‘‘It is impossible to observe and record everything,’’Hubert Blalock reminds us,‘‘and even if we could, we wouldn’t know what it all meant’’(1964, p. 8). There is no such thing as an error-free approach. Work undertaken is determined by assumptions not only about the reality one seeks to comprehend but also by the method selected (Creswell, 2003). One’s ontological (the nature of reality as objective or subjective), epistemological (the investigator as independent from or inter- active with what is being researched), and axiological (the subject as value-free or value-laded) positions must all be considered.
The narrative in this section proceeds as each project was completed, not when published (release dates varied depending upon journal and book publisher backlogs). The tasks were premised on answers to questions raised, and influenced the choice of research strategies considered
Exhibit 1 (Continued)
Intriguing Aspects of Civil Service Reform in Florida
. Unions who had endorsed Bush were exempted from Service First coverage. They argued that their members needed job protections when making public safety and medical decisions, and without them there would be considerable difficulty in recruiting and retaining quality personnel. Other unions, whose members had critical regulatory respon- sibilities but had not supported the governor in the 1998 election, were unsuccessful in making similar argument.
. The governor’s‘‘efficiency czar’’resigned in protest the day the bill was signed into law.
She argued that she was unable to‘‘slow down the headlong rush to privatize, computerize, and downsize’’state jobs, a reckless process that lacked analysis or justification. She was especially concerned about Service First and its expansion of the employment-at-will doctrine to careerists.‘‘I was‘at will’. . . and you can’t voice your opinion or be critical’’
in such an environment’’(Cotterell, 2001b, p. 2A).
. Although some prominent abuses have been reported, widespread abuse (insofar as such things can be readily documented) apparently has not occurred, perhaps because of practical difficulties of hiring large numbers of employees in a downsizing era and persuading people to work for below-market government salaries. An underlying, key reason may be that old-fashioned job patronage is much less appealing to campaign contributors than ‘‘pin stripe’’ patronage found in the award of lucrative government contracts.
. Despite the value in documenting program successes, no evaluative metrics were written into the legislation. Rather, officials believed that employees would take more pride in their work, and that supervisors would report enhanced staff performance. There was a sense that the policy solved the problem, and attention shifted to other, more important, issues.
. There remains a determined belief in the inherent superiority of business management practices, with its current emphasis on executive leadership at the expense of merit-based neutral competence, despite the continuing corporate management problems of the Enron era (Labaton, 2006).
. Critics pointed out that a return to the spoils system of the nineteenth century is a questionable way to the meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.
germane to the questions. The principle work products are categorized by their methodology:
descriptive, normative, empirical, theoretical, literary, case study, comparative, and program evalu- ation (viz., theory-building is not the sole goal of research, especially in applied work). As a capstone, this review concludes with a discussion of how some of the works were collected for symposia and anthologies.
7.3.1 DESCRIPTIVEAPPROACH
Initial research interest in the topic, originating in late 2000, was an effort to ask the question,‘‘What is it?’’because the transformation of the entire state personnel system was proposed by the Florida Council of One Hundred and endorsed by the governor, comprehension of its ramifications had to be grasped. Subsidiary, implicit questions emerged such as‘‘What problem did the original merit system seek to solve?’’ ‘‘Why are reformers introducing changes now?’’and‘‘What might be the consequences of new legislation?’’The thrust of any such effort, then, is largely descriptive to gain information, knowledge, and understanding of the subject at hand.
Following a literature search on the merit system (the results of which would prove to be quite useful for this and future papers), it was evident that primary sources (government documents, newspaper articles and, critically, interviews) would form the basis of the inquiry. The decision was made, accordingly, that in-person interviews would be conducted with a representative sample of key stakeholders (n¼28). They included legislative members and staff, union officials, interest group representatives, the press, state managers, an illuminating, if time-consuming, process (although focus group methodology might have been more efficient, it was not seen as feasible because of scheduling difficulties or perhaps desirable due to potential‘‘posturing’’by participants).
A drawback in this sort of exploratoryfield work is that although it is fundamental to further research, it alone may not result in a publishable manuscript. An invitation to write a chapter in a civil service reform state-of-the-art reader (Nigro and Kellough, 2006), however, did provide an outlet as well as a reason to form a study team including another public administration scholar and a law professor. The manuscript was prepared during 2001–2002, first as an American Political Science Association 2002 convention paper and then revised for the book. Problems with antholo- gies, it can be noted, include the difficulty in locating publishers willing to support edited collections, the challenge in assembling authors in a timely fashion, and delays in publication.
7.3.2 NORMATIVEAPPROACH
As more was learned about the nature of Service First, the research question changed from‘‘What is it?’’to‘‘What does it mean?’’Prescriptive work can be logically distinct from descriptive efforts because it suggests a commitment to particular values. But unless prescription is informed by reality, it is reduced to an unenlightened ideology thereby losing its moral force. Thus, concurrent with the descriptive book chapter, normative views on Service First developed and were presented in several venues. The author wrote several letters to the editor in the state capital newspaper as well as an op-ed essay, published as a point-counterpoint feature opposite the vice-chairman of the Florida Council of One Hundred (Bowman and Hoffman, 2001). In addition, four other public administration professors were recruited from different Florida universities to contribute to a critical appraisal of Service First (Bowman et al., 2001) that appeared in thePublic Administration Times.
Finally, a speech was delivered at the January, 2002 Florida Personnel Association meeting.3 Professional service activities such as these may not or cannot be translated into a journal article.
In seeking to build upon this work, it was fortuitous, therefore, that a suitable outlet was identified.
Thus, the central work product of the normative phase of the research was a solo-authored piece (Bowman, 2002) in a quarterly that publishes articles dealing with labor issues. In the polemic tradition, this critique of radical reform in Florida examined how private sector employment techniques were being used to corporatize state government.
An attraction of the normative course of action is that such armchair pieces are much more interesting to write than expository essays. The problem is that they cannot be done well without first doing the descriptive work. And, although prescriptive efforts are more engaging than narrative methods, they are also often more challenging and time consuming to write than, say, empirical papers. Indeed, having devoted considerable time and energy to Service First by this time, the author was ready to move on to other projects—not the least of which was a coauthored book on a related topic (discussed later). However, one of the virtues of coauthorship is that colleagues create opportunities that may not be immediately evident. Thus, book chapter coauthor Sally Gertz (with her husband in the Florida State School of Criminology) had access to resources to support a statewide empirical study of employees impacted by reform.
7.3.3 EMPIRICALAPPROACH
If the normative strategy poses the question, ‘‘What does the author think?’’, then the empirical strategy (at least in this instance) asks,‘‘What do the affected officials think about the problem?’’Put differently, the previous approaches are especially helpful in defining the process by which the problem emerged, whereas a quantitative method is most useful in understanding the extent and scope of the problem. Information is gathered and transformed in thefirst two strategies whereas survey research is concerned with generating data (Brewer and Hunter, 1989). This new project, then, seemed like an excellent chance to confirm, reject, or modify earlier findings from the inductive descriptive and normative publications (the former focused on policymaking officials and the latter emphasized the writer’s understanding of those data). To assist with the survey, the authors recruited another colleague, Russell Williams.
Details of the methodology employed are found in the article (Bowman et al., 2003), but a 38-question structured telephone survey was administered by professional callers to a random sample of 457 employees (margin of error: 4.7 percent) who became exempt personnel under Service First. The objective was to gauge attitudes of those who play a key role in determining the ultimate success of the program: middle managers. There was no attempt to ascertain if the reform was needed or valid. The survey was supplemented by interviews with knowledgeable political actors and observers.
When the data collection, analysis, and write up were completed, one team member suggested that the manuscript be submitted to a leading general journal in the profession. Several others believed that the scope of the work was more appropriate for a specialized outlet, a judgment that turned out to be correct after the initial periodical rejected the piece. Unfortunately the accompany- ing reviews did not provide ideas for revisions, but the quarterly that did accept the study offered suggestions for improvement. The survey was the subject of a detailed press story (Cotterell, 2003), perhaps because many respondents seriously questioned Service First; the newspaper article included equivocal comments from a Bush Administration spokeswoman.Government Technology magazine also ran a lengthy feature reporting the questionnaire data because of its interest in whether employees in technology agencies should have civil service protections (Peterson, 2003).
Once again the present writer was prepared to devote time to other issues, but a different book chapter coauthor suggested that Service First might be further illuminated by the use of stake- holder theory. Thus, the research question shifted from the earlier ones to,‘‘Is the topic theoreti- cally interesting?’’ The findings were initially presented at the 2003 Western Political Science Association convention. The resulting article (West and Bowman, 2004) reflects the stakeholder literature which distinguishes between three types of research (Jones and Wicks, 1999): descrip- tive (focusing on how organizations manage employees), instrumental (emphasizing personnel as a means to achieve collective goals), and normative (stressing that staff have a right to be treated not merely as a means to an institutional end). In applying stakeholder analysis to the Florida reform, therefore, these approaches provided the framework for the study, and the discussion concluded with the implications of the findings for theory and practice. Although the manuscript was
relatively‘‘easy’’ to write (basic data had been collected earlier), the present author was ready to attend to other research—until yet another colleague from one of the previous projects offered an intriguing idea.
7.3.4 LITERARY APPROACH
Like the stakeholder article, this one (Bowman and Williams, 2007) was preceded by a conference paper (the 2004 American Society for Public Administration meeting). The point of departure for the study was the constant tension existing between efficiency and effectiveness in American public administration as reflected in the civil service reform controversies. Typically, although antagonists juxtapose the competing values of business management and public service, the debate is often not joined as positions become entrenched and sheer political power prevails. In such situations insights from another time and place can provide a perspective on issues and events. Thus, the research question for this project was,‘‘Do insights from literature shed light on the topic?’’
The case in point was philosopher and poet George Santayana (1863–1952) who lived during the era when the patronage-based spoils system gradually gave way to the merit-based civil service.
Perhaps best known as the author of the adage, ‘‘those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it,’’he was a prolific and engagingly lyrical writer who penned many other insightful observations. Santayana possessed the uncanny ability to express complex concepts in a succinct aphoristic style that could, in the words of one biographer,‘‘at oncefix a point and transfix an opponent.’’
The authors agreed that this characteristic could be of assistance in understanding the increa- singly rancorous reform debate. The manuscript made the case that Santayana’s work provides an apt lens to assess the controversy. When it was not accepted by one journal, it was sent to another and received a‘‘revise and resubmit’’recommendation. At that point, the coauthor decided not to proceed, and granted the present writer permission to keep trying (as well as lead authorship if successful). After some changes, largely based on deleted material from an earlier draft, it was accepted.
7.3.5 CASESTUDYAPPROACH
As time passed, Bowman and West considered doing an update of the 2001 statewide research that examined the impact of reform on affected employees one year after its passage. The question was,
‘‘After attitudinal surveys, what do scholars often say is needed to better understand a pheno- menon?’’ The answer is that they make appeals for qualitative case studies to obtain in depth knowledge typically unavailable from surveys.
Between late 2004 and spring 2005, overfifty 10–45 minute, semistructured telephone inter- views were conducted with pertinent staff in three departments representing the broad range of governmental distributive, regulatory, and redistribution functions. Respondents were chosen from agency-supplied randomized lists, one-half located in state capital headquarters (home to a sub- stantial proportion of the workforce) and one-half in Miami-Dade countyfield district offices (home to the state’s largest population center).
Questioning generally paralleled relevant topics included in the earlier survey so as to enable rough comparisons. However the findings were not expressed in percentage terms because quali- tative research is an emergent design wherein the researcher seeks the interviewees’ meanings and interpretations, nuanced and tacit knowledge (Creswell, 2003). In addition to these confi- dential interviews, the authors conducted semistructured, in-person interviews in February–June, 2005 with departmental human resource managers in central or district offices (n¼3), selected gubernatorial staff, legislative personnel, as well as current and former agency personnel (n¼5).
These sessions lasted approximately 45–75 minutes each and also focused on the program imple- mentation issues.
A potential problem with qualitative methods is the difficulty in generalizing to a larger environment. Yin (2002) suggests examining the context in which actions take place and using multiple sites to increase generalizability, a reason why several departments were selected for this research. One limitation of this work is its reliance on telephone interview data; despite guarantees of anonymity, information was not easily obtained from some subjects due to the sensitive nature of the topic4(also see Exhibit 2, Problem 1), a problem not encountered in the face-to-face sessions with other stakeholders. In addition, with few exceptions, potentially important secondary material such as departmental publications and raw personnel data did not contain relevant information to help document the case studies.
Despite such concerns, it proved possible to achieve a reasonable understanding of each agency under Service First, thus enabling an evaluation of the reform’s impact some four years after it was passed into law. Preliminary results were discussed at the 2005 American Society for Public Administration conference. They were also the subject of a favorable newspaper story as well as negative reactions from high-level political officials (Cotterell, 2005), which generated a number of telephone calls for copies of the study from the governor’s office on down. The published article (Bowman and West, 2006c) was part of a symposium edited by the authors (discussed below).
7.3.6 INTERNATIONALCOMPARATIVEAPPROACH
Heretofore most of the investigation by the present author into civil service reform was focused on the American experience. On the basis of an opportunity to participate in 2005 international conference on ethics and governance, Bowman and West decided to examine the reform movement in an international context, with particular attention to a key aspect of the changes—employment at will. The research question was ‘‘How do American reforms compare to those in Europe?’’ The convention paper probed the origin and nature of at-will employment, as well as its ethical implica- tions, followed by a review of its application (including its functional equivalents) in the United States and in Europe, and closed with conclusions about the future of public service. Typical problems in comparative work (e.g., availability and access to data) may affect reliability and validity of research, problems that might be addressed by recruiting knowledgeable coauthors if readily available. The final version of the manuscript (Bowman and West, 2007a) followed the format noted, but in response to referees limited the international component to the United Kingdom.
7.3.7 PROGRAMEVALUATIONAPPROACH
Civil service reforms continued to expand in the states (Hays and Sowa, 2006) as well as at the national level, particularly as the controversial, new personnel systems in the departments of defense and homeland security were being deployed—and were suggested as templates for the rest of the federal government. The rise of at-will employment (and related personnel techniques) is seen by proponents as a way to reenergize the bureaucracy and by opponents as a return to the spoils system.
There are compelling, competing grounds in the debates over the merit system, and an overall assessment of these contentions would certainly be useful.
Because work is a chief source of income, involves a substantial personal commitment, and is a key source of social status for most people, the part it plays in the well-being of society is clear (Lawrence, 1999). Stated differently, evaluating the efficacy of the terms of employment in achieving human well-being is critical. The most serious form of justification, then, is to determine the moral worth of an issue; ethical argument plays an important role in clarifying a problem. Thus, the question for this project was,‘‘Is at-will employment ethical?’’A chapter in the present writer’s coauthored book alluded to earlier (Bowman et al., 2004) contained an appropriate analytical device, a model of ethical action, to conduct the appraisal.
The framework, known as the ‘‘ethics triangle,’’ recognizes the complementarity and inter- dependence of the imperatives in three schools of thought based on teleology, deontology, and
virtue ethics (discussed in Bowman et al., 2004). Although each point of the triangle provides a lens to clarify and reframe different aspects of an issue, a narrow, overreaching application of a single approach at the expense of the other philosophies produces an insufficient evaluation. Although a synthesis developed from triangulation analysis may not supply a definitive judgment, it does tease out the underlying logic by which decisions are justified and provides the satisfaction that the problem has been fully examined. The employment-at-will doctrine was scrutinized, accordingly, using the three perspectives (Bowman and West, 2007b).
7.3.8 CAPSTONE: JOURNAL ANDBOOKCOLLECTIONS
In the midst of the research program discussed here, Bowman and West sought to encourage work in civil service reform in other state governments by developing a journal symposium and a subsequent anthology. The guiding question was,‘‘What is happening in other jurisdictions?’’To address this concern, an agreement was made with a periodical, and national call for papers, inviting the use of any methodology, was issued in 2004. Approximately two dozen proposals were received and 12 authors commissioned by the guest editors; 11 papers were submitted and refereed. In the interim, the journal changed editors and the new individual refused to accept the terms of the agreement. Through the course of telephone calls and correspondence, it became evident that the obligation made in the name of the publication would not be fulfilled.
Discussing the problem with the person’s immediate superior, the journal’s sponsors and relevant professional associations were contemplated, but not pursued. Despite obvious professional misconduct, success was not guaranteed as appeals likely would have been time consuming and delay publication in the journal (or some other outlet if the appeals failed). Forgiveness was granted believing that the editor’s behavior would nonetheless have consequences: a group of well-known scholars, and perhaps their colleagues, would not submit work to the journal in the future, thereby possibly hastening a change in editorship.
With the articles in hand, the pressing issue was how to make the best of an untoward situation—viz., the challenge was to find ways to fulfill the guest editors’promises to the contri- butors. One of the editors discussed this turn of events with an editor of another journal. Not only was useful advice received, but also, after review of the materials, a commitment was made to publish one-half of the manuscripts as a special symposium (Bowman and West, 2006a). Because an obligation remained with the authors of the remaining papers, a different outlet was contacted and it also agreed to use them in a second symposium (Bowman and West, in press).
During this process, the editors continued to seek commercial publishers who might be interested in the symposia papers. Proposals were sent to five companies, serious consideration was received from several, and a contract would be signed with one firm (Bowman and West, 2006b). In short, although the initial plans for the work were thwarted in an ethically dubious manner, the guest editors were able to find periodical and book outlets for the contributors.
Serendipity, present at various times during this research, seemed to be notably present in producing the edited collections.