The Future of Merit and the Civil Service System Essay

The Future of Merit and the Civil Service System - Essay Example Illustratively, Condrey & Battaglio (2007) argued that in past few years, the principles related with merit in practice have been altered in the US civil service system. Nevertheless, irrespective of all the changes observed, the meritocratic idealism in the system remains to be a noteworthy aspect, especially when focusing on efficient decision making criteria in the Human Resources Management (HRM) dimension (Condrey & Battaglio, 2007). In contradiction of these notions, Ingraham (2006) reveals a sense of skepticism to the viability of the principles as well as the practices related with merit in modern civil services system. Asserting various issues or challenges in relation to determine the future of merit in the civil service system, Ingraham (2006) argues with respect to underdeveloped governmental performance as linked with the reform of civil services, particularly with performances and diminished democratic responsibilities for the same. With this concern, the essay intends to compare the arguments postulated in the two articles of Ingraham (2006) and Condrey & Battaglio (2007) emphasizing the significance of a meritocratic civil service system in the modern US context. ... In precise, the arguments of this essay will be based on the following themes, which will further act as a base for its framework. The central point of debate in the two articles concerning the significance of merit in the reformed civil services system of the US Socio-political implications of the inferences drawn and their reliability Summative lessons obtainable from the articles Brief summary of the central point of debate in the two articles â€Å"A Return to Spoils? Revisiting Radical Civil Service Reform in the United States† The major points argued in the article titled, â€Å"A Return to Spoils? Revisiting Radical Civil Service Reform in the United States†, emphasize that the prime objectives of civil service reform in the US exhibit deep significance in the political smoothness and economic prosperity of the nation. Therefore, with the gradual and continuous reforms in the civil services dimension, as the merit based personnel management trend became faded, th e economy also had to suffer various mayhems, mostly in the form of socio-political conflicts. As stated by Condrey & Battaglio (2007), the target of civil service reform in the US, since its commencement has been to enhance efficiency in the HRM practices by making the managerial authority much stronger and transparent at the same time. For example, the initiative taken by Brownlow Commission in the year 1937 in introducing an effective management-oriented system in public personnel administration was aimed to deliver greater control to the management concerning personnel management in companies. However, focusing on the recent reforms in the US civil services system