Employee Rights
What did Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes have to say about the right to speech of government employees in 1892?
“A policeman may have the constitutional right to talk politics, but he has no constitutional right to be a policeman.” (i.e., no constitutional right to free speech for government employees at the time.)
What are the three personnel strategies or selection mechanisms for public administrators?
1. Elections
2. Appointment
3. Rule-based selection systems (these rule based systems can be, but are not always, merit based systems)
What is an HRM menu?
The HRM menu approach, relative to the one-size-fits-all approach, acknowledges that contexts and the motivational needs of employees vary tremendously.
As a result, the HRM is a list of techniques or strategies that are designed to motivate and engage employees. No single item will work every time, but some combination of items should be helpful for most if not all employees.
In simple terms what does Vroom's expectancy theory state?
Employees act in ways that they feel will be
rewarded or produce desirable outcomes
What change to the civil service system did president Andrew Jackson make?
Jackson, a populist, introduced the spoils system where those who supported his political campaign were often rewarded with government jobs irregardless of competence. This was also supposed to give more representation to the white male working class in the federal government.
What are two specific limits on religious expression in the workplace?
1. Religious practices cannot be unduly disruptive
2. Religious practices cannot be coercive (i.e., force others to join)
What is a merit system?
According to Kellough (p.174) merit systems 1) Selection on open and competitive examinations 2) Political Neutrality 3) Relative Security of Tenure (i.e., terminations must be job, not politically, related)
Is the practice of HRM confined to Human resource departments?
No
Why can an over reliance on extrinsic rewards become problematic?
1. The psychological positive effects dissipate quickly
2. Nonprofits and governments have very limited capacity for these rewards
3. Can crowd out those motivated by intrinsic rewards
4. Can lead to ethical lapses
5. However, cannot be ignored (see: Maslow)
What is the 25-50-25 rule?
25% of employees are highly motivated, 50% are fence-sitters, and 25% are withdrawn or even cynical.
What is unique about employees right to speech through social media?
Governments frequently have specific social media policies which while must provide constitutional protections, especially for the 1st and 4th amendments, often spell out what kinds of social media behavior are acceptable for their employees.
What is a patronage system?
This was the United States first selection mechanism for many unelected government positions, and entails a system where a single person is responsible for designating officials or employees, without a
requirement for a formal application process (textbook, p. 153)
Daily Double:
1. Are recruitment and selection the same thing?
2. What percentage of selection-based court cases do employers lose, and why?
1. No, recruitment describes efforts to increase the quantity, quality, and equity of opportunity of applicants.
Selection describes the post-application processing of those applicants and continues through until someone has accepted a job offer for that position.
2. 90% - Murphy (p. 169)
Employers frequently lose because they do not use consistent, fair, and valid processes when making selection decisions.
Are motivation and engagement different concepts?
Yes, they are distinct concepts (see quote from the textbook below), but they are often, but not always, related to one another.
If motivation is defined as the drive or energy that compels people to act, with energy and persistence, toward some goal, then engagement emphasizes
individuals’ being psychologically present and applying themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally when performing their organizational roles – P.239, textbook
What happened to President James Garfield and why is he important to our modern understanding of HRM in the public sector?
He was assassinated in 1881 by a disappointed job seeker, and this eventually led to the Pendleton Act which introduced a merit-based civil service system to the federal government. Many states and local governments quickly followed the lead of the federal government in adopting this system.
What is a the pickering test?
A three pronged test used to determine whether the speech of government administrator is protected under the first admendment.
1.Are you speaking pursuant to your job duties?
If yes, then not protected
2.Are you speaking as a citizen on a matter of public concern?
If no, then not protected
3.Does the interest to speak and the public’s interest outweigh your government employers interest?
- Think Whistleblower protections here
What is a spoils system?
A patronage system where appointments are used as a reward system and technical qualifications are noticeably lacking (textbook, p. 594)
What is Broadbanding?
Broadbanding (p. 202 in the textbook) occurs when several grades are combined, creating a wide salary range for a position. Formal promotions are not required for pay movement (as is the case with more traditional—and narrow—classification series), although milestone progress is still required and documented. In some versions, people are ranked in a single classification (e.g., entry-level, journeyman, senior, and specialist), but these designations are determined by the unit rather than by a personnel department or civil service commission
What is a content theory?
These theories are concerned with the
needs, motives, and rewards that affect motivation.
Unlike process theories, which emphasize how motivation occurs, content theories prioritize understanding what employees need to feel motivated.
For example, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Theory X and Theory Y
Who was Fredrick Taylor?
He was an influential management scholar at the turn of the 20th century who was an advocate of scientific management which frequently conducted time-motion studies to determine the one best way to complete any task. While useful for the industrial revolution, this approach to increasing efficiency ignored human social and emotional needs and treated them like machines.
What is the importance of Supreme Court's decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, 2022?
This 2022 SCOTUS decision upended years of legal precedent (see: Roberts, 2023).
Now religious activities have much more protections as long as their actions are not coercive or unduly disruptive.
Public employees are acting as private citizens when they engage in religious practices during work breaks
Acknowledging and embracing religious pluralism (i.e., diversity) now more important.
What is the Pendleton Act of 1883?
This was the United States first attempt at introducing the concept of Merit into its civil service system at the federal level.
What is HRM?
HRM - If an organization can be defined as a group of people working toward a goal, and management can be defined as the process of accomplishing these goals through other people, then HRM is the development of policies for productive use of human resources in
an organization – Berman et al., (2021, p.1)
What is a process theory?
These theories emphasize how the
motivational process works. They describe how goals, values, needs or rewards operate together to determine motivation.
For example, Expectancy Theory
What was contained in President Trump's Schedule F executive order?
Weeks before the 2020 election, President Trump unveiled an executive order that would have created a new class of political appointee, Schedule F. The order would have allowed a president to turn any career official with a policy advisory role into a political appointee, removing job protection and opening the door to vastly politicize the federal workforce.
This would have removed the reasonable security of tenure dimension of the merit-based federal civil service system.