Reorganization or Political Smokescreen: The Incremental and Temporary Use of At-Will Employment in Mississippi State Government

Goodman, Doug; Mann, Stacey

doi:10.1177/009102601003900301

Cited by 15 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(7 reference statements)

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“…At-will reform in Mississippi is also investigated by Goodman and Mann (2010). They studied the perceptions and experiences of HR directors in the Mississippi state government's at-will employment system.…”

Section: What Do We Know From Research On At-will Employment?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence-Based Change in Public Job Security Policy

Hur

Perry

2016

Public Personnel Management

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For most of the 20th century, public employers granted their employees high levels of job security. The 21st century has brought a reversal of fortunes, with emphasis increasingly on at-will employment systems. Both distant and recent policy choices about job security have been based largely on normative and ideological considerations rather than behavioral science evidence. This article synthesizes public-and privatesector job security research to provide a more evidence-based footing for future public job security policy. Although changes related to job security are global, our attention is primarily on the United States. The article reviews job security research with origins in organizational behavior research, at-will employment research, and institutionalization and public trust research across sectors. Based on the review of the literature, we develop an integrative model of job security. We highlight practical implications that flow from the model and discuss future research needs. Keywords job security, job insecurity, at-will employment, employee work attitudes and behavior Job security is a concept of enduring importance in public administration and public management. In his History of the U.S. Civil Service, Paul Van Riper (1958) identified "security of tenure" as one of three defining attributes of the new federal civil service at its inception in 1883 (p. 100). As Van Riper noted, the job security rules introduced

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Section: What Do We Know From Research On At-will Employment?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence-Based Change in Public Job Security Policy

Hur

Perry

2016

Public Personnel Management

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“…They examine the effect of civil service rules on bureaucratic performance and uncover a positive association between the two. A more recent empirical literature in public administration studies the effects of contemporary radical civil service reform in U.S. states (Bowman, Gertz, Gertz, & Williams, ; Bowman & West, ; Coggburn, ; Coggburn et al, ; Condrey & Battaglio, ; Goodman & Mann, ). The findings of this literature have been mixed, yielding few consistently robust findings linking civil service reform to objective measures of agency performance (Jordan & Battaglio, ).…”

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Civil service reform, self‐selection, and bureaucratic performance

Gibbs

2020

Economics & Politics

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I use a formal model to analyze the effect of civil service protections on bureaucratic performance. In a two-period model, a public manager observes a bureaucrat's actions for a period and decides whether to retain or attempt to remove the bureaucrat. Bureaucrats vary in terms of their intrinsic motivation and choose between careers in government or the private sector. I show that bureaucratic performance is greater in any separating equilibrium in which motivated bureaucrats choose government than in all equilibria in which they do not. Stronger civil service protections reduce the amount of effort that motivated bureaucrats must exert to distinguish themselves from their unmotivated peers in order to ensure retention. This strengthens incentives for motivated bureaucrats to choose careers in government.Stronger civil service protections, however, also reduce the ability of public managers to remove unmotivated bureaucrats. These competing effects yield a non-monotonic and discontinuous relationship between civil service protections and bureaucratic performance. I use the model to analyze recent reforms to U.S. state and federal personnel management that have significantly rolled back traditional job protections.

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“…These survey items were adopted from Jerrell Coggburn's (2006) EAW survey of Texas human resource (HR) directors and have been replicated elsewhere (Battaglio & Condrey, 2009;Coggburn et al, 2010;Goodman & French, 2011;Goodman & Mann, 2010). Table 3 reports the survey items and indexes that were created to measure theoretical constructs surrounding EAW.…”

Section: Eaw In Mississippi Sheriffs' Officesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Normative EAW theory argues that EAW makes employees more responsive to administrators' goals and priorities, motivates employee performance, and is part of modern government (Coggburn, 2006;Goodman & French, 2011;Goodman & Mann, 2010;Green et al, 2006). The thinking is that the fear of losing their jobs will lead employees to be more productive.…”

Section: Eaw In Mississippi Sheriffs' Officesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Appropriate Use of Employment At-Will in County Sheriffs’ Departments

Goodman

French

Neaves

2013

Review of Public Personnel Administration

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This study reports survey results of one state's county sheriffs' experiences and attitudes toward employment at will (EAW). We developed a model that tests survey respondents' attitudes concerning when political interference in the employment process is permissible and when it is prohibited. We find that sheriffs who agree on the "spoils-system" uses of EAW have stronger agreement on when political terminations are permissible and when they are not. Sheriffs who inform job applicants that their employment is at will are knowledgeable about when political appointments and terminations are appropriate and when they are not. County sheriffs who terminate employees for politically based reasons misunderstand when political appointments and terminations are prohibited under EAW principles. We conclude with recommendations for public officials who work in EAW environments to avoid liability associated with EAW.

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Reorganization or Political Smokescreen: The Incremental and Temporary Use of At-Will Employment in Mississippi State Government

Cited by 15 publications

References 7 publications

Evidence-Based Change in Public Job Security Policy

Evidence-Based Change in Public Job Security Policy

Civil service reform, self‐selection, and bureaucratic performance

The Appropriate Use of Employment At-Will in County Sheriffs’ Departments

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