Naomi B. Lynn

Federal Executives: Initial Reactions to Change.

In 1978, before the passage of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, a questionnaire was mailed to federal executives to determine their attitude toward the proposed reforms. Included in the questionnaire was an open-ended question which was filled out by 660 executives at the GS 15-18 levels. Through content analysis, 8 areas of concern and potential barriers to meaningful transition were identified. The most frequently expressed theme was thefear that the new legislation would lead to politicization of the civil service. Other themes in the study were: affirmative action, bureaucratic image, bonuses, cronyism, managerial power, pay, performance evaluations, and unions. These issues must be identified and evaluated if the Office of Personnel Management is to achieve meaningful change.