The value of the Civil Service Commission's approach to early identification of problems, and long-range planning to solve them, came clearly into focus in fiscal 1973, with the administration's adoption of a Government-wide system of Management by Objectives.

In April 1973, the President called on all Federal agencies to identify specific goals and objectives. This meant major long-range goals, at the level of Presidential interest, with related 1974 improvement objectives, and a ready means of tracking progress toward them.

Because the Commission had established orderly long-range planning procedures 2 years earlier, we were prepared to respond promptly. It was relatively easy to adapt our planning and problemsolving process to the new system of Management by Objectives.

Seven long-range projects had been undertaken in fiscal 1972, five in 1973. Each had a defined objective. All were aimed toward the twin goals that are the Civil Service Commission's constants— improving the Federal personnel system itself, and improving the way it is used-to maintain a quality work force under merit principles.

The organizational structures initially developed for long-range planning-the Executive Planning Group and its tangential standing committees and temporary task forces-were described in the 1972 Annual Report.

These structures were established on the premise that advance planning efforts require effective lateral coordination of policy and program initiatives for the entire organization.

The importance of such coordination to all planning efforts was behind a major step taken at the beginning of the fiscal year.

As a result of a management study of the Bureau of Policies and Standards, the Commission in July 1972 adopted a fundamental realignment of its policy development functions.

Previously, policy development had been centered in the Bureau of Policies and Standards. The realignment made each bureau and staff office of the Commission responsible for developing the policies, regulations, and guidelines within its own area of program responsibility. Thus, for example, policy developments and operational functions related to staffing fell logically into the recruiting and examining domain. In this case, operational functions that were shifted included the processing of agency

requests for Schedule A, B, and C appointment authorities, and exceptions to the dual compensation restriction for retired military officers. Among the policy development functions transferred were those relating to recruiting and examining, promotions, transfers, reemployment, and the hiring of experts and consultants.

Policy development functions in other subjectmatter areas that were moved in accordance with program responsibility included those relating to manpower information systems, personnel management evaluation, personnel investigations, and training. Positions and employees were moved with the functions when appropriate.

As a means of coordinating all of its policy development activities, the Commission established an Office of Policy Analysis and Coordination in the Bureau of Policies and Standards to assure that policy development resources are focused on the most important areas of concern within the civil service system, to eliminate duplication of effort, and to enable us to respond to trends and developments in Government and society that have a significant impact on public personnel administration.

OPAC STAFF members Ken Bates (left) and Joe Howe review progress of CSC policy development project.

An important function of the new Office of Policy Analysis and Coordination is to serve as secretariat to the Executive Planning Group. One of its first tasks was to establish a system for identifying, cataloging, coordinating, and tracking progress on all of the policy studies being carried out in the Commission.

In addition, the new office has set up systems for all bureaus and offices to identify their significant goals and objectives as a focus for the work they will do in fiscal 1974 and over the next several years. This is integral machinery for the Commission's commitment to Management by Objectives. The Tracking Record-Fiscal 1972

Of the seven long-range planning objectives identified for thorough study in fiscal 1972, five of them are well advanced into action stages, one is waiting on further development, and one has shifted focus.

Progress on the overhaul of the adverse action appellate system, improving job evaluation and pay systems, strengthening Federal management through better selection and development of managers, and improving labor-management relations are reported in Chapter III. Helping federalism work better is thoroughly covered in Chapter VI.

The objective of assisting Federal agencies in selecting and developing people for personnel work in the 70's is off the drawing board and under consideration by the agencies.

While the budgetary and economic consequences of Federal personnel programs were under examination, the focus was shifted. The new focus is on developing methods and techniques to make a totalcost analysis of Federal personnel program and policy proposals, to determine their long-term as well as short-run budget implications.

In 1971, the Commission initiated a project aimed at viewing the economic impact of Federal employment and its potential relationship to the budget. An outgrowth of this project was a series of charts developed as indicators of Federal employment and its broad implication in the United States economy. These charts appear in Appendix O of this report. It is expected they will be prepared on an annual basis.

From this early analysis, the Commission is now exploring methods for in-depth cost analysis of proposed personnel policy changes. It is anticipated that such an analysis will become an integral part of the decisionmaking process when assessing major proposed personnel policy changes.

The Tracking Record-Fiscal 1973

In fiscal 1973 six new objectives were identified for special study and emphasis. Following are

summaries of where they stood at the end of the fiscal year:

• New initiatives in carrying out the mandate of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 at the Federal, State, and local levels. In support of this mandate, the Commission directed increased attention to the revitalization of the Federal

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) program, and focused on carrying out its new responsibilities relating to other governmental jurisdictions. This effort included the development and operation of new data systems for EEO program evaluation and problem identification; requiring and reviewing action-oriented agency national and regional EEO plans; and developing closer relationships and coordination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other Federal agencies regarding the interface with State and local governments on EEO-related matters.

The Commission also strengthened Federal regulations to provide a discrimination complaints system that affords due process to individuals on a timely basis and corrective action in all cases where discrimination is found. Strong emphasis underscored upward mobility assistance for Federal employees in competing for advancement and reaching their highest potential. Special consideration was given to the needs and problems affecting the employment and advancement of women. And national implementation of the Sixteen-Point White House Program for Spanish-Surnamed Citizens was strengthened.

(For specifics, and other Commission EEO activities during the fiscal year, see Chapter IV.)

• Improving public understanding of merit principles. A two-pronged effort to strengthen public understanding of merit principles was begun during fiscal 1973, coinciding with the 90th anniversary of the Federal merit system.

An interbureau task force has been reviewing the Federal and other personnel systems to see whether they contain impediments to basic merit principles as they are enumerated in the Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1970 (IPA).

The task force has focused its efforts on identify. ing systemic weaknesses or procedural deficiencies. that might mitigate against fairness in public personnel management. The standards of measurement are the six merit principles articulated in the IPA. They specify competitive hiring and promotion on the basis of ability, and fair pay, retention,

and training procedures. They require fair treatment of applicants and employees in all aspects of personnel administration without regard to political affiliation, race, color, national origin, sex, age, or religious creed. They include proper regard for privacy and constitutional rights. They protect public employees against political coercion. And they prohibit the use of official position to affect an election or nomination for office.

On the basis of its findings, the task force will propose recommendations with respect to policies and practices of the Civil Service Commission, Federal agencies, and State and local governments.

The second task force has increased the Commission's efforts to explain and interpret the story of merit systems and merit principles, particularly to its key publics. On completion of the findings of the first task force, these will be incorporated into the Commission's ongoing efforts to expand the understanding that merit principles are in the public interest.

• Strengthening the management role of supervisors. The supervisor-in private employment as in the public service has been called the weakest link in the management chain. This is not solely— or necessarily primarily the supervisor's fault. In some ways, he has been the forgotten man (or woman) in the organizational structure.

The new supervisor, as often as not, has been selected for his first assignment because of aboveaverage individual performance, and has had unfamiliar responsibilities thrust upon him without preparation. The Commission recognized this several years ago, and began to require a minimum amount of supervisory training either before or during the first 2 years on the initial supervisory assignment.

But problems persist in supervisory identification, and treatment, as a member of the managerial team. The realities of these problems were brought home by Executive Order 11491, which for the first time stated as a matter of policy that the supervisor is part of management.

During fiscal 1973, task groups undertook studies of the problem. They looked at possible structural blocks to full involvement of supervisors in the management of personnel resources. They also reviewed classification standards and supervisory definitions. And they identified and documented specific problems requiring specific action.

As the fiscal year drew to a close, the task groups

were preparing action plans. They will propose steps the Commission can take, in cooperation with agencies, to strengthen the first-line supervisor's orientation.

(Further exploration of this project may be found in Chapter III.)

• Improving performance evaluation to improve organizational effectiveness. The Government's performance evaluation system has been the subject of continuing criticism and frequent study, looking for a better, more meaningful way to appraise individual performance.

In fiscal 1973, the Commission decided to make one more attempt-this time with the objective of relating performance evaluation to results in terms of organizational effectiveness-to relate the individual's performance and development needs to the skills and abilities needed to get the unit's work done more efficiently.

The Performance Evaluation Task Group was organized in January 1973, and its goals and objectives were approved early in March. A project action plan was developed, and the products to result from the study were specified. In the course of the research program, the literature on performance evaluation was surveyed, and case studies on performance management in Federal agencies and private industry were completed.

From these activities, several perspectives on performance evaluation have been developed, including criteria for an acceptable system, and an over

view of the purpose of performance evaluation, which is seen as related to personnel decisions, career planning, and organizational productivity.

The objectives of the task group in fiscal 1974 are to select an approach and initiate an early test of a proposed new system.

• Improving Commission/University relationships. Over several decades, the Civil Service Commission has established a variety of relationships with the academic community. Individually, these relationships have operated with effectiveness. Collectively, however, they have not demonstrated any pattern of institutional priorities or commitment. Most of them are conducted at operational levels, arising from specific program requirements. In response to expressed needs by the universities for the Commission to do more, an interbureau task force group went to work on the problem.

After a preliminary examination of existing relationships, interests, and needs, a conference of university and professional organization representatives and Commission officials was held in Washington, D.C., in March 1973. The input from this conference, as well as from other sources explored in the course of the study, forms the basis on which recommendations will be made.

(The broad picture of Commission/University relationships is covered in Chapter III.)

• Clarifying and enhancing the personnel officer's role. The wide range of activities in the Federal Government and the diversity of organizations

necessary to carry them out make the role of the personnel officer not only hard to improve, but difficult to define.

The initial inquiry into the subject was made to gain greater understanding of this role. It included examination of relevant policy documents and surveys, both of agency practices with regard to personnel officers' roles and of their attitudes. concerning the definition of their roles. This inquiry produced a comprehensive definition that became the project's central focus.

Taking into consideration the differences in basic organizational characteristics of agencies, and in personnel officers' concepts of their own jobs, the final project report boiled down to two general recommendations:

• An advisory issuance to agencies on the personnel officer's proper function as an integral part of top management, emphasizing his expertise in skilled utilization of human re

sources.

• A long-run effort to focus on the selection and development of professional personnel officers. The Commission has the report under consideration.

Some of these fiscal 1973 projects, initiated for their long-term relevance to good management in particular and effective Government in general, may see change or modification-or both-before they are completed.

But from their purposes and their directions, and from the purposes and directions of the planning projects begun in fiscal 1972, came many of the long-range goals and fiscal 1974 improvement objectives the Commission has established. A logical outgrowth was rapid assessment of those worthy of Presidential-level attention.

A majority of the objectives we had set for ourselves related directly to the President's primary domestic goal-a leaner, better managed, more. effective Government.

It was soon after the election that the President set forth this challenge. We at once began a reexamination of our own long-range goals in this light, and identified 75 of them. Thus when the President called for priority goals and objectives from all agencies, it was a matter of considered choice to winnow those important enough for Presidential-level attention.

Goals and Objectives Identified

The Commission finally fixed on 11 Presidentiallevel objectives and grouped them under three "umbrella" goals that directly support the President's commitment to excellence in Government. In submitting these 11 objectives through the Office of Management and Budget, Chairman Hampton stated, "The Civil Service Commission has the responsibility for the development, operation, and continuous improvement of a modern personnel system which:

I. Helps agency managers achieve greater Organizational Effectiveness.

II. Makes possible, throughout Government, a Quality Work Force.

III. Contributes to development of the New Federalism."

Under these "umbrella" goals, the Commission's fiscal 1974 improvement objectives are:

To improve organizational effectiveness in Federal agencies:

• A Government-wide development program for managers and executives.

A strengthened Government-wide labor-management relations program.

A results-oriented Government-wide personnel management evaluation system.

A better approach to manpower planning, nationwide.

A broadened nationwide training delivery capability.

To improve the quality of the Federal work force:

A better and better understood-position classification system.

• A better pay and benefits system.

• Action-oriented agency upward mobility pro

grams.

To contribute to the New Federalism:

State-wide personnel management improvement programs.

• Improved talent sharing among Federal, State, and local government agencies and colleges and universities.

• A nationwide program of training services and assistance to State and local governments. Most of these objectives are well along in development. Many represent advances in established programs, while others venture into new areas. Two points may well be made here.