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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2004
Contact: Ryan Watson, (202) 347-3190

May 24, 2004 - Washington, DC - The federal government should adopt a government-wide broadbanding framework with performance-based pay as its key underlying component, according to an Panel of the National Academy of Public Administration.

The Panel's report, Recommending Performance-Based Federal Pay, finds that agencies can develop and implement systems that contribute flexibly and effectively to the accomplishment of their missions within a broadbanding framework. Such systems will enable agencies to attract and retain the best people by meeting market supply and demand and rewarding the best performers with the most pay, according to the Panel's report (available at www.napawash.org/broadbanding). The report was the culmination of a year-long effort sponsored by the Academy's Human Resources Management Consortium. Other key recommendations from the report include:

Each department and agency should be responsible for managing its employees' salaries within a government-wide framework.
The system should have separate sets of bands, aligned with prevailing market pay rates, for several broad occupation groups.
" The Office of Personnel Management should be responsible for establishing the government-wide boundary framework, identifying the occupation groups, establishing the salary bands for each group, planning annual system adjustments, and monitoring agency salary practices.

"A systematic and thoughtful migration to a broadbanding framework that includes performance-based pay should improve government performance," said Academy President C. Morgan Kinghorn. "People-in this case, public servants-are the lifeblood of any organization, and the federal government will not serve its taxpayers well if it cannot attract, reward and keep the best workers."

The National Academy of Public Administration is a non-profit organization chartered by Congress to provide advice to leaders on issues of management and governance. The Panel was chaired by Thomas S. McFee, former Assistant Secretary for Personnel Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Other members of the Panel included Carolyn Ban, Cora Prifold Beebe, Ralph Bledsoe, Bradford Huther, Patricia Ingraham, Harriett G. Jenkins, Madelyn P. Jennings, Rosslyn S. Kleeman, James Perry, Gordon Sherman, Curtis Smith, Frank Thompson, and William Wilder.

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Academy Fellow Tackles
the Ethics of Dissent

Guerrillas in government are all around us, writes Academy Fellow Rosemary O’Leary in her new book, “The Ethics of Dissent: Managing Guerrilla Government.” The term “guerrilla government” describes career public servants who work against the wishes of their superiors which, O’Leary states, happens more than we may realize in government’s bureaucracy.

O’Leary says guerrillas often choose to remain “in the closet,” moving clandestinely behind the scenes, such as “Deep Throat” or the DMV clerk who deliberately slows the processing of a driver’s license application. Guerrilla dissent is carried out by those who are dissatisfied with the actions of public organizations, programs—or by people who choose not to go public with their concerns.

Ultimately, O’Leary found in her research that public servants and managers could benefit from addressing guerrilla activity. She says they should carefully listen to the creative ideas of these dissenters, even encourage debate, so that constructive changes in the system can be made.

Buy “The Ethics of Dissent: Managing Guerrilla Government”.