, La.

This study examines the distribution of federal employees with disabilities withregard to occupation, race, gender and department through an analysis of therecent demographic data on full-time disabled employees in the federal civilservice. With regard to race or gender, the occupational distribution of federalemployees with disabilities is not significantly different from that of federalemployees without disabilities. Like employees without disabilities, disabledemployees appear to be linked to racial or gender stereotypical roles andoccupations in the federal civil service. Additionally, a certain racial, ethnic orgender group with disabilities continues to be overrepresented orunderrepresented in a certain occupation. Furthermore, disabled white-collaremployees or applicants do not necessarily seem to have an advantage overdisabled blue-collar employees or applicants.

Introduction

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 was designed to protect disabledpersons from discrimination on the basis of disabilities, including hearing, seeing,speaking, breathing, learning, walking, mental or emotional impairments, by private orpublic employers. In other words, the ADA sought to prevent persons with disabilitiesfrom discrimination in employment practices and improve their employmentconditions and opportunities. One of the key issues in Title I of the ADA is that publicor private employers should provide “reasonable accommodations” in employmentpractices for employees and applicants with disabilities. That is, publicaccommodations and services should be accessible to persons with disabilities. Tocarry out the essential function of the job, disabled individuals should be providedreasonable accommodations, including a work schedule change, a job restructuring,the provision of an auxiliary aid, or physical modification to the workforce.1

Accommodating workers, applicants, or citizens with disabilities by modifying publicfacilities and restructuring jobs can cause a financial burden for public or privateemployers, even though a severe financial burden can exempt an employer from therequirement to offer a reasonable accommodation.2

The literature on the employment of persons with disabilities in the federal, stateand local governments focuses on the preparation of the ADA, the implementation of


the ADA, or the impacts of the ADA on public personnel management practices. Thisstudy instead investigates persons with disabilities in the federal service with regard tooccupational structure, race and gender. More specifically, this study examines thedistribution of federal employees with disabilities with regard to occupation, race,gender and department through an analysis of the recent demographic data on full-time disabled employees in the federal civil service. Theoretically, this study isimportant in terms of providing possible explanations for the relationship betweenoccupation, race, ethnicity, or gender and the employment of disabled individuals inthe public sector.

Theory and Hypothesis on the Employment ofPersons with Disabilities Studies on the employment of disabled individuals in the public sector indicate thatthe impacts of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 are not significant enoughto affect public personnel management practices due to vague regulations, insufficientbudget allocations or poor preparedness. In the national survey of municipal govern-ment chief administrative officers regarding reasonable accommodations for employ-ees or job applicants with HIV/AIDS, Slack revealed that municipal governments werepoorly prepared to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the publicworkplace provided little protection for people with HIV/AIDS.3 In the national sur-vey of state government personnel managers concerning the effect of the ADA on pub-lic personnel management practices, Kellough found that a majority of respondentsperceived that the ADA had no significant impacts on their organizations, while sub-stantial proportions of respondents perceived that the ADA did have certain more nar-rowly defined impacts on public personnel practices.4

Bishop and Jones indicated that the overall assessment of the prospects for suc-cessful implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was positive.5

However, they pointed out that administrative agencies would move slowly to issueregulations if groups representing persons with disabilities did not apply continualpressure on the agencies to fashion timely and effective regulations.6 In the survey ofmunicipal governments encompassing all cities in the United States with a populationof 50,000 or more, Condrey and Brudney found that 49 percent of the respondingmunicipal personnel directors considered lack of budgetary support to make neces-sary modifications a major obstacle to implementation of the ADA; 39 percent of therespondents reported that vague regulations made ADA implementation difficult.7

Condrey and Brudney also noted that “the respondents reported that making areasonable accommodation was significantly more difficult for public safety positionssuch as police officers and firefighters and public works positions such as laborer andequipment operator,” whereas “they reported less difficult in making job accommo-dations for technical positions such as computer programmer and drafter, profession-al occupations such as personnel analyst and accountant, and clerical occupationssuch as secretary and clerk.” 8 These findings suggested that “the reach of the ADA’sreasonable accommodation provisions may not extend equally to all occupationalgroups” and, thus, applicants seeking office positions or white-collar occupations,


such as professional, administrative, technical, or clerical occupations may have a dis-tinct advantage compared to applicants seeking blue-collar occupations.9 Consequent-ly, disabled white-collar workers could be more fairly represented than disabledblue-collar workers in public or private organizations.

Race or gender might make a difference in the employment of persons with dis-abilities, while occupation is linked to the degree of difficulties in making job accom-modations. Racial or gender minorities who are not disabled tend to be highlyconcentrated in clerical or blue-collar jobs as opposed to professional and administra-tive jobs in the federal service. For instance, African American or Hispanic women areheavily concentrated in clerical occupations and lower-level grades, while Caucasianmen are highly overrepresented in professional and administrative occupations andhigher-level grades.10 Asian federal employees, especially men, are most likely to beoverrepresented in professional occupations, particularly engineering and computerscience majors, while they are severely underrepresented in administrative occupa-tions in the federal service.

Like racial or gender minorities without disabilities, the employment of disabledracial or gender minorities could be linked to racial or gender stereotypical occupa-tions, roles or positions. For example, Caucasian men with disabilities in professionaland administrative occupations may be better represented than other racial or femalegroups with disabilities in those jobs. African American women with disabilities in cler-ical occupations may be better represented than other racial or gender groups withdisabilities in those jobs.

In addition to the occupational structure of persons with disabilities, the distri-bution of disabled veterans could be linked to the employment of the disabled in thefederal service. In fact, veterans have an advantage over civilians in the hiring process.Furthermore, veterans might populate the departments whose missions or interestsare related to those of veterans. Cornwell and Kellough noted that “interagency dif-ferences in the employment of women and minorities are systematically related to thedistribution of occupations within an agency and an agency’s demographic and orga-nizational characteristics.”11

Hypothesis: In the federal service, racial or gender minorities with disabilities havecomparable occupational distributions as racial or gender minorities without dis-abilities. The distribution of veterans with disabilities is also the significant indica-tor of the employment of persons with disabilities.

MethodologyAggregate demographic data on federal employees with disabilities by occupa-

tion, department, race, ethnicity, gender, or department are available from the U.S.Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The employment distribution of personswith disabilities in all full-time career civil positions—except elected and appointedpositions—in the federal service in the year 2002 is examined with regard to race, eth-


nicity, gender, occupation and executive branch department. Grade and pay levels offederal employees with disabilities, however, are not analyzed because of insufficientdata.

Findings and Discussion

Occupation and Gender

Table 1 displays the distribution of federal employees with disabilities with regard tooccupational classification (PATCO) and gender in the year 2002. Table 1 indicates thatthe distribution of disabled federal employees in white-collar occupations was not sig-nificantly different from the distribution of disabled federal employees in blue-collar


Table 1: Federal Civilian Employment Distribution of People withDisabilities by PATCO and Gender, 2002 (unit: percent)

Disabled Disabled All byby Gender Gender

White CollarFemale 6.2 43.8 49.8Male 7.9 56.2 50.2Total 7.1

ProfessionalFemale 4.6 35.7 40.7Male 5.8 64.3 59.3Total 5.3

AdministrativeFemale 5.4 36.7 44.7Male 7.5 63.3 55.1Total 6.6

TechnicalFemale 7.4 48.4 60.1Male 11.9 51.6 39.9Total 9.2

ClericalFemale 8.2 65.5 80.3Male 17.4 34.5 19.7Total 10

Blue CollarFemale 6.4 9.9 11.1Male 7.5 90.1 88.9Total 7.4

Grand Total 7.1

Source: U.S. Office of Personnel Management. 2003. Federal Civilian Employment Distribution ofPeople with Disabilities by PATCO, RNO and Gender. (Unpublished Manuscript)

occupations (e.g., white-collar occupations 7.1% and blue-collar occupations 7.4%),but disabled men were better represented than disabled women across occupations(e.g., women 6.2% and men 7.9% in white-collar occupations; women 6.4% and men7.5% in blue-collar occupations).12 Table 1 also suggests that among white-collar occu-pations, disabled employees, especially men, were well represented in clerical andtechnical occupations, whereas disabled employees—especially women—were poor-ly represented in professional and administrative occupations in the federal service.

Professional and administrative positions generally require more education andmore years of experience than do clerical and technical positions.13 Most decision-making positions are filled by professional and administrative occupations. Almost 43percent of the federal senior executives in 1999 were occupied by professional occu-pations and approximately 40 percent administrative occupations.14 Additionally,almost 44 percent of the federal senior executives in 1999 had bachelor’s degrees, 35percent master’s degrees, and 16 percent had doctoral degrees.15

More importantly, when investigating the occupational distribution of employ-ees with disabilities in the federal service, it seems that disabled white-collar employ-ees or applicants do not necessarily have an advantage over disabled blue-collaremployees or applicants with regard to employment. Even if job accommodations areaccessible to the disabled, persons with disabilities should satisfy qualificationsthrough education or experience in the selection and promotion process. That is whydisabled professional workers in the federal service appear to be far less representedthan disabled blue-collar workers or technical workers. Education, experience andperformance in which persons with disabilities are less likely to be provided oppor-tunities would still be the important determinants of successful career building in thepublic or private sector. Generally, with regard to education, employment, income andhousing, people with disabilities are far worse off than people without disabilities; forexample, the unemployment rate for persons with disabilities is more than 40 percentand 60 percent of the disabled are below the poverty level.16

When examining gender equality in federal employees with disabilities, menexceeded women remarkably (e.g., women 43.8% and men 56.2 % in white-collaroccupations; woman 9.9% and men 90.1% in blue-collar occupations in 2002).17 Thedistribution of blue-collar male or female employees with disabilities, however, is verysimilar to the distribution of blue-collar male or female employees without disabilities(e.g., 9.9% and men 90.1% in blue-collar occupations with disabilities; woman 11.1%and men 88.9% in blue-collar occupations without disabilities in 2002).18 More impor-tantly, disabled white-collar female employees, especially in professional and admin-istrative occupations, are far fewer than disabled white-collar male employees. Thisfinding suggests that disabled female applicants or employees could have more diffi-culties in getting or performing jobs in the federal service than do disabled male appli-cants or employees. It is questionable whether difficulties of disabled femaleapplicants or employees are from the management’s poor preparation for accommo-dating women with disabilities or whether they are from discriminatory attitudes oforganizational members. The provisions of the ADA and the EEOC (Equal Employ-ment Opportunity Commission) regulations do not seem to make employers accom-


modate women differently from men in employment practices from job applicationprocedures through termination because reasonable accommodations are made byperson and not either by groups or by gender. The ADA also provides that if an accom-modation entails a significant cost or difficulty—that is, undue hardship to theemployer—it is not reasonable.19

Occupation, Race, and Ethnicity

Table 2 shows the distribution of federal employees with disabilities with regard tooccupational classification (PATCO), race and ethnicity in 2002. With regard to raceand ethnicity, the occupational distribution of federal employees with disabilities wasvery similar to that of federal employees without disabilities. More importantly, Table2 indicates that a certain racial or ethnic group with disabilities tends to be highlyoverrepresented or severely underrepresented in a certain occupation, even thoughthe occupational distribution of federal employees with disabilities is not significant-


Table 2: Federal Civilian Employment Distribution of People withDisabilities by PATCO and Race or Ethnicity, 2002 (unit:percent)

White Black Hispanic Asian Native American

White CollarDisabled Employees 72.0 16.3 6.1 3.3 2.2 All Employees 70.4 16.7 6.4 4.4 2

ProfessionalDisabled Employees 81.1 8.1 4.2 4.7 1.9 All Employees 78.2 8.7 4.4 7.3 1.4

AdministrativeDisabled Employees 75.1 14.4 5.8 2.6 2.0All Employees 74.1 15.2 6.2 3.0 1.5

TechnicalDisabled Employees 66.9 20.0 7.3 3.1 2.6All Employees 63.1 22.7 7.3 3.8 3.3

ClericalDisabled Employees 63.8 23.6 6.9 3.3 2.4All Employees 58.4 29.1 7.7 4.1 2.7

Blue CollarDisabled Employees 65.9 20.2 6.9 4.1 2.9All Employees n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

Grand TotalDisabled Employees 71.2 16.8 6.2 3.4 2.0All Employees n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

Source: U.S. Office of Personnel Management. 2003. Federal Civilian Employment Distribution ofPeople with Disabilities by PATCO, RNO and Gender. (Unpublished Manuscript)

ly different from that of federal employees without disabilities with regard to race andethnicity. For example, in professional and administrative occupations, Caucasianswith disabilities were far better represented than racial minorities with disabilities. Bycontrast, African Americans with disabilities were heavily concentrated in clerical andtechnical occupations or blue-collar occupations. Hispanics with disabilities wereseverely underrepresented in all occupations. Furthermore, there were two timesmore Caucasian men in professional and administrative occupations than there weredisabled Caucasian women in those jobs, and the number of disabled African Ameri-can women in clerical occupations was two times higher than the number of disabledAfrican American men in those jobs (not shown in Table 2). It is controversial whetherthis trend is due to a voluntary self-selection or organizational barriers against a cer-tain racial or ethic group.

Another concern is that Asian Americans tend to be highly overrepresented inprofessional occupations (for instance, two times higher than the Asian general pop-ulation). Disabled Asian Americans in the federal service, however, are not overrepre-sented in those jobs and seem to be proportionally well represented, though disabledAsian men in professional jobs double disabled Asian women in those jobs. It remainsuncertain whether Asian Americans with disabilities in professional occupations per-ceive difficulties in serving the public sector and, thus, they are less likely to apply tothe federal service. Furthermore, disabled women across all races are less likely to berepresented in professional and administrative occupations. The only exception is thatwith regard to employment representation, disabled African American women do notsignificantly differ from disabled African American men in those occupations (notshown in Table 2).

Department and Veterans’ Preference

Table 3 displays the 2001 distribution of federal employees with disabilities by depart-ment. More than half of federal workers with disabilities were employed at the depart-ments where veterans are commonly populated, such as the Departments of VeteransAffairs and Defense. Those departments have not only a higher percentage of the dis-abled, but their mission is also related to veterans’ interests or circumstances. A num-ber of veterans, who have an advantage in the civil service tend to have a variety ofdisabilities. Table 4 shows that the departments which employ a higher percentage ofveterans have a higher percentage of the disabled. The exception is that the Depart-ment of Transportation, which hires a higher percentage of veterans, has a lower per-centage of the disabled. Table 4 also indicates that the departments which employ ahigher percentage of female veterans also have a slightly higher percentage of the dis-abled. As a matter of fact, in 2001 almost 26 percent of federal employees were veter-ans and 17.7 percent of all federally employed veterans were the disabled.20 Moreimportantly, the vast majority of veterans are men. Only 9.9 percent of federal veter-ans in 2001 were women.21 One of the crucial reasons there are relatively fewer femaleworkers with disabilities in the federal service could be because of veterans’ prefer-ence, which is often considered unfair to women. Analyzing the federal workforce data


between 1975 and 1995, however, Mani found that the impacts of veterans’ prefer-ence on women’s careers in the federal civil service was not significant and “veterans’preference is less likely to be a barrier to women in the federal civil service in thefuture.” 22

Implications for Public Employment of the Disabled This study examined the employment patterns of disabled federal employees withregard to occupation, race, gender and department through an analysis of aggregatedemographic data on full-time disabled employees in the federal service. With regardto race or gender, the occupational distribution of federal employees with disabilitiesis similar to that of federal employees without disabilities. Regardless of whetherwomen and minorities are disabled or not, they are likely to be underrepresented inadministrative and professional jobs. Like employees without disabilities, disabledemployees appear to be linked to racial or gender stereotypical roles and occupationsin the federal civil service. Caucasian men with disabilities in professional and admin-istrative jobs tend to be much better represented than other racial or gender groupswith disabilities in those jobs, while African American women with disabilities in cler-ical jobs are far better represented than other racial or gender groups with disabilities


Table 3: Federal Civilian Employment Distribution of People withDisabilities by Executive Department, 2001

Total Disabled % Severely %Disabled

Executive Branch 1,764,083 120,634 7.1 19,702 1.2Executive Departments 1,584,295 108,477 7.0 17,024 1.1

State 19,976 1,847 9.4 84 0.4Veterans Affairs 224,778 20,289 9.2 3,796 1.7Housing & Urban 10,145 845 8.7 144 1.5

DevelopmentDefense 659,228 46,820 7.2 6,548 1.0Agriculture 110,739 7,671 7.2 1,120 1.0Treasury 147,471 10,231 7.1 2,232 1.6Labor 16,358 1,097 7.1 205 1.3Energy 16,056 1,034 6.9 131 0.9Health & Human Services 65,125 3,937 6.5 702 1.2Education 4,841 290 6.5 79 1.8Commerce 40,061 2,484 6.4 389 1.0Interior 76,880 4,736 6.4 713 1.0Transportation 65,455 3,212 5.0 367 0.6Justice 127,182 3,984 3.2 514 0.4

All other Executive 179,788 12,157 7.4 2,678 1.6Branch Agencies

Source: U.S. Office of Personnel Management. 2002. Demographic Profile of the FederalWorkforce. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

in those jobs. Interestingly, unlike employees without disabilities, disabled employ-ees—especially men—are better represented in clerical and technical occupationsthan administrative and professional jobs. More importantly, disabled white-collarworkers or applicants do not necessarily seem to have an advantage over disabledblue-collar workers or applicants. In the federal service, disabled professional work-ers appear to be far less represented than disabled blue-collar or technical workers,although professional occupations could be less difficult in making job accommoda-tions than blue-collar occupations or technical occupations. Since education, experi-ence and performance are the most important factors in employment practices,persons with disabilities should be provided not only reasonable accommodations butalso opportunities to obtain those qualifications.

Furthermore, disabled employees in the federal service face not only consider-able racial or ethnic inequalities but also remarkable gender inequalities with regardto employment representation. Female employees with disabilities are more likely tobe concentrated in clerical occupations, and disabled white-collar female employees,especially in professional and administrative occupations, tend to be far fewer thandisabled white-collar male employees. If a certain racial, ethnic, or gender group con-tinues to be highly overrepresented or severely underrepresented in a certain occu-pation or if there exists organizational barriers in a certain occupation against a certain


Table 4: Federal Civilian Employment Distribution of Veterans byExecutive Branch, 2001

Total % Women % All Disabled %

Executive Branch 442,156 25.8 43,868 9.9 78,414 17.7Executive Departments 417,600 27.2 41,689 10.0 74,917 17.9

Veterans Affairs 63,010 28.0 9,688 15.4 15,309 24.3Labor 3,170 19.4 285 9.0 761 24.0Defense 230,186 37.6 22,805 9.9 43,683 19.0Housing & Urban 1,554 15.3 137 8.8 276 17.8

DevelopmentEducation 461 9.5 38 8.2 77 16.7Interior 14,152 18.4 808 5.7 2,070 14.6Health & Human Services 5,801 8.9 795 13.7 778 13.4Energy 3,710 23.1 190 5.1 485 13.1Treasury 21,467 14.6 1,769 8.2 2,758 12.8Justice 28,136 22.1 2,175 7.7 3,482 12.4Commerce 5,439 13.6 359 6.6 662 12.2Agriculture 14,949 13.5 987 6.6 1,808 12.1Transportation 22,731 34.7 1,425 6.3 2,522 11.1State 2,834 14.2 228 8.0 246 8.7

All other Executive 24,461 13.7 2,166 8.9 3,492 14.3Branch Agencies

Source: U.S. Office of Personnel Management. 2002. Demographic Profile of the FederalWorkforce. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

racial, ethic, or gender group, this threatens the significance of workforce diversityand the importance of representation. Diversity in the civil service can create greaterbureaucratic responsiveness. Diverse workforces with regard to race, ethnicity, nation-al origin, gender, and disability help bureaucracies remain not only more internallydemocratic but also more responsive to citizen needs.

Notes1 Pfeiffer, David. 1998. “Understanding the Americans with Disabilities Act.” In Stephen E.

Condrey (Ed.), Handbook of Human Resource Management in Government. San Francisco:Josse-Bass Publisher. pp. 199-213.

2 The average cost of reasonable accommodations is usually not high: for example, the averagecost of the accommodations for employees with disabilities in Sears, Roebuck and Co. between1978 and 1992 was $121 and between 1993 and 1995 $45 (Blanck, Peter. 1996. “TranscendingTitle I of the Americans with Disabilities Act: A Case Report on Sears, Roebuck and Co.” Mentaland Physical Disabilities Law Reporter 20 (2): 279-286). At federal and state levels, tax policiesencourage the accommodation of workers with disabilities. “Section 190 of the Federal TaxCode provides a deduction for costs associated with making facilities accessible and usable by aperson with a disability. In 1990, Congress approved the Disabled Access Credit, whichestablishes a 50% credit for the first $10,000 (over a $250 threshold) of expenses incurred eachyear by a small business to comply with the ADA” (Blanck, Peter, Lisa Schur, Douglas Kruse,Susan Schwochau, and Chen Song. 2003. “Calibrating the Impact of the ADA’s EmploymentProvisions.” Stanford Law and Policy Review 14 (2): 267-290).

3 Slack, James D. 1996. “Workplace Preparedness and the Americans with Disabilities Act: Lessonsfrom Municipal Governments’ Management of HIV/AIDS.” Public Administration Review 56 (2):159-167.

4 Kellough, J. Edward. 2000. “The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990: A Note on PersonnelPolicy Impacts in State Government.” Public Personnel Management 29 (2):211-224.

5 Bishop, Peter C., and Augutus J. Jones, Jr. 1993. “Implementing the Americans With DisabilitiesAct of 1990: Assessing the Variables of Success.” Public Administration Review 53 (2): 121-128.

6 Ibid, p. 127.

7 Condrey, Stephen E., and Jeffrey L. Brudney. 1998. “The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990:Assessing Its Implementation in America’s Largest Cities.” American Review of PublicAdministration 28 (1): 26-42.

8 Ibid, p. 32.

9 Ibid, p. 33.

10 Cornwell, Christopher, and J. Edward Kellough. 1994. “Women and Minorities in FederalGovernment Agencies: Examining New Evidence from Panel Data.” Public AdministrationReview 54 (May/June): 265-270.

11 Ibid, p. 265.

12 U.S. Office of Personnel Management. 2003. Federal Civilian Employment Distribution ofPeople with Disabilities by PATCO, RNO and Gender. (Unpublished Manuscript)

13 Unfortunately, individual or aggregate data on disabled federal employees with regards toeducation, years of service, grade, salary, and promotion are not available for the public.

14 U.S. Office of Personnel Management. 2000. The Senior Executive Service. Washington, D.C.:Government Printing Office.


15 Ibid.

16 Pfeiffer, David. 1991. “The Influence of the Socio-Economic Characteristics of Disabled Peopleon Their Employment Status and Income.” Disability, Handicap and Society 6 (2): 103-114;Pfeiffer, David. 1998. p. 201.

17 U.S. Office of Personnel Management, op. cit., 2003.

18 Ibid.

19 Pfeiffer, op.cit., 1998. p. 206.

20 U.S. Office of Personnel Management. 2002. Demographic Profile of the Federal Workforce.Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

21 Ibid.

22 Mani, Bonnie G. 1999. “Challenges and Opportunities for Women to Advance in the FederalCivil Service: Veterans’ Preferences and Promotions.” Public Administration Review 54(November/December): 523-534.

AuthorsChon-Kyun Kim, Ph.D.

Assistant ProfessorMaster of Public Administration ProgramDepartment of Social SciencesTexas A&M University, Corpus Christi6300 Ocean DriveCorpus Christi, Texas 78412(361) [email protected]

Chon-Kyun Kim is an assistant professor in the Master of Public Administration Programat Texas A&M University’s Department of Social Sciences located in Corpus Christi. Hisresearch has appeared in Administration and Society, the International Journal of Pub-lic Administration, Public Administration Quarterly, and Public Personnel Manage-ment. His research interests include human resources management, e-government,globalization, organization theory, and public policy.


Transforming Higher-level Civil Service in aNew Age: A Case Studyof a New Senior CivilService in Korea By Pan Suk Kim

During the last couple of decades, the improvement of senior leadership qualitiesbecame the focus of public service reform around the world. There is a wide rangeof countries that formally recognize a distinct group of senior civil servants withspecial roles and needs. Along such a global trend, the Korean governmentintroduced it on July 1, 2006. It is expected that the senior civil service will serveas a key link between political executives and the rest of the career civil service.However, establishing senior management does not just mean modifying theprofile of senior officials. It requires the reorganization of a strategically managedseparate group trained to cope with new demands and sociopoliticalenvironmental changes. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to review theestablishment of the senior civil service, one of the hottest current issues in theKorean government’s public service reform.

IntroductionMost countries have witnessed the emergence of determined efforts to reform the civilservice in the last few decades. Driven by such traditional catalysts, like financial crisesor loss of trust for the state, many governments have pursued ambitious public servicereforms: better control over the application of public policies, more flexibleprocedures and services geared more closely to the citizens’ needs. Such orientation isnow deeply reflected in the increased accountability for senior managers. The missionsof senior managements have been stripped back from line management to strategicmanagement of public policies. Reforming senior management is currently becoming acommon theme in many countries around the world. Many countries have created orrestructured the senior civil service group in an effort to manage their senior managersin a different manner from the rest of the civil service (OECD, 2004).

The Roh Moo-hyun administration (2003-present) announced in 2003 that itwould establish a new senior civil service and that plan received salient attention notonly from officials in the civil service itself but also from everyday citizens as well asfrom the business community. Finally, it was introduced on July 1, 2006. In order toimprove the government’s world competitiveness, the Korean government has car-


ried out various reform measures including civil service reform in the last couple ofdecades. These reform measures include: the establishment of the Civil Service Com-mission, job posting (government-wide competition) within the civil service, openposting (internally and externally) for a number of designated positions (20 percentof grade 3 and above), performance-related pay and bonus schemes, the diversifica-tion of the civil service entrance examination, personnel exchanges from all directions,utilization of 360-degree feedback, and more (Kim, 2000a, 2000b, 2001, 2002, 2003).1

During the Kim Dae-jung administration (1998-2003), one of the government’sachievements was civil service reform (Kim, 2000). In 1999, President Kim Dae-jungestablished the Civil Service Commission and implemented various reform agendason public personnel affairs as mentioned above. However, one of the unresolvedissues was the establishment of senior civil service during the Kim administration. Atthat time, the Presidential Committee of Government Innovation (PCGI) reviewedthis issue raised by the PCGI working group on personnel and organization affairs butthe issue failed to materialize due to a lack of understanding and political support.2

In other words, PCGI put the senior civil service issue on the review table, but it didnot become a part of the government agenda (Kim and Lee, 1999).3

When President Roh Moo-hyun (2003-Present) took power in February 2003 heorganized the Presidential Committee of Government Innovation and Decentraliza-tion (PCGID) as a principal arm for public sector reform. PCGID prepared variousreform roadmaps. The first roadmap prepared by PCGID was a roadmap for person-nel reform; one of the major issues in the roadmap for personnel reform was theestablishment of a new senior civil service. The reform of the senior civil service waschosen as a central task in accordance with the core concept of public personnel man-agement of the Roh administration.

The Roh administration selected a roadmap for personnel management reformas a major task. Research on the senior civil service was contracted out to an inde-pendent institute in 2003. Job analysis of positions involving office chief and bureaudirectors was conducted in 2003 and 2004. In 2003, the analysis targeted 457 positionsof relatively more importance out of a total of 957 in 18 ministries and agencies; in2004, the analysis targeted 431 out of a total of 558 in 37 agencies and committees. Ajob analysis was then carried out to find a way to improve performance and account-ability, analysis of competency, and compensation.4 Also, government-wide competi-tive job postings and cross-agency appointments were carried out in January 2004 for32 bureau-director level positions in 32 central ministries and agencies.5

Accordingly, review of the establishment of a new senior civil service would betimely and informative for the interests of both the general society and academic com-munities. Along this line, the purpose of this article is to review one of the hottestcurrent issues in the Korean government’s public service reform and share some les-sons for further development of higher-level civil service.


International TrendsIn OECD countries that have taken the lead in reform, a similar system has long beenin force in order to promote competition, competency, leadership, professionalism,and a global viewpoint among senior officials. In the United States the Senior Execu-tive Service (SES) was adopted in 1978 (effective in 1979) affecting more than 7,000officials at the bureau director level in charge of management, supervision and poli-cymaking.6 In the United Kingdom about 3,800 officials were formed into the seniorcivil service in 1996.7 In Canada, the Executive (EX) Group was established in early1990s through various steps and consists of almost 4,000 individuals.8 In Australiaranks and grades were simplified and the positions of about 1,450 officials above divi-sion chief level were pooled into the Senior Executive Service in 1984.9 The Nether-lands Senior Public Service, which was instituted in 1995, affected those at or abovebureau director level and expanded in 2001 to include division chiefs.10 In all, about900 officials (top management group and management posts) are involved in 2003.

For international comparison, it would be better to review at least a few casesaround the world. Many Asian and African countries are latecomers in installing a sep-arate higher-level civil service. Also, many Latin American countries are still under thesubstantial influence of the spoils system. Accordingly, examples of higher-level civilservice were selected from the continents of North America, Europe, and Oceania.Cases from five countries which have higher-level civil service are briefly described inthe following section for a comparative perspective. They are: the United States, theUnited Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands.11

The United StatesThe Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 established the “Senior Executive Service”(SES) as a separate federal personnel system. SES is managed by the U.S. Officeof Personnel Management (OPM) and includes more than 7,000 positionsthroughout the federal government.12 SES executives potentially serve as key linksbetween top political appointees and the rest of the career civil service. They serveunder multiyear performance contracts that provide higher pay scales than gen-eral civil service positions, and more flexibility to reassign and discharge withoutthe right to civil service protection. They help the top executive officials of a newadministration steer their agencies in policy directions set by the president, whileat the same time maintaining high standards of public service.13

The United KingdomThe senior civil service was created in 1996. It comprises the top five grades thatexisted then—permanent secretary and grades 2, 3, 4 and 5. The senior civil serv-ice consists of top managers, specialists and policy advisers. The senior civil serv-ice currently has around 3,800 members across government departments andagencies (i.e., less than one percent of the overall civil service, which numbersmore than 500,000) that are managed within a central personnel managementframework.14 The cabinet office provides advice and guidance for departments on


the senior civil service performance management and pay framework.15 It alsosubmits the government’s evidence to the “Senior Salaries Review Body” (SSRB)for the annual pay round. The senior civil service was created as a counterbalanceto the decision in the early 1990s to delegate responsibility to departments andagencies for the management of their own staff.

AustraliaUnder the provisions of the Public Service Reform Act of 1984 (the Reform Act),the “Senior Executive Service” (SES) was established in 1984. As of June 2004, theAustralian Public Service employed 131,500 staff, of which 1,762 are members ofthe SES. The changes effected by the Reform Act, established a more unified andcohesive group of senior executive staff to undertake higher-level policy advice,and managerial and professional responsibilities in Australian public service (APS)agencies. All SES vacancies are open to applicants from outside the APS, as wellas current APS employees. In keeping with SES being an APS-wide managementresource, the Public Service Commissioner has special powers and responsibili-ties in relation to SES employees.16

CanadaThe Executive (EX) Group, established in the early 1990s through various steps,consists of almost 4,000 individuals, who provide leadership for and managementof the federal government workforce comprising 170,000 people.17 This makes ita key element in government. Virtually all deputy ministries come from the EXgroup. The Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC) is responsible for appoint-ments in the core public service, made up of 170,000 public servants, includingexecutives (those in the EX 1-5 category), while the Privy Council Office is respon-sible for high-level political appointments, including deputy ministers and headsof agencies and commissions. During the selection process, the candidates areevaluated on both their knowledge and competencies using the Profile of PublicService Leadership Competencies, which contain 14 key leadership qualitiesdeemed essential to the effectiveness of senior managers across the public service.

The NetherlandsThe Dutch Senior Public Service (SPS) was established in 1995. The SPS had 900members as of the end of 2003. Offering guidance and advice to recruitment min-istries on how to fill SPS vacancies has been one of the primary responsibilities ofthe SPS Office. The theory behind these tasks is that an open door policy as wellas mobility between ministries enhances the quality of public management. TheDutch government’s policy program was inspired by the wish to increase thesense of commitment on the part of senior civil servants in general to promoteoperational coordination and intercommunication between ministries, to struc-


ture specific performance targets, to reward performance and to facilitate jobtransfers by injecting a powerful impetus into the SPS and into mobility policy.18

In sum, common features of senior management among several advanced coun-tries are as follows: (1) the purpose of senior management is to extend managementchanges to the senior central government executive and to build a culture of organi-zational efficiency and the concept of results; (2) accountability for results is an inte-gral part of senior management functions; (3) management of senior executives isunderpinned by performance assessment and/or core competency; and (4) recruit-ment focuses on leadership and managerial skills (political skills, management skills,and personality).

Directions for Transforming Higher-level Civil ServiceTransforming the higher level civil service system highlights a change in the paradigmconcerning the selection, retention and evaluation of high officials at the level ofbureau director who are crucial human resources in charge of government policies.Serious efforts were made to minimize the shock and confusion that arose from thefundamental change from the longstanding seniority-based hierarchical system. In theinitial process, a degree of anxiety was expressed from the target groups in the Kore-an civil service.19 In light of the importance of the new system, the Korean Civil Ser-vice Commission (CSC) carefully reviewed a broad range of opinions and obtainedfeedback from government officials, scholars, journalists, civic groups and the gener-al public through public hearings. The CSC also has invited several foreign expertsfrom those countries that have been operating a similar senior civil service system. Aninteragency taskforce was organized to launch the senior civil service smoothly. A pub-licity campaign was used to help the general public have a better understanding ofthe new system.

Under a new system, various changes took place. Some of the key changes were:1) strengthening of competition and openness (open competition and job posting)from personnel management in specific ministries and agencies, to government-widepersonnel management; 2) from pay based on hierarchy and seniority, (rank-in-per-son system) to pay determined by the type of position and performance (rank-in-posi-tion system); 3) from seniority-based promotion, to promotion based on performanceevaluation and competition; 4) from inadequate performance management, tostrengthening of performance management through contracts and more articulatedreview systems; 5) from rotation of posts, to establishment of a minimum term for aparticular position, and strengthening of specialization through the career develop-ment programs; and 6) from recruiting done by each ministry, to recruiting done bythe senior civil service as a whole, enhancing a broad, global viewpoint (CSC, 2004).

However, the existing position classification system, retirement system, provi-sion of training opportunities for those who under-perform, and a procedure to rem-edy unfair actions after corrective measures were maintained for stability and asmooth transition.



Figure 1: Comparison of Civil Service Before and After Reform

Source: Adapted from the Korean Civil Service Commission (2004) and modified by the author.

Governing Each ministry and agency Senior Civil ServiceOrganization

Personnel System Rank system (Pay level, Position-based system promotions and transfers (Pay level, promotions andconducted according to rank) transfers based on position)

Recruitment, Internal recruitment within each Open recruitment (Recruitment New Postings ministry and agency (Officials is carried out through

promoted or transferred government-wide competitionaccording to seniority; division or outside competition; promotionchiefs promoted promoted to of bureau directors is based on bureau directors without required training, an evaluation special training or serious of competency, and publicperformance evaluation) solicitation)

Performance Perfunctory performance Strict performance managementManagement management based on (Performance agreements are

seniority (There was a goal- placed, and serious action is specific performance system taken against inadequate but its operation was largely performance)based on seniority)

Pay Level Rank-based annual pay Performance-related pay (Pay (differences based on level is based on the importanceperformance is minimal) of the job; differences in annual

pay are expanded and special bonuses are awarded according to job performance)

Evaluation of Subjective and superficial Competency evaluation systemleadership and evaluation (A competency model is drawnabilities up in a scientific manner to

ensure objective and concrete evaluation)

Human Uniform training (it lacks Individual and customized Resources diversity, and it is not used to training (Improvement is made Development recognize and develop after looking into the level of

abilities) competency and leadership; and customized programs are provided according to the needs of the individual)

Employment Employment review (done Employment review plus recertifi-Review and when hiring and promoting cation (Personnel review is doneRecertification only) in cases of hiring and promotion;

and all SCS members are recertified every five years)

Before Reform After Reform

An Overview of Major Reform MeasuresThe higher-level civil service reform is intended to strengthen the competency andcompetitiveness of higher-level civil servants at the level of director-general and above,and to develop their ability by promoting competition, openness, and overall perform-ance. It is intended to nurture key human resources equipped with a broad govern-ment-wide viewpoint and global standards, thus expecting to upgrade the status ofthe government’s policy development and implementation.

There are several key factors in the senior civil service system. First, recruitmentfor the government office is opened to applicants from both within and outside thecivil service. Second, the system is intended to enhance the ability of the higher levelcivil servants by instituting a more articulated evaluation system and human resourcesdevelopment. Third, in order to enhance responsibility and ensure greater achieve-ment, performance agreements are tied to job performance, and new competencyassessment and comprehensive personnel reviews are put in place. Finally the systemis administered from a broad government-wide point of view. Personnel exchangestake place between ministries and agencies, and there are government-wide solicita-tions to fill vacant posts.

Management and Composition of the Senior Civil ServiceThe new senior civil service covers all positions at the bureau director level orhigher in the central government ministries and agencies that require manage-ment and leadership abilities. It covers a total of nearly 1,500 positions (approxi-mately 0.27 percent of the overall central government employees in Korea),including the career, special (excepted), contract and foreign service positions.20


Table 1: Coverage of a New Senior Civil Service

Category Number

General Service (Career) 757

Excepted Service (Non-Career) 205

Contract Service 67

Foreign Service (to be included) 188

Detachment (for secondment) 94

Detachment (for training) 83

Local Governments 38(including Deputy Governors)

Provincial-Level Office of Education 18(including Deputy Superintendents)

Others (including those on leave) 43

Total 1,493

Source: Korean Civil Service Commission (2006).

It also includes policy advisors and assistant ministers, but excludes prosecutors,police chiefs, military generals, as well as vice ministers and ministers who arepolitical appointees.

Officials at the level of bureau directors and higher, now assigned to eachministry and agency, have been reassigned to the senior civil service, which is nowmanaged by the Civil Service Commission on a government-wide basis. The offi-cials in the senior civil service were organized by position and the importance oftasks but not by rank—organizing senior officials by rank has been abolished. Inother words, there is now no rank in a new senior civil service, while the pay scaleis differentiated based on the results of job analysis.

Opening-up of Government Positions Positions are filled, in principle, based on competition either among all eligiblegovernment officials or between those within the civil service and experts fromoutside government. There are a predetermined number of positions for such cat-egories. In order to join the senior civil service, it is necessary to pass the com-petency assessment and attend training and development programs designed forthe candidates for high-level positions.

In order to promote competition, 20 percent of positions in the senior civilservice were assigned for open competition internally as well as externally in whatis known as the “open position system.” These positions are filled through com-petition involving civilian specialists and officials in government ministries andlocal agencies. In order to introduce excellent civilian specialists into the seniorcivil service, they are allowed to move after the initial assignment to any positionthat is appropriate.

Also, 30 percent of positions are filled through government-wide competi-tion, which is known as the “job positing system” within the civil service. In thiscase, all eligible officials in government, regardless of the ministry they previous-ly worked for, can apply to fill the vacancy. Each ministry with the consultation ofthe Civil Service Commission determines such appointments.

In such an open process, the fairness and objectivity of the screeningprocess for all positions has been enhanced. The members of the selection andscreening committee include civilian specialists and other members who arenamed by the CSC or chosen from those recommended by different governmentagencies.

However, all positions are not open for competition. The remaining 50 per-cent of the positions are filled by the independent decisions of the ministries andagencies (i.e., internal competition) for agency flexibility. This feature is to ensureautonomy and independence of each government organization. As a matter offact, the minister of each ministry was resistant to the open competition systemfor senior civil service recruitment because the minister perceived that the opencompetition system could reduce his/her appointment authority for new seniorcivil service members.21 Therefore, it is fair to say that the remaining 50 percent


of the positions filled by the independent decisions of each ministry is a result ofpolitical compromise among key stakeholders during the reform process.

Development of Abilities and CapabilitiesA program to develop abilities and capabilities has been introduced for candidatesto the senior civil service. A short-term program lasting a few weeks and focusingon providing an in-depth understanding of the overall government administrationand the development of leadership was provided regularly beginning in 2005.22

Human resources development (HRD) opportunities were also made available toexecutives and employees of state-invested and private businesses. The CentralOfficials Training Institute (COTI) installed programs and components using the“action learning” method (Rothwell, 1999; Garvin, 2003; Marquardt, 2004). TheCOTI’s senior civil service candidate program is currently composed of four parts:1) orientation on action learning (two to three days); 2) carrying out of actionlearning (two months in one’s workplace); and 3) need-based training after thecompetency assessment (one-week training provided for weak competencyareas); and 4) action learning conference (each participates, presents his/her proj-ect results in front of cabinet members).23

The existing training program for bureau directors was overhauled into aprogram for senior civil servants at the beginning of 2006.24 The program includesa basic course for incumbent senior civil servants, a course to enhance competen-cy in special areas for those applying for positions within the government and acourse for those who need long-term development. An evaluation of the trainingrecords of program participants is reflected when they apply for senior positionsin the government. On-the-job training is also provided for civilian candidates witha view to expanding government service opportunities for them through generalopen competition as well as special hiring by contract.

Competency AssessmentPrivate businesses and foreign governments commonly adopt competency mod-els as criteria in human resources management. The Korean government alsoadopted a competency assessment system. The higher the position the moreinfluence such things as strategic thinking, leadership and ability to communicatewill have on job performance. Competency is the behavioral quality, together withother qualities, that managers are required to possess, to perform successfully onthe job and contribute to the strategic goals of the organization.

In terms of competency framework, nine core qualities were identified afteranalyzing the jobs in the senior civil service, cases involving major foreign and pri-vate businesses and the opinions of related advisory councils. The nine core qual-ities are: 1) communication ability, 2) customer-oriented service, 3) presentationof vision, 4) coordination and integration, 5) goal and result orientation, 6) inno-vative leadership, 7) professionalism, 8) understanding of potential problems and9) strategic thinking.25 A group of expert assessors (composed of well experiencedcivil servants and professionals such as professors and consultants) evaluate the


behavioral characteristics of the candidates in a simulated situation based on aspecific problem that could surface in real job situations. Group discussions, role-playing, presentations, in-basket exercises, interviews and other evaluation tech-niques are commonly used.26 Officials at the division chief level and civilianspecialists seeking to join the senior civil service have been subjected to such eval-uations. As of April 19, 2007, 11.0 percent (42 out of 382 prospective candidates)failed to pass the competency assessment.27 Those who failed the competencyassessment can take the assessment again, but he/she has to wait for six monthsbefore taking the assessment again if he/she fails the assessment twice, and he/shemust wait for one year prior to taking the assessment again if he/she fails it threetimes or more.

All senior civil service members should be recertified every five years. Com-prehensive evaluations and reviews are conducted regarding competency, gener-al job performance, and integrity of the official. The recertification committee iscomprised of seven to nine members including the CSC chair, some deputy min-isters, CSC-recommended specialists and other experts from outside of the gov-ernment. If a senior civil service member has the lowest rating for two consecutiveyears or three separate years in his/her performance evaluation, he/she shouldhave an immediate review for recertification. According to the results of thereview, the official is rehired, retrained or dismissed.

Performance Management and CompensationThe senior civil servant signs a performance agreement with the head of the rel-evant organization. Each senior civil service member should make an individualperformance agreement with performance objectives and measures; agreementsare made through performance interviews with the direct supervisor of each sen-ior civil service member. The term of the performance agreement is typically oneyear. Job descriptions and performance objectives are determined in consultationwith the immediate superior. Performance evaluations are graded on a scale offour levels. Those who end up in the lowest level in a regular evaluation are givena training opportunity to improve performance. Those who score the lowest levelof grades twice in a row or a total of three times are adversely affected at the timeof recertification.

The Korean Civil Service Commission analyzed all higher-level positions ingovernment to determine their importance and values. In consultation with eachgovernment agency, the commission decided the pay scale for each level. Withthe new system, the commission hopes to boost the civil servants’ morale andtheir efficiency. Monetary incentives are used. The annual compensation systemhas been reformed from the existing rank-based to a performance-based system.Traditionally, the pay scale was largely formulated in accordance with an official’srank that is usually described as grades 3, 2, and 1. The new compensation sys-tem for senior civil service members was newly established, based on one’s per-formance, as well as the importance and difficulty of the tasks. It is basicallycomposed of four elements: annual basic salary (approximately a minimum of U.S.


$49,500 to a maximum of U.S. $73,700 per year), job pay (approximately U.S.$2,500 to U.S. $12,600 per year) based on five categories in terms of its jobnature), performance-related pay (up to 15 percent of the performance payscheme) based on annual performance evaluation (i.e., each senior civil servicemember’s performance is evaluated by four different levels and the amount ofperformance-related pay (PRP) is calculated accordingly), and additional pay suchas allowances.28

Development of Government-wide VisionsIn order to promote government-wide perspectives, interagency transfers of high-level officials are encouraged through both monetary and non-monetary incen-tives.29 A systemic plan was prepared to assure tenure for a certain period of timein a particular position. This is necessary to help civil servants acquire the profes-sional expertise and on-the-job experience to become competent professionals.It will allow both civil servants and new recruits from the private sector to serveat least a couple of years in the same position. In this way, the new system willreduce potential turnover from frequent rotations. To avoid potentially seriousdisputes and insecurity among career officials, retirement age is maintained ratherthan abolished. However, there might be a few officials who will be forced to leavebefore retirement age because of failure to meet performance requirement andother tests.

Discussion and Policy ImplicationsThe role of senior officials becomes increasingly important as the nature of govern-mental affairs becomes more complex and diverse while the voice of citizens and ordi-nary governmental employees grows stronger. Generally speaking, senior officials didnot face as serious challenges in the past as they face today. They could have fulfilledtheir duties depending upon their subordinates’ policy recommendations andreports. As today’s government faces complicated conflicts, senior officials must pro-vide clear visions and innovative leadership in a new age. Therefore, it is natural toreinvent the management of senior officials. The role of senior civil servants is beyondtheir area-specific expertise. They should be a multi-player including the role of busi-ness partners, change agents and advocates of public values and national agendas.

Another reason for civil service reform could be traced from a governance per-spective (Kooiman, 1993; Peters, 1996; Rhodes, 1997; Kamarck and Nye, 2002; Kettl,2002). National governance is changing significantly in Korea since the Roh Moo-hyunadministration began in 2003. Roh accepted the notion of “limited government” andpromised his citizens that he would convert an imperial presidency into an institu-tional presidency. He delegated various functions to the prime minister as well as toeach minister. For example, each minister can now exercise his or her discretionarypower as much as he or she is able. Accordingly, decentralization and devolution havebeen substantially extended during the Roh administration. As decentralization anddevolution extend, however, the need for integration and interagency cooperation is


growing. In an era of governance, horizontal communication and coordination are keyfactors for responsive governance (UN/DESA, 2005). As each ministry runsautonomously, the need for holistic government is also significantly increasing.Reflecting on such new developments in the Korean public sector, the establishmentof a new senior civil service could be a strategic policy option to improve central gov-ernment capacity for integration and world competitiveness.

Several advanced countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom,Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands, adopted higher-level servicealthough their names are slightly different from one other. The career public servantis expected to be neutral and as a permanent official be willing to serve successivegovernments. Appointments to the higher civil service were not subject to politicalconsiderations and were almost exclusively drawn from the ranks of career officials.The Korean civil service has a similar feature with such countries. However, in thecourse of the development, the opposition political parties and the media expresseda great deal of suspicion about the political influence on the senior civil service (Cho,2005). Accordingly, the Korean Civil Service Commission asserted that no politicalinfluence will be made for recruiting new senior civil service members or evaluatingtheir performance; the senior civil service is not subject to political considerations fortheir recruitment and performance evaluation (Cho, 2005).

Agendas for Further Development and ChallengesThe establishment of the senior civil service was on the discussion table in the processof developing government reform agendas since the late 1990s, but it was not formal-ized until recently. On July 1, 2006, the Korean government introduced the senior civilservice and it is fully effective in the Korean central government now. The revisedNational Civil Service Act that includes a new article to establish the senior civil serv-ice was approved by the Korean National Assembly on December 8, 2005 along withthe various related laws (77 laws including the Government Organization Act as wellas 241 related presidential decrees). After that, many personnel rules and regulationshave been revised in order to support the establishment of the senior civil service. Allhigher level positions were reviewed and determined according to the importanceand nature of an individual position. Thorough preparations and a careful processwere carried out to smoothly transform the present system into a new senior civil service.

Implementation of the new system should be monitored with a view to improv-ing it continually. However, establishing senior management does not just mean mod-ifying the profile of senior officials; it requires the reorganization of a strategicallymanaged separate group trained to cope with new demands. Thus, a number of chal-lenges still remain. The establishment of the senior civil service is an uncharted pathfor Korean senior officials, so they are nervous about such transformation in terms oftheir tenure, career development, performance appraisal and competitive environ-ments.30 Planning a new initiative is a relatively easy task, but implementing it is a chal-lenging one. It is too early to evaluate the success of the establishment of the senior


civil service in Korea. It will take several years for the soft landing of a new system ingovernment.

Transforming the higher-level civil service is not a simple task. There are a num-ber of important issues to tackle. For example, system design dilemmas remain salientin legal, structural and behavioral dimensions. In the course of policy implementation,a number of critical questions arise in terms of how to make: 1) balance between cen-tral direction and decentralized operation; 2) balance between central control andagency flexibility; 3) balance among employee rights, political leadership and manage-ment capabilities; 4) balance between government-wide and agency-based strategichuman resources management; and 5) balance between political values and systems(Klingner and Nalbandian, 2002). These are really challenging tasks to fulfill in theyears ahead. Accordingly, the great task for the Korean government is to find out itsown indigenous practice of senior civil service.

Success of a new system depends on various factors. The Korean governmentintroduced a new higher-level civil service and it is relatively well institutionalized inthe central government. However, institutionalization itself does not guarantee its suc-cess. A more important, or perhaps more critical factor for success, might be its prac-tice based on its original system design and common cause. If the senior civil servicesystem in practice functions as designed, it should be less problematic than critics say(i.e., potential politicization of senior civil service). Otherwise, distrust and cynicismabout civil service might be negatively reinforced. Therefore, political influenceshould be minimized in the operation of the senior civil service while the merit prin-ciple should be fully utilized for the successful internalization of a new system in gov-ernment. Furthermore, closer monitoring by the National Assembly (the legislativebody in Korea) as well as professional policy communities on the implementation ofa new system and further proper adjustment must be continuously carried out for pre-venting potential problems in the Korean Senior Civil Service.

Notes1 For more details on civil service reform, visit the Civil Service Commission’s homepage at

www.csc.go.kr.

2 The author was a member of the then committee and personally witnessed such discussion.

3 Kim and Lee (1999) ignited active discussion of the possible establishment of the higher-levelcivil service in the Korean central government for the first time in a major Korean journal.

4 Through job analysis, various measures were developed: (1) systematic performance goals andaccountability were determined, and evaluations were conducted accordingly; (2) the leader-ship qualities and competency required of senior civil servants were clarified, and training wasprovided to correct any lack of competency; and (3) pay levels can be determined by theimportance and difficulty of the position.

5 In early 2004, a planning team for the senior civil service was organized. Representatives fromgovernment ministries and agencies, members of a government innovation committees andcivilian specialists formulated three draft plans for the senior civil service. The planning teamthen held many sessions to review the drafts. In addition, a consultative body was organized ofrepresentatives from various ministries and an advisory committee was formed of representa-


tives from civic organizations, and personnel management specialists from academia, the mediaand private businesses.

6 For more information, visit the [USA] OPM’s Web site at http://www.opm.gov/ses/.

7 For more information, visit the [UK] Cabinet Office’s Web site athttp://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/performance/scs/index.asp.

8 For more information, visit the Public Service Commission of Canada’s Web site athttp://www.psc-cfp.gc.ca/staf_dot/pol-guid/chap_14/index_e.htm.

9 For more information, visit the Australian Public Service Commission’s Web site athttp://www.apsc.gov.au/ses/.

10 For more information, visit the [Netherlands] Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations’ Website (Office for the Development of the Senior Public Service) athttp://www.minbzk.nl/uk/organisation/organisation_of_the#OfficefortheDevelopmentoftheSe-niorPublicService

11 Partial data was drawn from the Web site of each country’s central personnel authority, but alsosome is taken from the presentations of participants at the International Seminar held by theCivil Service Commission in Seoul in December 2004.

12 More details can be found at http://www.opm.gov/ses/pdf/SESGUIDE04.pdf.

13 The keystone of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the SES was designed to be a corps ofexecutives selected for their leadership qualifications. For more details, visit the OPM’s Web site(accessed on November 18, 2006) at http://www.opm.gov/ses/.

14 For more details, visit the following British government’s Web site (accessed on November 18,2006) at http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/performance/scs/index.asp.

15 The Senior Civil Service Group (SCSG) within the Cabinet Office provides central frameworksfor senior civil servants in the UK.

16 The core SES selection criteria are the five key elements identified in the Senior Executive Lead-ership Capability Framework: (1) shapes strategic thinking; (2) achieves results; (3) exemplifiespersonal drive and integrity; (4) cultivates productive working relationships; and (5) communi-cates with influence. Further detail on the framework can be found athttp://www.apsc.gov.au/selc/.

17 The [Canadian] Public Service Commission makes all appointments to the executive levels (EX-01 to EX-05) unless it has delegated its authority. More details can be found at http://www.psc-cfp.gc.ca/staf_dot/pol-guid/chap_14/index_e.htm.

18 More details on the Dutch Senior Public Service can be found athttp://www.minbzk.nl/uk/organisation/organisation_of_the#OfficefortheDevelopmentoftheSe-niorPublicService.

19 Article 68 of the National Civil Service Act stipulates, “Civil servants will not be dismissed, orforced to take a leave, or take an assignment against the individual’s wishes.” However, this pro-vision does not apply to Grade 1 officials.

20 Officials in the Board and Inspection (BAI) were excluded.

21 The author witnessed that this issue was a hot potato in the Cabinet Office Meeting in 2004.Several ministers opposed the open recruitment system for new senior civil service members.

22 Continuing education is the key to strengthening the qualities and competencies necessary forexecutives. Senior executives must show leadership and communication qualities in addition tothe traditional public service values.


23 For more details on government training, visit the Central Official Training Institute’s homepageat www.coti.go.kr and the [Korean] Civil Service Commission’s homepage at www.csc.go.kr(The CSC has a special portal site for the senior civil service at http://scs.csc.go.kr) (in Korean).

24 There were 40 director-general level officials studying at the Central Officials Training Institute(COTI), 28 at the Korea National Defense University and 20 in overseas training programs. Formore details on government training, visit the Central Official Training Institute’s homepage atwww.coti.go.kr.

25 The senior civil service competency framework can be found at the [Korean] Civil Service Com-mission’s Web site at http://scs.csc.go.kr/ (in Korean).

26 It usually takes a whole day (08:30 to 18:10) per person.

27 For more information, visit the [Korean] Civil Service Commission’s Web site athttp://scs.csc.go.kr/ (in Korean).

28 An exchange rate is based on 950 won per US$1. Ibid.

29 In most countries, recruitment strategies involve centralized systems to create an organizedsenior management job market and to promote competition. Several OECD countries re-cen-tralized to a certain extent the management of their senior civil services by designing whole-of-government schemes for senior civil servants.

30 The Korean government should also promote an agency corporate executive level successionplanning model (Rothwell, 2003; Rothwell and Poduch, 2004) and such efforts should be linkedto each agency’s strategic plans.

ReferencesCho, Chang Hyun. 2005. “Understanding the Senior Civil Service,” [Korean] National AssemblyReview 465 (August): 139-143 (in Korean).

[Korean] Civil Service Commission. 2004. Unpublished Document: Preliminary Plan to Establishthe Senior Civil Service. Seoul: Civil Service Commission (in Korean).

[Korean] Civil Service Commission. 2006. Plan to Establish the Senior Civil Service. Seoul: CivilService Commission (in Korean).

Garvin, David. 2003. Learning in Action: A Guide to Putting the Learning Organization to Work.Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Kamarck, Elaine C. and Nye, Joseph S. (eds.). 2002. Governance.com: Democracy in the Informa-tion Age. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.

Kettl, Donald F. 2002. The Transformation of Governance. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Univer-sity Press.

Kim, Pan Suk. 2000a. “Human Resource Management Reform in the Korean Civil Service,” Admin-istrative theory and Praxis 22 (2): 326-344.

Kim, Pan Suk. 2000b. “Administrative Reform in the Korean Central Government: A Case Study ofthe Dae Jung Kim Administration,” Public Performance and Management Review 24 (2): 145-160.

Kim, Pan Suk. 2001. "Utilizing 360-Degree Feedback in the Public Sector: A Case Study of theKorean Central Government," Asian Journal of Political Science 9(2): 95-108.

Kim, Pan Suk. 2002. “Directions for Development of Korean Public Personnel Administration: aDiscourse of the Transformation Period,” Korea Public Administration Journal 11 (1): 54-88. (inKorean)

Kim, Pan Suk. 2003. “Fact-finding and Reforming Quasi-Governmental Agencies,” Korean Societyand Administration Studies 13 (4): 43-70. (in Korean)


Kim, Pan Suk and Lee, Sun-Woo. 1999. “Toward the Establishment of the Senior Executive ServiceSystem to the Korean Central Government,” Korea Public Administration Journal 7 (4): 130-154.(in Korean)

Klingner, Donald and John Nalbandian. 2002. Public Personnel Management: Contexts andStrategies, 5th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Kooiman, Jan. (ed.). 1993. Modern Governance: Government-Society Interactions. London: Sage.

Marquardt, Michael. 2004. Optimizing the Power of Action Learning: Solving Problems andBuilding Leaders in Real Time. Davies-Black.

OECD (Human Resources Management Working Party). 2004. Trends in Human Resources Man-agement Policies in OECD Countries. Paris: OECD.

Peters, B. Guy. 1996. The Future of Governing: Four Emerging Models. Kansas: University Press ofKansas.

Rhodes, R.A.W. 1997. Understanding Governance: Policy Networks, Governance, Reflectivity andAccountability. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Rothwell, William. 2003. The Action Learning Guidebook: A Real-Time Strategy for Problem Solv-ing Training Design, and Employee. Pfeiffer.

Rothwell, William and Stan Poduch. 2004. “Introducing Technical (Not Managerial) SuccessionPlanning,” Public Personnel Management 33 (4): 405-420.

UN/DESA. 2005. World Public Sector Report 2005: Unlocking the Human Potential for Public Sec-tor Performance. New York: UN/DESA.

AuthorPan Suk Kim

Associate Dean and ProfessorGraduate School of Government and BusinessYonsei UniversityWonju Campus, Wonju, Gangwon 220-710South [email protected]

Dr. Pan Suk Kim is associate dean and professor of public administration in the Grad-uate School of Government and Business at Yonsei University (Wonju Campus) in SouthKorea. He had been secretary to the president for personnel policy in the office of thepresident. He is currently vice president of the International Research Society for PublicManagement (IRSPM) and a member of the IIAS’s Executive Committee and the UN’sCommittee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA).


An Efficiency-BasedApproach on HumanResource Management:A Case Study of TainanCounty Fire Branches in TaiwanBy Chun-Hsiung Lan, Liang-Lun Chuang, and Chi-Chung Chang

This article submits a research design called two-stage design, consisting of thedeterminations of the performance efficiency for each fire branch in Tainan Countyat the first stage by using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the selectionof proper resource strategies—Omit Resource Approach (ORA) or Multi-StageResource Allocation Approach (MSRAA)—through the future estimated productiontrend in the second stage. The technical efficiency, the scale efficiency, theproduction efficiency and the return to scale are conducted in the first stage of thetwo-stage research design. In addition, resource strategies are provided in thesecond stage of the two-stage design. The ORA is adopted if the future estimatedtrend is decreasing or constant, and MSRAA is chosen if the future estimated trendis increasing. This study provides a constructive and quantitative approach ofsolving the dilemma of “how to reasonably eliminate or allocate resources” for thedecision makers.

IntroductionDisaster prevention defines three major missions: fire prevention, disaster rescue andemergently medical service relating to the lives of people.1 People expect that the firedepartment can adopt proper countermeasures for disaster prevention and they alsohope that fire branches can dispatch rescue teams efficiently to execute their missions.Currently, the performances of fire branches commonly adopt single or few rules tomeasure the performances of fire prevention, hazardous materials management,disaster rescue and duty supervision, but emergently medical services, educationaltraining, fire investigation and general administration are not taken into consideration.Current performances tend to cause arguments because of lacking objectivity andjustice. Therefore, the most important thing to do is to look for a proper measure withobjectivity and justice to evaluate the performance efficiencies of fire branches andthen adjust reasonable resources for those inefficient fire branches.


In 1978, Harry pointed out that efficiency, effectiveness and productivity arethree major parts of performance.2 In 1988, Fortuin3 placed the organizational goal intwo categories: efficiency and effectiveness. The efficiency is defined as the ratiobetween input and output,4 and the effectiveness is defined as the achieving level ofthe expected production output by a production system.5 In fact, efficiency and effec-tiveness represent different levels of performance, and there is no guarantee that bothof them can be achieved simultaneously. However, an efficient organization must han-dle both of them well, and use the most efficient way to pursue maximum effective-ness.6

There are many measures of performance evaluation: the Ratio Approach, theRegression Analysis, the Multiple Criteria Analysis, the Analytic Hierarchy Process, theBalanced Scorecard, the Delphi Hierarchy Process, the Total Factor Productivity (TFP),and the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA).7 Among these methods, the DEA is themost suitable way to measure the performance efficiency of nonprofit organizationsbecause of its multi-indication character. The performance efficiencies of fire branch-es have to be reasonably measured by multiple inputs and outputs, and the functionrelationship between inputs and outputs are unknown in advance.8 In this research,DEA is selected as the measuring method of performance efficiencies for fire branch-es because of its characteristic of multi-indication, and thus the relative efficiency ofeach fire branch can be determined by comparing the quantitative data of inputs andoutputs.9

The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was proposed from Charnes, Cooper andRhodes in 1978. Originally, the DEA is applied to measure the performance efficiencyof the public or nonprofit organization, but later is applied to many beneficial organ-izations. The model of DEA is shown by the ratio of output/input and has the samemeaning of the so-called TFP.10 The DEA is based on the concepts of Pareto Optimal-ity and Frontier to calculate the relative efficiencies of the whole decision making units(DMUs) in order to determine their performances, especially for the similar decisionmaking units.11 In fact, the DEA uses the separated programming via the fractionalprogramming and then transfers the process to linear programming in order to findout the values of the relative efficiencies for the whole decision making units (DMUs)and to determine the inefficient DMUs.12 This study is trying to measure the relativeefficiency for each fire branch under the double duties of disaster prevention and thesecurity of peoples’ life and property. Besides, not only can the DEA strengthen thejustice on the judgment of performance efficiency for each fire branch and providean excellent referenced guideline for the resource allocation of each fire branch, butit also can offer the new thinking to measure the performance efficiencies of firebranches.

This study aims to assess the performance efficiencies of fire branches by using35 fire branches of Tainan County Fire Bureau as an example. Currently, the TainanCounty Fire Bureau consists of office duty and field duty sectors, including six sec-tions, one fire center, three fire corps and 35 fire branches. The employees in the firebranch are regarded as long-term workers13 because each fire branch has to operateall day, and thus the employees in the fire branch should be trained to handle multi-


ple tasks, including water supply, etc. According to relevant laws and ordinances, themanpower of the fire branch is arranged relative to the population and the size of thearea.14 The current allocation of fire protection resources merely considers the loca-tion and its associated response time.15

The resource allocation for each fire branch has no rules to be followed, and thecurrent allocation depends on the resource distributor; the differing characteristics ofthe city and country, the governmental budget subsidiaries and the scale of fire branchare not considered. Therefore, the current method often causes a biased assessmentof performances. This study, however, considers the aspects of control area, loadingson fire duties and government budget in order to establish a reasonable method toassess the performances of fire branches.

The DEA is conducted in the first-stage of this study. The second stage, accord-ing to the future estimated trend of output to select a proper strategy, is (ORA)—where output trend is steady or decreasing—which is also called or Multi-StageResource Allocation Approach (MSRAA). In MSRAA, output tendency is increasing.The solutions of ORA are recommended from the contribution index of each inputitem. The MSRAA is a quantitative approach presented in this study to allocateresources and will be then described in detail in this study. Through the two approach-es of ORA and MSRAA, the decision maker can adopt different strategies based on theassessment of the future output trend. Furthermore, these two strategies will func-tion as a referenced guideline to resolve the long-term existing difficulties in a waythat reasonably eliminates or allocates resources while making decisions.

The Determination of Input and Output ItemsThis study focuses on the investigation of the performance efficiency for each

fire branch; the production function of DMU is not assumed, so that the DEA is cho-sen as the assessing measure of performance efficiency in this study. In fact, the DEAincludes two different models: Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes, and Banker, Charnesand Cooper. Both of them have two options—input orientation and output orienta-tion. Because a fire branch tries to minimize its input usage of resources to maintaincurrent performance, this study adopts the input-oriented model of Charnes, Coop-er and Rhodes to conduct the efficiency analysis for each fire branch. In 1989, Golanyand Roll thought that the selection of input and output items was very importantwhile executing DEA.16 Generally speaking, the determination of the input and out-put items for the DEA model should be paid more attention. So, the common way todetermine the input and output items is to interview with organization officers andthen to analyze the organization and management objectives, literature reviews, andexperiences.17

Therefore, four input items (the number of on-duty personnel, the on-duty cost,the total vehicle displacement and the vehicle maintenance fee) and five output items(the number of fire cases, the number of rescue cases, the number of public servicecases, the number of listed fire protected spaces and the number of fire hydrants)were selected as variables in this article for assessing efficiency.


The definition of each variable is given in table 1, and the input and output val-ues for each DMU are listed in table 2. Table 3 describes the correlation coefficienciesbetween input items and output items of DMUs. From table 3, there exist positive cor-relations between each input item and each output item. This means that the rela-tionship between each variable complies with the characteristic of “isotonicity,” whichis the basic assumption of Data Envelopment Analysis. Backward elimination18 canthen be applied in order to delete the input and output items with zero weight insequence until the weight of each left item is nonzero (i.e. if the weights of input/out-put items are zero, those items are eliminated). After executing the backward elimi-nation, the previous selected items cannot be deducted from this study. The weightsof input and output items for each DMU are listed in table 4.


Table 1: The Definitions of Input and Output Items

No. input/output Name of Item Definitions

01 input number of on-duty The monthly average on-duty persons of the fire branch personnel during the period of assessment (person)

02 input on-duty cost The business expenses and vehicle fuel expenses of the fire branch during the period of assessment (thousand dollars)

03 input total vehicle displacement The displacement of fire vehicles of the fire branch during the period of assessment (cc /1000)

04 input vehicle maintenance fee The maintenance fee of fire vehicles of the fire branch during the period of assessment (thousand dollars)

01 output number of fire cases The number of fire cases occurred within the control area of the fire branch during the period of assessment (case)

02 output number of The number of emergency rescue cases of the fire emergency rescue cases branch during the period of assessment (case)

03 output number of public-service The number of public services, such as bee capture,cases snake capture, water supply, etc, made by the fire

branch during the period of assessment (case)

04 output number of listed The total number of protected spaces listed in the firefire protected spaces branch during the period of assessment (house)

05 output number of fire hydrants The number of fire hydrants listed in the fire branch during the period of assessment (hydrant)

Table 2: The Values of Input and Output Items for Each DMU

DMUs Input 1 Input 2 Input 3 Input 4 Output 1 Output 2 Output 3 Output 4 Output 5

Sinying 18 336.165 53.819 449.005 212 1658 175 533 664Fire Branch

Liouying 6 129.276 18.952 170.932 91 596 87 123 207Fire Branch

Yanshuei 7 145.558 18.952 170.932 119 762 115 187 237Fire Branch



Baihe 10 223.796 37.953 232.998 125 810 76 175 232Fire Branch

Houbi 7 132.648 18.952 179.245 77 545 49 120 134Fire Branch

Dongshan 7 138.794 18.952 179.245 59 432 45 69 105Fire Branch

Dongyuan 5 99.457 10.726 108.867 19 224 52 16 35Fire Branch

Syuejia 7 160.664 37.953 224.469 79 607 83 231 265Fire Branch

Jiangjyun 5 89.125 10.726 100.540 51 360 26 71 205Fire Branch

Beimen 6 117.883 18.952 169.570 59 241 69 40 113Fire Branch

Jiali Fire 8 186.725 29.729 366.802 128 1069 98 210 383Fire Branch

Sigang 6 99.53 10.726 125.492 81 564 31 109 175Fire Branch

Cigu 6 123.401 18.952 199.746 102 457 49 80 162Fire Branch

Madou 16 315.491 46.179 316.562 144 1220 191 242 189Fire Branch

Siaying 6 133.056 18.952 170.932 53 654 82 84 117Fire Branch

Lioujia 7 164.292 18.952 179.245 91 575 82 91 122Fire Branch

Guantian 7 177.484 18.952 179.392 110 668 85 235 187Fire Branch

Shanhua 10 181.817 26.002 224.685 92 836 120 160 317Fire Branch

Danei 6 102.197 18.952 179.245 30 253 48 24 63Fire Branch

Anding 5 114.02 10.726 83.928 99 600 34 156 135Fire Branch

Yujing 7 156.231 18.952 170.932 38 451 93 95 91Fire Branch

Nansi 6 130.523 10.726 100.554 16 321 42 56 65Fire Branch

Nanhua 6 120.707 10.726 108.867 18 212 75 34 54Fire Branch

Sinhua 8 157.979 18.952 170.932 178 1049 140 280 205Fire Branch



Shansun 10 210.668 18.952 145.994 40 391 72 55 97Fire Branch

Gueiren 9 231.614 27.178 270.124 203 1221 105 278 309Fire Branch

Wunsian 7 164.243 18.364 179.245 141 859 76 216 117Fire Branch

Rende 7 184.667 46.179 286.750 163 819 128 247 209Fire Branch

Guanmiao 9 218.04 18.952 241.310 236 798 80 187 238Fire Branch

Yongkan 9 174.008 16.452 140.756 168 1124 86 160 326Fire Branch

Sinshih 8 182.156 18.364 162.620 124 917 96 227 139Fire Branch

Nanke 13 209.819 23.319 107.506 40 342 88 53 327Fire Branch

Dawan 8 195.469 37.953 286.750 89 1012 67 405 213Fire Branch

Yanhang 10 157.374 18.952 249.623 119 894 54 484 219Fire Branch

Fusing 17 289.29 46.179 283.312 157 1263 82 240 182Fire Branch

Table 3: Correlation Coefficiencies Between Input and Output Variables

Number of On-Duty Total Vehicle Vehicle Number Number of Number of Number of Number ofOn-Duty Cost Displacement Maintenance of Fire Emergency Public- Listed Fire Fire

Personnel Fee Cases Rescue Cases Service Protected HydrantsCases Spaces

Number of 1 0.923 0.733 0.641 0.484 0.685 0.634 0.532 0.599On-DutyPersonnel

On-Duty Cost 0.923 1 0.812 0.746 0.627 0.774 0.730 0.600 0.607

Total Vehicle 0.733 0.812 1 0.850 0.499 0.682 0.661 0.612 0.578Displacement

Vehicle 0.641 0.746 0.850 1 0.632 0.774 0.631 0.732 0.676MaintenanceFee


Table 4: The Weights of Input and Output Items for Each Fire Branch

Fire Branch Input 1 Input 2 Input 3 Input 4 Output 1 Output 2 Output 3 Output 4 Output 5

Sinying 0.646659 1.00E-06 0.214788 0.138553 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.017491 0.314916 0.685082Fire Branch

Liouying 2021684 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.685738 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.586204 1.00E-06 2.157878Fire Branch

Yanshuei 1.973753 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.610545 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.521925 1.00E-06 1.921259Fire Branch

Baihe 1.423995 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.402548 0.145828 1.00E-06 0.087433 0.514260 1.101176Fire Branch

Houbi 1.00E-06 2.234261 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.319369 1.00E-06 0.275499 0.681652Fire Branch

Dongshan 1.324998 1.174018 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.656420 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.299965Fire Branch

Dongyuan 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 5.017617 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 2.410583 1.00E-06 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Syuejia 1.776252 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.618562 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.181845 0.924512 1.303691Fire Branch

Jiangjyun 1.712203 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 2.341881 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 3.239022Fire Branch

Beimen 1.00E-06 2.851680 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.282302 1.00E-06 1.296337Fire Branch

Jiali 2.249996 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.471491 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.088853Fire Branch

Sigang 1.00E-06 3.125864 0.373861 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.751157 1.00E-06 0.521425 2.172386Fire Branch

Cigu 1.109726 1.716473 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.279310 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.084924Fire Branch

Madou 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.418376 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.736662 1.00E-06 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Siaying 2.999997 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.909037 0.171221 1.00E-06 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Lioujia 2.463639 1.00E-06 0.119034 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.281375 1.00E-06 0.640158Fire Branch

Guantian 2.032505 1.00E-06 0.151452 0.391078 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.220149 0.959640 1.413687Fire Branch

Shanhua 1.00E-06 1.781181 1.00E-06 0.073213 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.526660 1.00E-06 1.350456Fire Branch

Danei 1.00E-06 3.289379 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 2.108948 1.00E-06 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Anding 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 5.349879 2.313294 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.101106 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Empirical AnalysisFrontier software was applied to investigate 35 fire branches of Tainan Fire

Bureau in Taiwan by using the input and output data from 2003 to perform the effi-ciency analysis and potential improvement analysis. The efficiency analysis isdescribed below.

The production efficiency derived from the Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes modelof DEA includes the technical efficiency and the scale efficiency. The production effi-ciency, the technical efficiency, the scale efficiency and the return to scale of each firebranch in Tainan County are listed in table 5. For example, the production efficiencyof Baihe branch is 0.6656, its technical efficiency is 0.6775 and the scale efficiency is0.982. It reveals that the production inefficiency of Baihe branch is mainly due to its



Yujing 2.497762 1.00E-06 0.081352 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.553597 1.00E-06 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Nansi 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 5.017616 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.783700 1.00E-06 1.488316Fire Branch

Nanhua 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 5.017616 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 2.410582 1.00E-06 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Sinhua 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 2.839749 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.364283 1.00E-06 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Shansun 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 3.075498 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.597323 1.00E-06 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Gueiren 1.999996 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.669335 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.911671Fire Branch

Wunsian 2.217190 1.00E-06 0.403726 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.782209 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Rende 2.571423 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.964587 1.00E-06 1.123315Fire Branch

Guanmiao 1.999996 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.999998 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Yongkan 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 3.189949 1.022020 1.00E-06 0.605112 1.00E-06 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Sinshih 1.341782 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.114510 1.00E-06 1.383250 1.00E-06 0.274933 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Nanke 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 4.176550 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.461811 1.735418Fire Branch

Dawan 2.249997 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.316047 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Yanhang 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 2.839749 1.00E-06 0.762109 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 0.678050 1.00E-06Fire Branch

Fusing 1.00E-06 1.047484 1.00E-06 0.156227 1.00E-06 0.872042 1.00E-06 1.00E-06 1.00E-06Fire Branch

technical factor because its technical efficiency (0.6775) is smaller than the scale effi-ciency (0.982). The analyzing results of DEA for those 35 fire branches in Tainan Coun-ty are described as follows:

Firstly, the production efficiencies from 14 branches among 35 branches are equalto one. Secondly, regarding to the technical efficiency, there are 21 fire brancheswhose technical efficiencies are equal to one. Thirdly, the scale efficiencies of 14fire branches among 35 branches are equal to one. Fourthly, for analyzing thereturn to scale, there are three fire branches which have been categorized intothe decreasing return to scale (DRS). Those three DRS branches mean that theycan try to decrease their scale for efficiency improvement. Fourteen fire branch-es are in the category of constant return to scale (CRS); this indicates that these14 branches have already reached the optimal production scale. The 18 firebranches left are in the category of increasing return to scale (IRS) meaning thatthose 18 IRS branches can try to amplify their scales for efficiency improvement.The detailed information of DRS, CRS and IRS for those 35 fire branches is listedin table 5.


Table 5: The Production Efficiency, the Technical Efficiency, the Scale Efficiency, and the Return to Scale of Each Fire Branch

No. Fire Branch Production Technical Scale Σλ Value Return to ScaleEfficiency Efficiency Efficiency

1 Sinying 1 1 1 1 CRSFire Branch

2 Liouying 0.9397 1 0.940 0.7811 IRSFire Branch

3 Yanshuei 1 1 1 1 CRSFire Branch

4 Baihe 0.6656 0.6775 0.982 0.6887 IRSFire Branch

5 Houbi 0.6333 0.8061 0.786 0.5070 IRSFire Branch

6 Dongshan 0.479 0.7472 0.641 0.4008 IRSFire Branch

7 Dongyuan 0.6563 1 0.656 0.3714 IRSFire Branch

8 Syuejia 1 1 1 1 CRSFire Branch

9 Jiangjyun 1 1 1 1 CRSFire Branch

10 Beimen 0.6839 0.953 0.718 0.5240 IRSFire Branch

11 Jiali 1 1 1 1 CRSFire Branch



12 Sigang 0.9347 1 0.935 0.5826 IRSFire Branch

13 Cigu 0.8176 0.935 0.874 0.5502 IRSFire Branch

14 Madou 0.7367 1 0.737 1.3643 DRSFire Branch

15 Siaying 0.8265 1 0.827 0.6085 IRSFire Branch

16 Lioujia 0.6677 0.8568 0.779 0.5923 IRSFire Branch

17 Guantian 0.9192 0.9583 0.959 0.6983 IRSFire Branch

18 Shanhua 0.9756 0.9797 0.996 1.3344 DRSFire Branch

19 Danei 0.53 0.9629 0.55 0.3429 IRSFire Branch

20 Anding 1 1 1 1 CRSFire Branch

21 Yujing 0.7565 0.8978 0.843 0.6695 IRSFire Branch

22 Nansi 0.5379 1 0.538 0.3067 IRSFire Branch

23 Nanhua 0.9466 1 0.947 0.5357 IRSFire Branch

24 Sinhua 1 1 1 1 CRSFire Branch

25 Shansun 0.6021 0.7309 0.824 0.5143 IRSFire Branch

26 Gueiren 1 1 1 1 CRSFire Branch

27 Wunsian 0.9234 0.9563 0.966 0.7728 IRSFire Branch

28 Rende 1 1 1 1 CRSFire Branch

29 Guanmiao 1 1 1 1 CRSFire Branch

30 Yongkan 1 1 1 1 CRSFire Branch

31 Sinshih 0.8821 0.8922 0.989 0.8696 IRSFire Branch

Resource StrategiesBased on future output trends, this section presents two strategies, the MSRAA andthe ORA.

When the future output trend is steady or deceasing, it can be inferred from thepotential improved targets and the improved ranges of input/output items that therelatively inefficient units do not require further inputs; on the contrary, they shouldproperly trim their resources. The target values and improved ranges of input/outputitems for each fire branch are listed in table 6. The ORA strategy is to trim the valuesof input items on the basis of the DEA report because the output items of each firebranch cannot be changed by us. Taking the Shanhua branch as an example, its pres-ent input values (the number of on-duty personnel, the on-duty cost, the total vehi-cle displacement, the vehicle maintenance fee) are 10, 181.817, 26.002 and 224.685respectively. The contribution indexes (shown in table 7) of these four input items are0%, 96.3%, 0% and 3.7% in order, and the target values of input items (shown in table6) are 8.71, 177.38, 23.23, and 219.2 respectively. Based on the contribution indexes,the ORA strategy recommends that Shanhua branch has to improve “the on-duty cost”to its target value of 177.38 first because its contribution index of 96.3 percent is thelargest, then improve “the vehicle maintenance fee” to the target value of 219.2because such item’s contribution index 3.7 percent is just below the contributionindex of the on-duty cost. This way, the relative efficiency of the Shanhua branch isimproved. The detailed information of contribution indexes for each DMU is listed intable 7.



32 Nanke 1 1 1 1 CRSFire Branch

33 Dawan 1 1 1 1 CRSFire Branch

34 Yanhang 1 1 1 1 CRSFire Branch

35 Fusing 0.6643 0.78 0.852 1.1743 DRSFire Branch

Table 6: The Target Values and Improved Ranges of Input andOutput Items for Each Fire Branch. Note that the NumberInside the Parentheses is the Improved Range.


Sinying 18 336.17 53.82 449 212 1658 175 533 664Fire Branch (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Liouying 5.64 119.91 16.28 160.63 94.95 643.82 87 148.9 207Fire Branch (-6) (-7.2) (-14.1) (-6) (4.3) (8) (0) (21.1) (0)



Yanshuei 7 145.56 18.95 170.93 119 762 115 187 237Fire Branch (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Baihe 6.66 140.42 16.75 155.09 125 817.83 76 175 232Fire Branch (-33.4) (-37.3) (-55.9) (-33.4) (0) (1) (0) (0) (0)

Houbi 4.37 84 9 81.96 85.82 545 54.88 120 134Fire Branch (-37.6) (-37.6) (-52.5) (-54.3) (11.5) (0) (12) (0) (0)

Dongshan 3.35 66.49 7.53 69.63 68.45 432 46.98 93.04 105Fire Branch (-52.1) (-52.1) (-60.2) (-61.2) (16) (0) (4.4) (34.8) (0)

Dongyuan 2.97 58.68 7.04 63.49 66.11 389.63 52 104.74 76.14Fire Branch (-40.6) (-41) (-34.4) (-41.7) (248) (73.9) (0) (554.6) (117.6)

Syuejia 7 160.66 37.95 224.47 79 607 83 231 265Fire Branch (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Jiangjyun 5 89.13 10.73 100.54 51 360 26 71 205Fire Branch (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Beimen 4.02 80.61 9.93 89.57 82.98 499.62 69 131.2 113Fire Branch (-33) (-31.6) (-47.6) (-47.2) (-40.6) (107.3) (0) (228) (0)

Jiali 8 186.72 29.73 366.8 128 1069 98 210 383Fire Branch (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Sigang 4.87 93.03 10.03 99.26 81.12 564 43.07 109 175Fire Branch (-18.9) (-6.5) (-6.5) (-20.9) (0.1) (0) (38.9) (0) (0)

Cigu 4.91 100.89 9.5 92.3 102 571.33 49.01 97.28 162Fire Branch (-18.2) (-18.2) (-49.9) (-53.8) (0) (25) (0) (21.6) (0)

Madou 10.91 215.53 25.86 233.2 242.84 1431.14 191 384.73 279.68Fire Branch (-31.8) (-31.7) (-44) (-26.3) (68.6) (17.3) (0) (59) (48)

Siaying 4.96 102.84 12.28 113.06 110.59 654 82 171.23 134.22Fire Branch (-17.3) (-22.7) (-35.2) (-33.9) (108.7) (0) (0) (103.8) (14.7)

Lioujia 4.67 94.83 12.66 107.32 103.96 605.9 82 164.08 122Fire Branch (-33.2) (-42.3) (-33.2) (-40.1) (14.2) (5.4) (0) (80.3) (0)

Guantian 6.43 126.28 17.42 164.9 112.44 757.86 85 235 187Fire Branch (-8.1) (-28.8) (-8.1) (-8.1) (2.2) (13.5) (0) (0) (0)

Shanhua 8.71 177.38 23.23 219.2 135.08 897.92 120 209.72 317Fire Branch (-12.9) (-2.4) (-10.6) (-2.4) (46.8) (7.4) (0) (31.1) (0)

Danei 2.74 54.16 6.5 58.61 61.03 359.66 48 96.69 70.29Fire Branch (-54.3) (-47) (-65.7) (-67.3) (103.4) (42.2) (0) (302.9) (11.6)

Anding 5 114.02 10.73 83.93 99 600 34 156 135Fire Branch (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Yujing 5.3 107.38 14.34 121.45 118.26 688.35 93 186.67 137.48Fire Branch (-24.4) (-31.3) (-24.4) (-28.9) (211.2) (52.6) (0) (96.5) (51.1)

Nansi 4.29 84.63 10.15 91.57 95.36 561.96 75 151.07 109.82Fire Branch (-28.6) (-29.9) (-5.3) (-15.9) (429.8) (165.1) (0) (344.3) (103.4)

Nanhua 2.47 48.74 5.77 51.91 54.43 323.09 42 84.37 65Fire Branch (-58.8) (-62.7) (-46.2) (-48.4) (240.2) (0.7) (0) (50.7) (0)



Sinhua 8 157.98 18.95 170.93 178 1049 140 282 205Fire Branch (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Shansun 4.11 81.25 9.75 87.91 91.54 539.49 72 145.03 105.43Fire Branch (-58.9) (-61.4) (-48.6) (-39.8) (128.9) (38) (0) (163.7) (8.7)

Gueiren 9 231.61 27.18 270.12 203 1221 105 278 309Fire Branch (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Wunsian 6.46 142.77 16.96 159.95 144.58 859 98.37 216.82 187.63Fire Branch (-7.7) (-13.1) (-7.7) (-10.8) (2.5) (0) (29.4) (.4) (60.4)

Rende 7 184.67 46.18 286.75 163 819 128 247 209Fire Branch (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Guanmiao 9 218.04 18.95 241.31 236 798 80 187 238Fire Branch (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Yongkan 9 174.01 16.45 140.76 168 1124 86 160 326Fire Branch (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Sinshih 7.06 139.04 16.04 143.45 152.46 917 113.06 227 193.97Fire Branch (-11.8) (-23.7) (-12.7) (-11.8) (22.9) (0) (17.8) (0) (39.5)

Nanke 13 209.82 23.32 107.51 40 342 88 53 327Fire Branch (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Dawan 8 195.47 37.95 286.75 89 1012 67 405 213Fire Branch (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Yanhang 10 157.37 18.95 249.62 119 894 54 484 219Fire Branch (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Fusing 9.81 192.17 21.22 188.2 204.88 1263 141.99 280.51 290.97Fire Branch (-42.3) (-33.6) (-54.1) (-33.6) (30.5) (0) (73.2) (16.9) (59.9)

Table 7: Contribution Index (%) of Each Input and Output Items


Sinying 64.7 0 21.5 13.9 0 0 0 31.5 68.5Fire Branch

Liouying 73.9 0 0 26.1 0 0 28.4 0 71.6Fire Branch

Yanshuei 76.8 0 0 23.2 0 0 31.4 0 68.6Fire Branch

Baihe 79.1 0 0 20.9 11.6 0 5.2 25.4 57.8Fire Branch

Houbi 0 100 0 0 0 68.5 0 9.8 21.7Fire Branch

Dongshan 51.5 48.5 0 0 0 90.1 0 0 9.9Fire Branch

Dongyuan 0 0 100 0 0 0 100 0 0Fire Branch



Syuejia 69.1 0 0 30.9 0 0 7.9 40.1 52Fire Branch

Jiangjyun 47.6 0 0 52.4 0 0 0 0 100Fire Branch

Beimen 0 100 0 0 0 0 67.7 0 32.3Fire Branch

Jiali 100 0 0 0 0 94.9 0 0 5.1Fire Branch

Sigang 0 92.5 7.5 0 0 27.3 0 11.4 61.3

Cigu 37 63 0 0 67.6 0 0 0 32.4Fire Branch

Madou 0 0 0 100 0 0 100 0 0Fire Branch

Siaying 100 0 0 0 0 91.1 8.9 0 0Fire Branch

Lioujia 95.8 0 4.2 0 0 0 82.4 0 17.6Fire Branch

Guantian 79.1 0 5.3 15.6 0 0 10.7 46 43.3Fire Branch

Shanhua 0 96.3 0 3.7 0 0 33.9 0 66.1Fire Branch

Danei 0 100 0 0 0 0 100 0 0Fire Branch

Anding 0 0 0 100 97 0 0 3 0Fire Branch

Yujing 97.1 0 2.9 0 0 0 100 0 0Fire Branch

Nansi 0 0 100 0 0 0 72.9 0 27.1Fire Branch

Nanhua 0 0 100 0 0 0 100 0 0Fire Branch

Sinhua 0 0 100 0 0 0 100 0 0Fire Branch

Shansun 0 0 0 100 0 0 100 0 0Fire Branch

Gueiren 100 0 0 0 57.6 0 0 0 42.4Fire Branch

Wunsian 86.2 0 13.8 0 0 100 0 0 0Fire Branch

Rende 100 0 0 0 0 0 64.6 0 35.4Fire Branch

On the other hand, if the future output trend is increasing, the MSRAA strategyis performed. The aim of MSRAA is to balance the workload of relative efficientbranches with other inefficient branches when the future estimated output trend isincreasing. Thus, the workloads of those efficient branches can be deducted ifresources can be added into them.

The main ideas of MSRAA are as follows:

1. A unit of allocated resources is defined and relative efficient DMUs aregrouped. Those efficient DMUs are regarded as candidate DMUs to supple-ment resources because their work loading is higher than those inefficientbranches while the future trend is increasing.

2. The allocated capacity (the number of candidate DMUs) is checked. (If allo-cable resources are greater than or equal to the allocated capacity, a unit allo-cated resource is added into each candidate DMU and then one can proceedto step five; otherwise go to the next step.)

3. Compute the total improved performance efficiencies of the whole DMUs byadding a unit allocated resource to a candidate DMU individually, and orderthese candidate DMUs in accordance with their total improved performanceefficiencies. To be more specific, the most improved one is assigned the num-ber “one,” followed by the less improved ones—“two,” “three,” and the like.If a “tie” occurs, a DMU with less resources has the priority.

4. Based on the order of the previous step, resources are assigned to those can-didate DMUs one by one according to their order (from the least to the great-est) until the entire allocable resources are exhausted.

5. Calculate the relative efficiencies of the whole DMUs where resources areadded and regroup these newer efficient DMUs as the candidate DMUs (theallocated capacity). If remaining resources exist, these remaining resources



Guanmiao 100 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0Fire Branch

Yongkan 0 0 0 100 72.8 0 27.2 0 0Fire Branch

Sin shih 59.6 0 0 40.4 0 86.7 0 13.3 0Fire Branch

Nanke 0 0 0 100 0 0 0 14.5 85.5Fire Branch

Dawan 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 0Fire Branch

Yanhang 0 0 100 0 38.4 0 0 61.6 0Fire Branch

Fusing 0 90.1 0 9.9 0 100 0 0 0Fire Branch

are considered as the allocable resources for the next step. Now return to thestep 2 to check the allocated capacity or go to the final step.

6. Generate the suggested resource allocations in the final step, and the MSRAAis complete.

An Exemplified Case of Resource StrategyBryan19 mentioned that while the population keeps increasing, the losing costs of firecases including the control cost of fire and the system cost of fire would increase.Therefore, fire branches of Tainan County, where there is a positive populationgrowth, still need to supplement resources. Taking the supplementation of firefight-ers as an example, there are 20 firefighters to be assigned to fire branches, and a fire-fighter is determined as an allocated unit. In the first stage, there are 14 efficient firebranches evaluated from the DEA report, and these 14 efficient fire branches (i.e. theallocated capacity is 14) are considered as the initial set for the first stage. Assign 14firefighters into fire branches in the initial set (each fire branch has assigned a fire-fighter) because the allocable resources (20 persons) is greater than the allocatedcapacity (14), and then calculate the relative efficiencies of fire branches after adding14 firefighters in the initial set for the first stage. The aforementioned calculations arelisted in table 8. At this time, the remaining number of firefighters is six (i.e. the allo-cable firefighters for the next stage is six). From the fluctuation of relative efficiencies,it is found that the Syuejia branch, the Rende branch, and the Gueiren branch wouldturn into inefficiencies after adding a firefighter for each. Such phenomenon meansthat the original on-duty firefighters of these three branches before adding firefight-ers have achieved the optimal scale. Therefore, there are 11 branches (14-3=11)whose relative efficiencies are still 100 percent after adding a firefighter. Order theabove-mentioned 11 branches as the initial set of the second stage, and then theresource allocation (RA) set of the second stage is determined. The allocableresources of the second stage are six firefighters (20-14=6). Table 9 shows the detailedprocess to assign the remaining six firefighters consecutively to the most prior sixbranches in the RA set at the second stage, and then calculate the performance effi-ciencies of the whole fire branches (35 fire branches). After conducting the MSRAA,these 20 firefighters are reasonably allocated into fire branches that are really in needof resources. After adding those 20 firefighters by using MSRAA, the number of effi-cient fire branches has been increased from 14 to 18 branches (shown in table 10). Itindicates that the workloads of fire branches in Tainan county have been slightly bal-anced. The entire relative efficiencies of each stage for conducting the MSRAA are list-ed in table 10.



Table 8: The Input of 14 Firefighters into the RA Set at the First Stage

Initial Set Original Allocated The Efficiency (1) The Total (2) The Total (1)—(2) The Orderof the Efficiency Unit Efficiency Variation Efficiencies of the Efficiencies of the of

First Stage of Each Whole Branches Whole Branches RA SetBranch in After Adding One Without Addingthe First Unit into One Unit into

Stage this Branch this Branch

Sinying 100% 1 100% 0 2978.5% 2977.87% 0.63 7Fire Branch

Yanshuei 100% 1 100% 0 2984.15% 2977.87% 6.35 2

Syuejia 100% 1 92.05% -7.95 2969.92% 2977.87% -7.95 14

Jiangjyun 100% 1 100% 0 2977.87% 2977.87% 0% 10

Jiali 100% 1 100% 0 2980.99% 2977.87% 3.12 4

Anding 100% 1 100% 0 2977.92% 2977.87% 0.05 9

Sinhua 100% 1 100% 0 3019.75% 2977.87% 41.88 1

Gueiren 100% 1 96.95% -3.05 2976.44% 2977.87% -1.43 12

Guanmiao 100% 1 100% 0 2979.13% 2977.87% 1.26 5

Rende 100% 1 94.12% -5.88 2972.6% 2977.87% -5.27 13

Yongkan 100% 1 100% 0 2983.9% 2977.87% 6.03 3

Nanke 100% 1 100% 0 2977.87% 2977.87% 0 11

Dawan 100% 1 100% 0 2978 2977.87% 0.13 8

Yanhang 100% 1 100% 0 2978.85% 2977.87% 0.98 6

Table 9: The Input of Six Firefighters Consecutively into the First SixBranches in the RA Set at the Second Stage

Initial Set The Allocated The Efficiency (1) The Total (2) The Total (1)—(2) The Orderof the Efficiency of Unit Efficiency Variation Efficiencies of the Efficiencies of the of

Second Candidate of Each Whole Branches Whole Branches RA SetStage Branch in Branch in After Adding One Without Adding

the First the Second Unit into One Unit intoStage Stage this Branch this Branch

Sinhua 100% 1 100% 0 3111.98% 3063.77% 48.21 1Fire Branch

Yanshuei 100% 1 100% 0 3065.45% 3063.77% 1.68 4Fire Branch

Yongkan 100% 1 100% 0 3068.82% 3063.77% 5.05 2Fire Branch

Jiali 100% 1 100% 0 3067.88% 3063.77% 4.11 3Fire Branch

Guanmiao 100% 1 100% 0 3065.28% 3063.77% 1.51 5Fire Branch

Yanhang 100% 1 100% 0 3063.77% 3063.77% 0 6Fire Branch


Table 10: The Entire Relative Efficiencies of Each Fire Branch for the First and Second Stages by Conducting MSRAA

No. Fire Branch Original The Efficiency in the The Efficiency in the Efficiency First Stage Second Stage

1 Sinying 1 1 1Fire Branch

2 Liouying 0.9397 1 1Fire Branch

3 Yanshuei 1 1 1Fire Branch

4 Baihe 0.6656 0.7211 0.7379Fire Branch

5 Houbi 0.6333 0.6617 0.6982Fire Branch

6 Dongshan 0.4790 0.5202 0.5431Fire Branch

7 Dongyuan 0.6563 0.6684 0.7361Fire Branch

8 Syuejia 1 0.9866 0.9992Fire Branch

9 Jiangjyun 1 1 1Fire Branch

10 Beimen 0.6839 0.7418 0.7860Fire Branch

11 Jiali 1 1 1Fire Branch

12 Sigang 0.9347 0.9347 0.9662Fire Branch

13 Cigu 0.8176 0.8738 0.9055Fire Branch

14 Madou 0.7367 0.7664 0.8355Fire Branch

15 Siaying 0.8265 0.9267 0.9989Fire Branch

16 Lioujia 0.6677 0.7495 0.8124Fire Branch

17 Guantian 0.9192 1 1Fire Branch

18 Shanhua 0.9756 0.9832 1Fire Branch

19 Danei 0.53 0.53 0.5579Fire Branch

20 Anding 1 1 1Fire Branch

ConclusionsNowadays, performance evaluation is an important topic in the field of managementsciences. This topic is highly valued by administrative organizations and/or business-es because a great performance is always the guarantee of management.20 Perfor-mance evaluations also are important measures for organizations that want to see howthey’ve executed or organized certain goals, and how they’ve stimulated the moraleand the efficiency of the workplace. The aspects of effectiveness, efficiency and pro-ductivity would impact the operation of organizations if resources were not reason-ably allocated. Fortunately, the proposed strategies in this study will help to solve suchdifficult and complicated problems.


No. Fire Branch Original The Efficiency in the The Efficiency in the Efficiency First Stage Second Stage

21 Yujing 0.7565 0.8501 0.9214Fire Branch

22 Nansi 0.5379 0.5379 0.5379Fire Branch

23 Nanhua 0.9466 0.9466 0.9466Fire Branch

24 Sinhua 1 1 1Fire Branch

25 Shansun 0.6021 0.6021 0.6021Fire Branch

26 Gueiren 1 1 1Fire Branch

27 Wunsian 0.9234 1 1Fire Branch

28 Rende 1 1 1Fire Branch

29 Guanmiao 1 1 1Fire Branch

30 Yongkan 1 1 1Fire Branch

31 Sinshih Fire 0.8821 0.9726 1Fire Branch

32 Nanke 1 1 1Fire Branch

33 Dawan 1 1 1Fire Branch

34 Yanhang 1 1 1Fire Branch

35 Fusing 0.6643 0.6643 0.6970Fire Branch

By the investigation of the changes of future output trends in this study, deci-sion makers can quickly determine their resource strategy, ORA or MSRAA. If thefuture estimated output trend is decreasing or steady, the inputs of those relativelyinefficient branches require a proper reduction, but how to accurately and reasonablyadjust those input items and the priority of them have been fully discussed in this arti-cle. The proposed ORA strategy enables decision makers to determine the reductionof resources for each relatively inefficient branch based on the contribution indexesof input items. And, since the future estimated output trend is increasing, resourcesof input items are encouraged to supplement, and accurately and reasonably allocateresources into right branches has to be considered. Indeed, the MSRAA is capable ofreasonably allocating resources. These two resource strategies can help decision mak-ers quickly obtain a referenced guideline for resources allocation on the basis of therelative efficiency for each DMU.

As a matter of fact, a fire branch has the responsibility of public safety, and there-fore its scale of fire resources has to be seriously considered. If the input resourcesof relatively inefficient branches are greatly reduced, the public safety of locality willbe affected. Consequently, the decision maker has to consider the appropriate scaleof fire resources for each fire branch while performing the ORA strategy. Based on theincreasing population of Tainan County, the future fire protection duties will accord-ingly become heavier. Therefore, the proposed MSRAA strategy in this study will playan important role in the allocation of future fire protection resources. Although thisstudy takes the allocation of fire manpower as an example to demonstrate the MSRAAstrategy, the input resources such as the number of fire vehicles (total vehicle dis-placement), the maintenance fees, and the on-duty cost all can be allocated throughthe proposed MSRAA strategy. In sum, this study provides an efficiency-based quanti-tative approach to adjust or allocate fire protection resources, and further establishan executive prototype of the new era to pursue higher efficiency.

Notes1 National Fire Agency Ministry of Interior R.O.C: http://www.nfa.gov.tw.

2 Harry, P.H. (1978). The Status of Productivity Measurement in the Public Sector. Public Adminis-tration Review, 38(1): 28.

3 Fortuin, L. (1988). Performance Indicators-Why, Where and How, European Journal of Opera-tional Research, 34:1-9.

4 Farrell, M.J. (1957). The Measurement of Productivity Efficiency, Journal of the Royal StatisticalSociety, Series A, 120(3): 253-281.

5 Szilagyi, jr. A.D. (1984). Management and Performance, 2nd ed., New Jersey: Scott, Foresmanand Company.

6 Robbins, S.P. (1994). International Management, 4th ed., New York: Prentice-Hall.

7 Clarke, R. L. (1992). Evaluating USAF Vehicle Maintenance Productivity Over Time: An Applica-tion of Data Envelopment Analysis. Decision Science, 23(2): 376-384.

8 Banker, R.D. and Morey, R.C. (1986). Efficiency Analysis for Exogenously Fixed Inputs and Out-puts, Operations Research, 34(4): 513-521.


9 Insurance Service Office. (1980). Fire Suppression Rating Schedule, edition 6-80, P30.

10 Gleason, J.M. and Dariod, T.B. (1982). “Toward Valid Measures of Public Sector Productivity: Per-formance Measures in Urban Transi,” Management Science, 28(4): 237-243.

11 Banker, R.D., Charnes, A. and Cooper, W.W. (1984). Some Models For Estimating Technical andScale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis, Management Science, 30(9): 1078-1092.

12 Charnes, A., Cooper, W.W., and Rhodes, E. (1978). Measuring the efficiency of decision makingunits, European Journal of Operational Research, 2: 429-444.

13 Traut, C.A., Larsen, R., and Feimer, S. (2000). Hanging on or fading out? : Job satisfaction andthe long-term worker, Public Personnel Management, 29(3): 343-351.

14 Schaenman, P.S. (1974). Measuring Fire Protection Productivity in Local Government, Boston:National Fire Protection Association.

15 Coleman, R.J., Granito, J.A., and Hickey, H.E. (1979), Managing Fire Services, InternationalCity/County Management Association, 42- 43.

16 Golan, B. and Roll, Y. (1989). An Application Procedure for DEA, OMEGA, 17(3): 237-250.

17 Kao, C. (2000), Data Envelopment Analysis in Resource Allocation: An Application to ForestManagement. International Journal of Systems Science, 31(9): 1059-1066.

18 Hwang, S.N. and Chang, T.Y. (2003). Using Data Envelopment Analysis to Measure Hotel Man-agerial Efficiency Change in Taiwan, Tourism Management, 24(4): 357-369.

19 Bryan, J.L. (1979). Managing Fire Service, International City Management Association ICMA, p. 363.

20 Thompson, J.R. and LeHew, C. (2000). Skill-based pay as an organizational innovation, Review ofPublic Personnel Administration, 20(1): 20-40.

AuthorsChun-Hsiung Lan

3F, No.221Nanya W. Rd. Sec.2Panchiao 220Taiwan [email protected]

Liang-Lun Chuang

Tainan County Fire BureauTainan County, 730Taiwan [email protected]

Chi-Chung Chang

Nanhua UniversityDalin, Chiayi 622Taiwan [email protected]


Chun-Hsiung Lan is a professor and a chairman of the Graduate Institute of Manage-ment Sciences at Nanhua University in Taiwan. He earned his Ph.D. at Tamkang Universi-ty’s Department of Management Sciences in Taiwan. His research interests are in the fieldsof efficiency management, resource strategy, operations research, calculus of variationsand soft computing. He has published many international journal papers regarding theaforementioned fields of study.

Liang-Lun Chuang is the director of the Tainan County Fire Bureau’s Emergency andRescue Command Center, located in Taiwan, and a Ph.D. student at the Graduate Instituteof Management Sciences at Nanhua University, Taiwan. He received his bachelor’s degreefrom the Department of Fire Sciences at Central Police University, Taiwan in 1990, andcompleted his master’s degree at Nanhua University (Taiwan) in 2004. His research inter-ests lie in the fields of efficiency management and forest fire rescue.

Chi-Chung Chang is a manager of Quick Service Restaurant in Taiwan and a Ph.D. stu-dent at the Graduate Institute of Management Sciences at Nanhua University, Taiwan. Hereceived his bachelor’s degree from the National Taiwan University of Sciences and Tech-nology, Taiwan, in 1984, and completed his master’s degree at Nanhua University (Taiwan)in 2004. His research interests lie in the fields of efficiency management and operationsresearch.


Organizational Trust,Trust in the ChiefExecutive and WorkSatisfactionBy Ronald W. Perry, Ph.D. and Lawrence D. Mankin, Ph.D.

This article examines the interrelationships among employee trust in the chiefexecutive of the organization, trust in the organization and work satisfaction.These three concepts capture the essential experience of the employee’s work life,but their interrelationships have been more often a subject for speculation than forresearch. Employees in one government organization and one manufacturing firmoffered their visions of critical features in managerial trust and organizationaltrust. With respect to defining chief executive trust, employees emphasized themanager’s employee orientation, honesty, ability, fairness and forthrightness.Critical features that employees used to define organizational trust included thesocial significance of organizational mission, quality of output, and theorganization’s persistence beyond the human lifespan. Trust in the chief executiveand organizational trust were found to be uncorrelated with one another, asexpected from the conceptual review. Instead, these variables were conceptuallylinked through their individual relationships with employee work satisfaction.

IntroductionEspecially in the past decade, employees have begun to change their view of theorganizations in which they work, with traditional employee-organization bondsbecoming weaker.1 The private sector has seen the collapse of several largecorporations, sometimes with managers realizing huge personal profit whileemployees lost their pensions. Public organizations lack comparable scandals, althoughthe Orange County, California financial collapse is memorable. Downsizing, privatizingand contracting out practices generated by economic pressures have eroded what isusually seen as a strong identification of employees with the governments for whomthey work.2 Interestingly, governments have continued to outsource, and a recentreport by Segal, Moore and Blair3 argues that outsourcing is an important trend andadvocates the outsourcing of human resources functions. At the same time, Nyhan4

argues that the future of public organizations rests in the creation of trust inmanagement and the organization as a means of positively influencing not only qualityof work life but efficiency and effectiveness of performance. Aon Consulting5 studiedthe U.S. workforce and, like Nyhan, found that “building commitment must be astrategic goal emanating from senior leadership.” Their premise was that employees


who trust their managers and organizations are freer to innovate, energize andproduce.

The traditional wisdom is that government employees enter public service atleast partly from a desire to serve and ameliorate societal challenges.6 Indeed, recentresearch by Peter D. Hart Associates7 confirms that 62 percent of a national sample ofyoung adults cited helping people as the “most appealing feature of a job in govern-ment service.” An important issue is whether declines in managerial and organization-al trust will displace the “helping people” motivation for seeking government work,thereby contributing to a shrinking pool of potential employees. Without an empiri-cally accurate view of the interrelationships among executive trust, organizationaltrust and work satisfaction, matters of strategic planning and management becomeextremely difficult and even haphazard.

The relationships among trust in the chief executive, trust in the organizationand employee work satisfaction represent three critical employee perspectives: theirviews of the top executive, their organization and their job.8 The recent literaturedemonstrates that employees can have different levels of trust in different levels ofmanagement, even within the same organization.9 While the patterns of these differ-ences vary, the chief executive is the manager who influences (or sometimes sets)organizational norms and rules.10 Thus, when examining trust in the organization, acritical trust relationship to understand centers upon the chief executive. Finally,employee work satisfaction is often cited as being influenced by people’s view of theorganization and management.11 It is also important to understand the relationshipsamong managerial trust, organizational trust and work satisfaction because these fac-tors often shape organizational development and change strategies,12 productivity13

and organizational culture.14

Luhmann15 was the first researcher to demonstrate that a meaningful differenceexisted between trust in management and trust in the organization: “trust occurs with-in a framework of interaction which is influenced by both personality and social sys-tem, and cannot be exclusively associated with either.” Furthermore, Luhmann16 sawsystem trust as latent and extending beyond the day-to-day experiences that shapeinterpersonal trust. Thus, it is assumed that an employee’s trust (and other psycho-logical attachments) is different when the trust object is management versus whenthe object is the organization. There might be some correlation if employee imagesof the organization are based partially on the decisions and actions of executive man-agement.17 However, images of the organization also depend upon factors such as theperceived societal value of the organization’s production, the perception of the desir-ability of the mission, and the perception of the way the organization (through normsand past practices) has dealt with its employees. Hence, measurements of trust in theorganization and trust in management should—particularly in Luhmann’s terms—capture different aspects of the employee experience of each trust object.


Measuring Trust and SatisfactionThe focus for measuring organizational trust is on the way that the individual viewsthe organization, rather than exclusively on the bond of the individual with the organ-ization. Historically, commitment has been conceptualized as a bond between the indi-vidual and career advancement, the job or task at hand and personal relationshipswith coworkers, the supervisor, the work station or position advancement within theemploying organization.18 Thus, the literature distinguishes among affective commit-ment (attraction to goals and values), continuance commitment (fear of costs of leav-ing) and normative commitment (peer pressure to stay). Commitment may bedefined as different from organizational trust. This view implies that trust capturesattractive features in the organizational tradition and mission versus commitment,which focuses upon attachment (for different reasons). Clearly, however, this visionof organization trust overlaps the conceptualization of affective organizational com-mitment presented in the literature.

Luhmann’s work emphasizes that organizational trust is in respect to the sys-temic aspects of the organization, captured by such things as acceptance of organiza-tional goals and values and a strong desire to associate with the organization. Similarly,Greenberg19 sees affective commitment (which equates with systemic trust) as the“strength of people’s desires to continue working for an organization because theyagree with its underlying goals and values.” Robbins20 argues that such attachmentarises because the individual enhances his or her self image by associating with anorganization that has established and visible values that are respectable or desirable.While organizational trust (like managerial trust) is largely subjective, the measurabledimensions of the concept rest upon the choice to associate, motivated by positivelyperceived characteristics of the organization.21 To measure this vision of organization-al trust, a single Likert scale item was used: “I stay with this organization because Irespect the goals and values it represents.” A standard Likert five-point response for-mat (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree) was used for record-ing agreement and coded such that high numeric values meant high levels of trust.

Most definitions of managerial trust center on the actions of a manager towardan employee who is relatively vulnerable; the notion is that the manager’s actions willbe beneficial rather than harmful. Gilbert & Tang22 view trust as the confidence andsupport an employee has for an employer. Similarly, Robinson23 defines trust asembodied in “one’s expectations, assumptions or beliefs about the likelihood thatanother’s [the manager’s] future actions will be beneficial, favorable, or at least notdetrimental to one’s interests.” A modified version of Robinson’s trust scale, also usedby Courtney,24 was adopted here. The measure of managerial trust specifically focus-es on the employee’s level of trust in the chief executive of the organization. Usingthe top executive as the measurement objective eliminates any ambiguity in theemployee’s mind regarding which manager was the target of the trust measure. Trustin the chief executive was measured as a seven-item Likert scale, addressing employ-ee perceptions of the top executive’s integrity, motives, intentions and fairness.25 Astandard five-point response format was used and scored such that higher numeric


values mean higher levels of managerial trust. This scale was pre-tested for reliabilityon an availability sample of 22 public sector employees. The test-retest reliability coef-ficient was 0.88; this exceeds the level of 0.80 set for reliable scales by Edwards.26

Finally, work satisfaction has been linked to both managerial trust and organiza-tional trust.27 Gilbert and Tang28 suggested that individuals who are satisfied with theirwork are more likely to trust management and the organization. In their research,work group cohesion was used as an indicator for work satisfaction and was not foundto be related to a global measure of organizational trust. Other researchers,29 howev-er, have reported a positive relationship between work satisfaction and organization-al trust and commitment. The reasoning underlying a possible relationship betweenwork satisfaction and managerial and organizational trust is equivocal. That is, if themeasure of work satisfaction focuses upon the current job in the current organiza-tion, it is more likely that a stronger correlation will exist with both types of trust. Thelink in this case is the inextricable tie between a given job, the features of the organ-ization and the behavior of management. On the other hand, if the measure of worksatisfaction is linked more to a particular occupational or profession field independ-ently rather than to a job in a particular organization, then the link between satisfac-tion and managerial trust is less direct. In taking this view, work satisfaction is asubjective state that one develops over time across multiple particular employmentopportunities. Thus, satisfaction with one’s work is shaped not only by characteristicsof various jobs but also—and possibly more importantly—by the individual’s assess-ment of the work in terms of inherent personal rewards obtained and the value placedon that work by the larger society. To the extent that work satisfaction is defined out-side the context of a particular job, one would not necessarily expect that it wouldaffect managerial trust (although where managerial values conflict with professionalor occupational values, there should be a negative relationship between work satis-faction and managerial trust). Measured this way, work satisfaction will not be corre-lated with managerial or organizational trust.

To capture this conceptualization, a measure of work satisfaction was adoptedfrom Spector,30 who developed a multidimensional scale for measuring work satisfac-tion among service workers. The adopted measure includes items that address con-tingent rewards (“I do not feel the work I do is appreciated”), value of coworkerrelationships (“I like the people I work with”) and the nature of the work (“I feel asense of pride in doing my job”). These three dimensions balance organization-spe-cific concerns (coworker relationships) with broader questions of the work itself. Thismeasure of work satisfaction forms a 12-statement Likert scale, using the acceptedfive-point (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree) response for-mat. The scale was scored such that the higher values represent higher levels of worksatisfaction. The test-retest reliability for this scale was 0.81—above the minimumvalue required for a reliable scale.


Data CollectionIt is expected that work satisfaction, organizational trust and trust in the top execu-tive may not be necessarily correlated with one another. Instead, these variables oper-ate independently and must be interpreted in the context of a particular organization.Thus, high levels of trust in the top executive are probably associated with higher lev-els of organizational trust and work satisfaction, producing a positive correlationamong the three. Similarly, low levels of trust in the top executive are probably cor-related with low levels of organizational trust, but not necessarily with work satisfac-tion. To examine these contentions, it was necessary to locate organizations wheretrust was likely to be high and low. Since this would be unlikely in the same organi-zation, two organizations were studied based on informant interviews to identify onewith high levels of trust and one with lower levels of trust. The organizations studiedwere a fire department (with high levels of trust) and a private manufacturing firm(with low levels of trust). While these organizations come from the public and privatesectors, they were not chosen to represent their particular sectors and conclusionsshould not be drawn about relative trust in either sector. Indeed, it would be inap-propriate to draw comparisons between public and private sectors when only onetype of organization from each sector was studied. Instead, the concern is with thetheoretically predicted relationships among executive trust, organizational trust andwork satisfaction.

The municipal fire department is located in a metropolitan western city with apopulation of more than one million citizens. This organization is more than 100 yearsold, with more than 1,000 sworn career personnel. The department has remarkablystable management, with the current fire chief in place for more than 20 years. Boththe department and the top executive are widely recognized for professional expert-ise and participation in national and international initiatives and training. There is astrong union, which has particularly positive relations with management of the depart-ment and the city. A probability sample of 100 firefighters (no supervisors or man-agers) was drawn from the department roster of personnel.31 Each of the selectedfirefighters was mailed a short questionnaire, which included the scale items andquestions described above. After three follow-up contacts, 88 firefighters (88%) com-pleted and returned the questionnaire. The fire department sample included 70whites (79.5%), three African Americans (3.4%) and 15 Hispanics (17%). Seventy-onemales (80.7%) and 17 females (19.3%) appeared in the sample.

The manufacturing firm is located in the same city. This firm is a subsidiary of alarger national company that produces electronics parts and equipment. The localfirm employs approximately 950 people. Like all business concerns in the recent past,this company has experienced an economic downturn. Consequently, significantdownsizing and several reorganizations have taken place in the past 24 months, reduc-ing the total workforce by approximately one-fourth. A probability sample of 100 pro-duction (non-supervisory) employees was drawn and mailed the same questionnaireused for the fire services organization.32 After three followup mailings, 71 employees(71%) completed and returned the questionnaire. In the manufacturing sample, 47


employees were white (66.2%), three were African American (4.2%) and 21 were His-panic (29.6%). Sixty-three of the employees were male (88.7%), while eight (11.3%)were female. The return rates in each organization are well above the minimum of 60percent that is recommended for the meaningful analysis of sample survey data.33

ResultsAs anticipated, the employees from the two organizations differed radically in theirlevels of work satisfaction, trust in the chief executive and organizational trust. Table1 shows the summary statistics for each of these variables. Employees of the firedepartment showed a mean work satisfaction scale score of 4.6. This is a very highmean, since the upper limit of the scale was 5.0. Average work satisfaction was lowerin the manufacturing organization, probably owing to the fact that the scale tappedrelationships with coworkers and contingent rewards, both of which are apt to sufferin a stressful work environment characterized by layoffs and reorganizations. Themean work satisfaction scale score for these employees was 3.5, only slightly abovethe midpoint of the scale.

The contrast between the two organizations is highlighted when looking at trustin the chief executive of the organization. In the fire department, levels of trust arevery high; the mean scale score for trust in the chief executive was 4.7, nearly reach-ing the upper limit (5.0) of the scale. The lowest trust rating was 4.3 and the highestwas 4.9, placing all of the ratings in the highest 25 percent of the scale. The manufac-turing employee’s levels of trust in their chief executive are virtually the opposite. Themean trust scale score was 1.7—close to the lowest possible rating. The lowest ratingwas 1.2 and the highest was 2.6, placing the range of managerial trust in the lowest50 percent of the scale.

Given these pronounced differences, it is of substantive interest to know whatemployees believed to be important in determining trust in the chief executive. Todocument this, an open-ended question was used: “what is the single most importantfactor in trusting a chief executive?” Table 2 shows the results for the 49 fire depart-ment employees and 38 manufacturing employees who answered this question.


Table 1: Descriptive Statistics

Fire Department Manufacturing Firm

Work Executive Org. Work Executive Org.Satisfaction Trust Trust Satisfaction Trust Trust

Mean Score 4.6 4.7 4.3 3.5 1.7 1.6

Standard deviation .45 .14 .77 .46 .35 .61

Lowest rating 4.2 4.3 3.0 2.5 1.2 1.0

Highest rating 4.9 4.9 5.0 4.3 2.6 2.0

Answers were coded into five categories: ability, fairness, employee oriented, honestyand forthrightness. Clearly the employee’s written comments reflected their percep-tions of their experience in the respective organizations. Nearly two-thirds of the fire-fighters (63.8 percent) reported that the extent to which the chief executive wasemployee oriented was a critical feature of trust. Specific comments grouped into thiscategory included: “employee oriented,” “looks out for the troops,” “thinks of us nothimself,” and “covers the firefighters.” The second largest percent of firefighters (15.5percent) cited the chief executive’s ability as a critical feature in trust. Commentsassigned to this category included references to professional skill (“must know thejob”) as well as managerial skill (“has to keep the outfit going”). Interestingly, none ofthe manufacturing employee’s comments reflected either of these categories.

More than half of the manufacturing employees (57.9 percent) felt that honestywas the prime trait for executive trust. Comments collected in this category included:“must be truthful,” “honest,” “share the real information” and “tell things straight.” Itappears that credibility became an issue, as statements that provided assurances thatfurther layoffs would not be necessary proved wrong. Foresight was weak and effortsto build confidence in the remaining workforce unintentionally undermined the per-ceived honesty of the CEO. Only 5.2 percent of the fire department employees men-tioned honesty as a most important feature of executive trust, possibly not becausethe issue was less important to them, but because they perceived that the CEO wouldsimply not lie under “credibly imaginable circumstances.” The next largest percentage(28.9 percent) of manufacturing employees selected “fairness” as a critical factor inmanagerial trust. “Fairness” was also mentioned by 10.3 percent of the firefighters.The remaining manufacturing employees (13.2 percent) chose “forthright” as themost important factor in managerial trust. This feature was also mentioned by 5.2 per-cent of the firefighters. The differences in employee definitions of what is requiredfor trust reflect Luhmann’s contention regarding the way in which images overlap.That is, employee orientation, honesty, fairness and forthrightness are perceived byemployees in the fire department as part of the CEO’s character and approach toemployees, and these traits are defined as positives by the firefighters. In the manu-


Table 2: Single Most Important Factor in Executive Trust


Number Percent Number Percent

Ability 9 15.5 0 0.0

Fairness 6 10.3 11 28.9

Employee 37 63.8 0 0.0Oriented

Honesty 3 5.2 22 57.9

Forthrightness 3 5.2 5 13.2

facturing firm, fairness and forthrightness are perceived as lacking and therefore theirmention constitutes a different way of registering concerns about their CEO’s behavior.

Two important observations may be made about the selections of most impor-tant features in trusting a chief executive. First, the issues cited as important reflectthe conditions within each organization. The manufacturing employees were facedwith great uncertainty linked to large layoffs and frequent managerial changes. In thisenvironment, one would expect to see employees placing high value on the honesty,fairness and forthrightness of top executives. Conversely, the fire department is a verystable environment characterized by high levels of concern for employees, high visi-bility of the CEO, frequent communication and a team spirit. In this environment onewould expect employees to value employee orientation and ability in their managers.As firefighters often directly place their lives in the hands of their managers, particu-larly the chief executive, it is clear that technical ability would play a role in levels oftrust. Finally, the subjective dimensions mentioned by employees in both organiza-tions are consistent with those cited in the research literature as features of manage-rial trust. This provides qualitative support for the assumptions required inquantitative measures of trust.

Organizational trust is also high among fire department employees. The meanrating on the scale was 4.3, very close to the highest trust rating of 5.0. Among man-ufacturing employees, the average organizational trust score was 1.6, approaching thebottom of the scale. These ratings required some qualitative elaboration because it isimportant to determine if the difference is between public versus private sector orsomething more fundamentally related to employee values. The employees wereasked in an open-ended question to report the most important factor affecting theirjudgment of organizational trust. Table 3 shows the comments given by 62 firefight-ers and 32 manufacturing employees.

In writing comments, the majority of the manufacturing employees did not actu-ally describe what they thought was important in organizational trust. Instead, theyseemed to take issue with the idea that an organization was an entity to which onecould ascribe trust. Thus, 62.5 percent of these employees made comments that sug-


Table 3: Single Most Important Factor in Organizational Trust


Number Percent Number Percent

Organization not an entity 0 0.0 20 62.5

Organization not employee oriented 0 0.0 7 21.9

Organization longer lived than people 15 24.2 2 6.3

Social significance of mission 39 62.9 0 0.0

Quality of organization output 8 12.9 3 9.4

gested that “organizations are not an entity.” Comments grouped into this categoryincluded: “It’s the bosses that make the organization,” “the organization isn’t any-thing,” “promises from the ‘organization’ last as long as the bosses that make them,”“can’t trust something that isn’t real” and “what the organization is depends on whois in charge.” Complicating matters for the manufacturing firm was that its divisionsdid not perceive themselves as tied together and even in some cases saw themselvesas rivals within an organization that provided them with a common name. Another21.9 percent of the manufacturing employees appeared to feel that the interest ofemployees was completely different from the interest of the organization. It is chal-lenging to interpret some of these comments, but they were grouped togetherbecause each carried the theme that the organization was an entity that served some-one else. Specific comments included: “the organization exists to give bonuses to thebosses,” “only place I see the organization is on my [business] card,” “when you getlaid off, personnel says the organization did it” and “when I do something good, theboss says the organization did it.” About 10 percent of the manufacturing respondentsbelieved that the quality of the product or service embodied what they thought of asthe organization; “we do cutting-edge technology here” or “our stuff goes into thebest technology.” The remaining 6.3 percent of the employees felt that the organiza-tion represented the structure that lives beyond current personnel.

The concept of the organization appeared to be much more real among the firedepartment employees. The majority of these employees (62.9 percent) associatedthe organization with the social significance of its mission. Typical comments includ-ed: “we give good medical care to people without money or insurance or anythingelse;” “you can’t buy a personal [insurance] policy for what we do;” “the fire depart-ment cares, we don’t ask questions;” “no matter what trouble your [sic] in, we get youout;” and “pretty much in 4 minutes [response time] we solve your problems.” Near-ly one-quarter of the firefighters saw the organization as the tradition that outlastedindividuals. This category included comments such as “my dad and uncle retired fromhere;” “the fire department will last as long as the city;” and “the department is thelegacy of the members.” The remaining 12.9 percent of the firefighters saw the organ-ization as embodied in the quality of the services rendered. Comments in this cate-gory included: “we all do superior work and that makes this a superior organization;”“when we go out [on call] you know you get the best;” and “the department givesconstant training to insure our customers get real quality.”

In retrospect, these comments fit Luhmann’s34 vision of “system trust” very well.He argues that the system is seen as greater than the individuals who compose it andtranscends the everyday interactions to capture the tradition of activity over time. Thecomments of the firefighters in particular paint a picture of the organization as thecollective representation of the membership over time. The significance of the mis-sion as embodied in the organization was also important to these employees. Bothfirefighters and manufacturing employees cited the quality of output and the greaterlongevity of the organization (over employees) as important parts of judging organi-zational trust. It is not possible to tell based on these data whether the apparent alien-ation of the manufacturing employees about the unreality of the organization or the


independence of organization and employees is prevalent or circumstantial. Certain-ly Perry and Wise35 would interpret the data as reflecting a greater level of commit-ment to the organization on the part of public sector employees. On the other hand,the circumstances of the manufacturing employees studied here—frequent layoffs,management uncertainty, layoffs followed by bonuses for employees who were left—would tend to reinforce the notion that the organization is independent of theemployees. An additional consideration is that the two organizations were operatingunder different sets of economic conditions. Methodologically sound inferences mustawait a study of multiple private and public sector employees under varying econom-ic conditions.

Finally, the relationships among chief executive trust, organizational trust andwork satisfaction were examined. Luhmann predicted that managerial trust and orga-nizational trust are attributions made on different criteria, and should not necessari-ly be related to one another. He does allow that an employee’s “image” ofmanagement and “image” of the organization may overlap in that a very positive ornegative image of one may influence the vision of the other. Other researchers haveeither not directly examined this relationship36 or speculated that trust in manage-ment and the organization may be either high or low, but will always be consistent.37

Table 4 shows the Pearson’s correlation among trust in the chief executive, organiza-tional trust and work satisfaction for firefighters and manufacturing employees. Therelationship between executive trust and organizational trust in both organizationsshow low magnitude (not statistically significant) coefficients that approach zero.

In the fire department, trust in the CEO and the organization were high, but thetwo scales do not correlate, reinforcing the conclusion that each variable is vieweddifferently by employees. Conversely, the employees of the manufacturing firm havemuch less trust in the CEO and the organization, but again, the two assessments arestatistically independent of one another. This outcome strongly supports Luhmann’scontention that the bases for judging the trustworthiness of the CEO and the organ-ization are different, drawing upon distinct characteristics of each.

Work satisfaction was expected to be unrelated to an employee’s trust in the CEOand trust in the organization. If work satisfaction is measured as the employees affect


Table 4: Correlation* Among Managerial Trust, Organizational Trustand Work Satisfaction

Paired Measures Fire Department Manufacturing Firm

Managerial trust with organizational trust -.07 -.08

Managerial trust with work satisfaction .05 -.22**

Organizational trust with work satisfaction .24** .14

*Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient squared.**statistically significant, p< .05.

for the job or profession—the nature of the work, contingent rewards and coworkerrelationships—it should not depend on perceptions of the CEO or the organization.This prediction was not supported in this study. The correlation between CEO trustand work satisfaction among firefighters was low and not statistically significant. Forthese employees, work satisfaction and CEO trust were simply different issues,although employees were high on each dimension separately. However, among man-ufacturing firm employees, there was a moderately strong negative, statistically signif-icant relationship. For these employees, high work satisfaction was coupled with lowlevels of trust in the CEO. Most of these employees placed low trust in the executive,while work satisfaction scores averaged higher at the midpoint of the scale. It is pos-sible that higher work satisfaction employees were more externally oriented to theprofession and looked outside the organization at management elsewhere. If suchcomparisons identified employees in the same profession with apparently more trust-worthy management, the comparison may reinforce an already low level of trust intheir own CEO.

Among firefighters, trust in the organization was positively and statistically sig-nificantly correlated with work satisfaction. Fire department employees showed veryhigh levels of trust in the organization. It is possible that under such circumstances,the firefighters did not completely separate (in the abstract) their view of their jobfrom their view of the organization. This particular fire department is unique in atleast two ways. The chief executive, partly because of his longevity in office, is close-ly identified with the organization and it is known that he personally implementedmany of the work environment features that employees consider desirable (particu-larly those related to contingent rewards). In an organization where the chief execu-tive is not so closely identified with positive features of the job or profession, it ispossible that work satisfaction would not be highly correlated with trust in the organ-ization. Indeed, among manufacturing employees, the relationship between work sat-isfaction and organizational trust is much lower and not statistically significant. Itappears that these employees view their job or profession in terms largely unaffectedby the organization. This would be consistent with the notion that in the manufactur-ing firm employees found solace in the profession, which provides a rationale forgoing to work everyday when the organization itself, as well as the management, isdisappointing.

ConclusionsSeveral patterns in the definition of and relationships among managerial trust, orga-nizational trust and work satisfaction have been identified that are both of conceptu-al interest and have implications for practice. The employees studied used fiveprimary criteria to assess trustworthiness of the chief executive: degree of employeeorientation, technical ability, fairness, honesty and forthrightness. In the governmentorganization, where managerial trust was high, employees emphasized employee ori-entation, ability and fairness as features of a manager deserving of trust. In the privatesector organization, where executive trust was low, honesty and forthrightness dom-


inated the criteria used for determining managerial trustworthiness. These findingsare consistent with Nyhan’s38 research on strategies for enhancing trust. On an appliedlevel, it reinforces the messages long given to managers that style features (fairness,honesty, forthrightness) and personal values (employee orientation) and technicalskill have an impact on the level of trust invested in the chief executive by employ-ees.

The greatest proportion of government employees felt that organizations are wor-thy of trust because of the social significance of their mission. This finding reflects theview that government employees tend to have a service orientation and respect organ-izations in terms of the perceptions of the “social significance” of the service providedfor the public. Government employees also believed that organizations worthy of trustare those that have a life beyond the life of employees “embodying a tradition of serv-ice.” In sharp contrast, private sector employees tended to question whether it was rea-sonable or possible to “trust” an organization. While some of this may be situational tothe manufacturing employees studied here, it appears to reflect the broader conditionsin the private sector. The picture is one where employees and managers sell their skillsand both of whom exercise their skills in an environment called an organization. Bothmanagers and employees persist in the organization or leave it contingent upon exter-nal economic conditions or individual opportunity. With such a worldview, it would notbe rational to view the organization as an object of trust. Alternatively, one couldacknowledge that the “organizations’ interest” would be to simply obtain the servicesof employees and managers at the lowest cost for the highest productivity and conse-quently this interest would be independent of or at least indifferent to the interest ofemployees.

Nachmias39 has pointed out that trust features become increasingly more abstractwith trust in the organization being the most abstract referent. Mishra40 argues that trustat this abstract level is a culmination of employee experience—with representatives ofthe organization—leading to judgments about whether organizations can be viewed asdependable, predictable and not exploitive. This view is not supported in these data,where managerial trust and organizational trust were not highly correlated in eitherorganization studied. While abstract, as Nachmias pointed out, the government employ-ees tended to have no difficulty assessing these features. Furthermore, this finding rein-forces the notion that at least in the public sector, the mission of the organization (andprobably the way it is articulated) is important in shaping employee trust in the organ-ization.

Thus, for managers—particular in the public sector—employee trust in the chiefexecutive can be independent of trust in the organization. From the standpoint of exec-utive managers, both visions need to be cultivated separately. Just focusing on improv-ing managerial trust will not necessarily produce trust in the organization. Similarly,respect for and investment in the mission and sustainability of the organization will notnecessarily translate into trust in the management. This appears to be a case where “lev-els of analysis” are important; issues associated with the individual level do not neces-sarily affect issues at the organizational level. Interestingly, a link between organizationaltrust and executive trust seems to lie in employee work satisfaction. It appears to be


possible to be happy in one’s job when managerial trust is low, but intuitively work sat-isfaction can only reach the highest levels when managerial trust itself is high. Similar-ly, organizational trust is positively related to work satisfaction, but in the organizationwith high levels of organizational trust, work satisfaction tended to be higher than inthe lower trust organization. Ultimately, while the calculus linking managerial trust, orga-nizational trust and work satisfaction is complex and bears further study, it is clear thatthe three issues are related and that each has consequences for the others.

Notes1 Wilson, P.A. (1999). A Theory of Power And Politics and Their Effects on Organizational

Commitment of Senior Executive Service Members, Administration and Society, 31, 120-141.

2 Brockner, J. (1992). Managing the Effects of Layoffs on Survivors, California ManagementReview, 34, 9-28.

3 Segal, G.F., Moore, A.T. & Blair, J.P. (2003). Getting the Right People for the Right Job: SolvingHuman Capital Challenges with Competitive Outsourcing. Policy Study 312, Los Angeles: TheBuckeye Institute.

4 Nyhan, R. (2000). Changing the Paradigm: Trust and its Role in Public Sector Organizations,American Review of Public Administration, 30, 87-109.

5 Aon Consulting (2004). United States at Work: Eight Edition. Chicago: Aon Consulting, p. 3.

6 Crewson, P.E. (1997). Public Service Motivation in the U.S., Journal of Public AdministrationResearch and Theory, 7, 499-518.

7 Peter D. Hart Associates (2004). Calling Young People to Government Service. Washington, DC:Peter D. Hart Associates, p. 2.

8 Stevenson, W.J. (2002). Operations Management. New York: McGraw-Hill.

9 Perry, R.W. & Mankin, L.M. (2004). Understanding Employee Trust in Management, PublicPersonnel Management, 33, 277-290.

10 Nyhan, R. (1999). Increasing Affective Organizational Commitment in Public Organizations,Review of Public Personnel Administration, 19, 58-70.

11 Podsakoff, P., MacKenzie, S. & Bommer, W. (1996). Transformational Leader Behaviors andSubstitutes for Leadership as Determinants of Employee Satisfaction, Commitment, Trust, andOrganizational Citizenship Behaviors, Journal of Management, 22, 259-298.

12 Greenberg, J. (1999). Managing Behavior in Organizations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

13 Diffe-Couch, P. (1984). Building a Feeling of Trust in the Company, Supervisory Management,April, 31-36.

14 Cangemi, J., Rice, J. & Kowalski, C. (1989). The Development, Decline and Renewal of Trust inan Organization, Organization Development Journal, 7, 2-9.

15 Luhmann, N. (1979) Trust and Power. New York: Wiley, p. 6.

16 Ibid, p. 58.

17 James, T. & Tang, T. (1996). Downsizing and the impact on survivors, Employee RelationsToday, 23, 33-41.

18 Mueller, W., Wallace, J. & Price, J. (1992). Employee Commitment, Work and Occupations, 19,211-236.


19 Greenberg, J. op. cit., p. 87.

20 Robbins, S. (1997). Essentials of Organizational Behavior. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

21 Meyer, J. & Allen, N. (1991). A Three-component Conceptualization of OrganizationalCommitment, Human Resource Management Review, 1, 61-89.

22 Gilbert, J. & Tang, T. (1998). An Examination of Organizational Trust Antecedents, PublicPersonnel Management, 27, 321-338.

23 Robinson, S. (1996). Trust and Breach of the Psychological Contract, Administrative ScienceQuarterly, 41, 574-599, p. 576.

24 Courtney, S. (1998). The Impact of Trust on Employee Perceptions of Organizational andLeader Effectiveness. Tempe, AZ: School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University.

25 The scale items were: The chief executive has high professional integrity; The chief executive iscommitted to my growth as a professional; The chief executive’s motives and intentions relativeto me are always good; The chief executive is fair in rewarding and recognizing all employees;The chief executive encourages me to pursue advancement in the organization; The chiefexecutive demands fairness in hiring and promotion decisions; The chief executive insures thatall employees have an opportunity to succeed.

26 Edwards, A. (1957). Techniques of Attitude Scale Construction. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

27 Liou, K.T. & Nyhan, R. (1994). Dimensions of Organizational Commitment in PublicOrganizations, Public Administration Quarterly, 18, 99-118.

28 Gilbert, J. & Tang, T., op. cit.

29 Bateman, T.S. & Strasser, S. (1984). A Longitudinal Analysis of the Antecedents of OrganizationalCommitment, Academy of Management Journal, 27, 95-112.

30 Spector, P. (1985). Measurement of Human Service Staff Satisfaction, American Journal ofCommunity Psychology, 13, 693-713.

31 The department roster is available in electronic format on Microsoft Access. A query was madeto isolate all nonsupervisory field-assigned, sworn personnel. From this sub-roster, theMicrosoft Access sampling function was used to produce a simple random sample withoutreplacement of size 100 from the personnel on the queried list.

32 A listing of non-supervisory production employees was obtained from the organization inelectronic form on Microsoft Access. From this roster, the Microsoft Access sampling functionwas used to obtain a simple random sample without replacement of size 100 of the productionemployees.

33 Babbie, E. (2001). The Basics of Social Research. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

34 Luhmann, op. cit., p. 58.

35 Perry, J. & Wise, L. (1990). The Motivational Bases of Public Service, Public AdministrationReview, 50, 367-373.

36 Kouzes, J.M. & Posner, B. (1993). Credibility. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

37 Butler, J.K. (1991). Toward Understanding and Measuring Conditions of Trust, Journal ofManagement, 17, 643-663.

38 Nyhan, R., (1999) op. cit.

39 Nachmias, D. (1985). Determinants of Trust within the Federal Bureaucracy, pp. 133-143 inRosenbloom (Ed.), Public Personnel Policy. Port Washington, NY: Associated Faculty Press.


40 Mishra, A. (1996). Organizational responses to crisis: The centrality of trust, pp. 261-287 inKramer, R. & Tyler, T. (Eds.), Trust in Organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

AuthorsRonald W. Perry, Ph.D.

School of Public AffairsArizona State UniversityTempe, AZ 85287-0603(480) [email protected]

Lawrence D. Mankin, Ph.D.

School of Public AffairsArizona State UniversityTempe, AZ 85287-0603(480) [email protected]

Ronald W. Perry is professor of public affairs at Arizona State University. His primaryinterest areas are public management and emergency management and planning. He isthe former director of the ASU Doctor of Public Administration degree program and is cur-rently interested in government emergency preparedness for terrorist attacks.

Lawrence D. Mankin is Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs at Arizona State University.He served as assistant dean of the ASU Graduate College and also served as special assis-tant to the president for the past three ASU Presidents. His primary interests are public per-sonnel management, public management and arts policy.


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IPMA-HR's quarterly journal focusing on trends, case studies, and the latest research by top human resource scholars and industry experts.


Volume 36 No. 2 Summer 2007

Public Personnel Management is published specifically forhuman resource executives andmanagers in the public sector.Each quarterly edition containsin-depth articles on trends, casestudies, and the latest researchby top human resource scholarsand industry experts.

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Public

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IPM

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36N

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n Performance Management for Public Personnel: Multi-Analysis Approach Toward Personnel

n Federal Employees with Disabilities with Regards to Occupation, Race, and Gender

n Transforming Higher-level Civil Service in a New Age: A Case Study of a New Senior Civil Service in Korea

n An Efficiency-Based Approach on Human Resource Management: A Case Study of Tainan County Fire Branches in Taiwan

n Organizational Trust, Trust in the Chief Executive and Work Satisfaction

PublicPersonnelManagementIPMA-HR's quarterly journal focusing on trends, case studies, and the latestresearch by top human resource scholars and industry experts.

Volume 36 No. 2 Summer 2007 Pu is published specifically ...

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