User:Tmschach/sandbox

Rough Draft of Article Contributions
Keeping existing article intro, with a few minor tweaks:

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, (October 13, 1978, Pub.L. 95–454, 92 Stat. 1111) (CSRA), reformed the civil service of the United States federal government, partly in response to the Watergate scandal. The Act abolished the U.S. Civil Service Commission and distributed its functions primarily among three new agencies: the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA).

History
The original legislation allowing federal employees to organize together and protect rights was the Lloyd-LaFollette Act in 1912. However this act only allowed for employees unionize together and petition the government, but gave them no real bargaining power. The Act was amended by both President Kennedy (executive order 10988) and President Nixon (Executive Order 11491), but neither executive orders truly fixed the problems with the original act. By the time President Carter took office in 1977, the Lloyd-LaFollete Act was perceived as entirely obsolete and forced the necessity of legislative reform. With the American public wary of the organization of government following Watergate and the OPEC embargo, President Carter's time in office coincided with a period in which bureaucratic organization was open to "reexamination". Carter ran his campaign promising to "strengthen presidential control over federal services", and once in office created the CSRA. Carter intended for the act to create more bureaucratic officials involved with policy making (rather than administration) the were more closely politically controlled by the presidency. The CSRA arose from a growing wariness of the United States Government by the general American population. Preceding the Act in 1978 was nearly a decade of major blunders committed by the White House. In short, the federal government had "widely over-promised and woefully underperformed". Incidents like the Watergate scandal coupled with the consensus public opinion of the Vietnam War being a complete failure led the push for reform. The CSRA sought to fix common problems across the public sector such as eliminating manipulation of the merit system without inhibiting the entire structure, how to both invest authority in managers while simultaneously protecting employee from said authority, limit unnecessary or excessive spending, and make the federal work force mirror the American people more closely.

Drafting Process
The CSRA was the first federally passed comprehensive civil service reform since the Pendleton Act of 1883. Leading up to the passing of the CSRA, the federal government grew in both size and complexity, causing the public to question the government’s cost and blame policy failures on the bureaucrats.

In March, President Jimmy Carter sent a proposal to Congress to bring about civil service reform in order to “bring efficiency and accountability to the Federal Government.” Congress spent 7 months forming and enacting the legislation and in August of 1978, Congress approved the plan that restructured federal personnel management.

In-depth Description
The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 created rules and procedures for federal civilian employees. There were two parts to the reform; The Reorganization Plan and the The Civil Service Reform Act. The Reorganization Plan divided the Civil Service Commission (CSC) into the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Additionally, the Federal Labor Regulations Authority (FLRA) was created.

Responsibilities are as follows: In addition to the creation of new agencies, a new grade classification for the government’s top managers was created - the Senior Executive Service (SES). These managers were strategically positioned throughout the government and were rewarded via bonuses based on merit. Middle managers were now paid and rewarded based on evaluations and merit only. The act also created processes for firing employees found to be incompetent and provided protection for "whistleblowers"
 * OPM provides management guidance to agencies of the executive branch and issues regulations that control federal human resources.
 * The MSPB conducts studies of the federal civil service and hears appeals of federal employees who have been disciplined or otherwise separated from their positions. Personnel actions which discriminate among employees based on marital status, political activity, or political affiliation are prohibited by the CSRA. Federal employees may file complaints regarding possible violations of this rule with the Office of Special Counsel, which was created as a subunit of the MSPB.
 * FLRA oversees the rights of federal employees to form collective bargaining units (unions) to bargain with agencies. The CSRA imposes standards on the officers of those unions which are enforced by the Office of Labor-Management Standards in the U.S. Department of Labor.

Significance of the Act
The Civil Service Reform Act was the first time that an American president has included civil service reform among his major legislative priorities. The act is intended to better execute the laws governing federal personnel management of the people and who operate within those laws. It restores the merit principle, provide greater management flexibility, better rewards for better performance, provide needed protection for employees, and provide equal employment.

There is a pay increase for employees, senior level manager, which is based on their performance and contribution and not just on their length of service.

The Office of Personnel Management evaluates the effectiveness of programs and ensures compliance with policies. OPM provides assistances to improve overall management and utilization of human resources

The Merit Systems Protection Board is a redesign of the Civil Service Commission that was an appeal system that many employees felt that it was biased. The board is to make a judgment on appeals and complaints, investigate alleged abuses and violations, and protect that employees that come forward with these allegations. The MSPB creates an Office of Special Counsel. The office has investigative jurisdiction over all prohibited personnel practices and the authority to independently initiate investigations. If any charges result in these investigations they are then brought up to the MSPB.

The act made it possible for a federal employee to bring up legitimate political abuse or of gross waste and inefficiency to the public, blowing the whistle, without repercussions like harassment or threat of job security that results in economic hardship.

The act also called for affirmative action by making employment more equitable. The statistics of women and minorities working in executive positions was fairly low. Partly the reason why is the impact of veteran preference. The lack of appropriate management judgment led to the disproportionate representation of veterans in the federal workforce. Most of the American veterans are white males and was favorable to the personnel recruitment program. The Civil Service Commission had enacted a policy to fill senior positions with an aggressive outreach recruitment to attract capable women and minorities.

Comprehensive Effects
The CSRA was one of the largest reforms in Federal personnel regulations since the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883. However, the long lasting effects and the legacy of the CSRA are wildly disputed. Some claim that the CSRA has accomplished virtually nothing. Others claim that the CSRA has accomplished quite a bit. On one side of the argument, it is claimed that the CSRA has not effected unequal hiring methods, has not formed a division of experienced administrators that it was supposed to, and has been ignored by certain agencies. Others claim that the CSRA was a pervasive attempt to reform and restrain a large government bureaucracy in the United States. On the other side of the argument, it is claimed that many provisions in the CSRA have spread globally and that the CSRA has had a serious impact on public administration systems all over the world. It is also claimed that the CSRA has incorporated “long-lasting strategies based on improved responsiveness and competitiveness of federal employees" and that the CSRA has moderately improved employee attitudes in the workplace.

Here is the compiled bibliography, minus Jake's and Bryson's

Barnes, Robert. "Fired Federal Employees Have Limited Route for Challenging Dismissals." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 11 June 2012. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.

Campbell, A. K. (1978). Civil service reform: A new commitment. Public Administration Review, 38(2), 99-103. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/976281

Clymer, Adam. "POLITICAL SCIENTISTS SEE LITTLE IMPACT OF 1978 CIVIL SERVICE LAW." New York Times    3 May 1982. Web. 9 Mar. 2015. .

Coggburn, Jerrell D. "Civil Service Reform Act of 1978." Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public  Policy: AJ 1 (2003): 197.

Coleman, Charles J. "The Civil Service Reform Act Of 1978: Its Meaning And Its Roots." Labor Law Journal 31.4 (1980): 200-207. Business Source Complete. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.

Foster, Gregory D. "The 1978 Civil Service Reform Act: Post-Mortem or Rebirth?." Public Administration Review (1979): 78-86.

Ingraham, P. W., & Ban, C. (1984). Legislating bureaucratic change: Civil service reform act of 1978 SUNY Press.

Ingraham, P. W., & Rosenbloom, D. H. (1993). The promise and paradox of civil service reform University of Pittsburgh Pre.

Jimmy carter: Civil service reform act of 1978 statement on signing S. 2640 into law. (1978). Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29975

Knudsen, S., Jakus, L., & Metz, M. (1979). The civil service reform act of 1978. Public Personnel Management, 8(3), 170. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.libproxy.txstate.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=6364515&site=eds-live&scope=site

Lah, T. J., and James L. Perry. "The diffusion of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 in OECD countries: A tale of two paths to reform." Review of Public Personnel Administration (2008).

Lee, Haksoo, N. Joseph Cayer, and G. Zhiyong Lan. "Changing federal government employee attitudes since the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978." Review of Public Personnel Administration 26.1 (2006): 21-51.

Lynn, Naomi B.1, and Richard E.1 Vaden. "Bureaucratic Response To Civil Service Reform." Public Administration Review 39.4 (1979): 333-343. Legal Source. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.

Pfiffner, J. P., & Brook, D. A. (2000). The future of merit: Twenty years after the civil service reform act Woodrow Wilson Center Press.

Sundquist, J. L. (1979). Jimmy carter as public administrator: An appraisal at mid-term. Public Administration Review, 39(1), 3-11. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3110370

U.S. department of labor office of labor-management standards (OLMS) - laws of the office of labor-management standards (OLMS). (2013). Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://www.dol.gov/olms/regs/compliance/complcsra.htm

Campbell, A. K. (1978). Civil service reform: A new commitment. Public Administration Review, 38(2), 99-103. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/976281

Ingraham, P. W., & Ban, C. (1984). Legislating bureaucratic change: Civil service reform act of 1978 SUNY Press.

Ingraham, P. W., & Rosenbloom, D. H. (1993). The promise and paradox of civil service reform University of Pittsburgh Pre.

Jimmy carter: Civil service reform act of 1978 statement on signing S. 2640 into law. (1978). Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29975

Pfiffner, J. P., & Brook, D. A. (2000). The future of merit: Twenty years after the civil service reform act Woodrow Wilson Center Press.

Sundquist, J. L. (1979). Jimmy carter as public administrator: An appraisal at mid-term. Public Administration Review, 39(1), 3-11. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3110370

U.S. department of labor  office of labor-management standards (OLMS) - laws of the office of labor-management standards (OLMS). (2013). Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://www.dol.gov/olms/regs/compliance/complcsra.htm Tmschach (talk) 17:28, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Kenny:

Barnes, Robert. "Fired Federal Employees Have Limited Route for Challenging Dismissals." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 11 June 2012. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.

Campbell, Alan K. "Civil service reform: A new commitment." Public Administration Review (1978): 99-103.

Ingraham, Patricia W., and Carolyn Ban, eds. Legislating Bureaucratic Change: Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. SUNY Press, 1984.

Foster, Gregory D. "The 1978 Civil Service Reform Act: Post-Mortem or Rebirth?." Public Administration Review (1979): 78-86.

Lee, Haksoo, N. Joseph Cayer, and G. Zhiyong Lan. "Changing federal government employee attitudes since the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978." Review of Public Personnel Administration 26.1 (2006): 21-51.

Lah, T. J., and James L. Perry. "The diffusion of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 in OECD countries: A tale of two paths to reform." Review of Public Personnel Administration (2008).

Jake:

Berry, Frances and Park Seejeen. “Successful Diffusion of a Failed Policy: The case of pay-for-	performance in the US federal government”. Public Management Review. 16.6 (2014): 763-781.

Coleman, Charles J. “The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978: Its Meaning and Its Roots”. Labor Law Journal. 31.4 (1980): 200-207.

Kahn, Harron. “The Passage of the Civil Service Reforms Act of 1978, and the Business and the Union: A 	Non-Zero Sum Game”. International journal of Public Administration. 37.1 (2014): 35-43.

McCabe, Douglas M. “Problems in Federal Sector Labor-Management Relations under Title VII of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978”. Labor Law Journal. 33.8 (1982): 560-565.

Perry, James L. “The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978: a 30-Year Retrospective and a Look Ahead: Symposium of introduction”. Review of Public Personnel Administration. 28.3 (2008): 200-204.

United States Department of Labor. “The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA) Standards of Conduct,”	 Last modified October 18, 2013. http://www.dol.gov/olms/regs/compliance/complcsra.htm

Wikipedia project article analysis by Kenny:
The article begins with a one sentence general summary of what the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 reformed and a very brief reason why the Act was implemented. It goes on to say that the Act abolished a government commission and formed three new agencies, then the article summarizes what each agency does. At the end of the article there is a quote from a book describing the Act, a provision in the Act explained, and how the Act is codified in the United States Code.

The leading section of the article is understandable, however, the history of Act, why it was formed, and what it does are all very brief. All of these things should be expanded on in the leading section. There is also not a single citation in the leading section. The structure of is semi clear. I would suggest adding in headings and subheadings to make the structure clearer. Also possibly adding some images or diagrams if necessary. The various aspects of the topic in the article are not balanced that well. It mostly focuses on the information about the new agencies. The article should have more space for origins and the effects. The article was both neutral and objective throughout the whole thing. I also could not sense or detect any biases in the article. The article did have two reliable sources, one was a government website and the other was from a book about the Act, however, the article does need way more sources. This article has room for much improvement and should expand on many things such as having more background info-context of act, correlation between Watergate and US civil service commission, a more in depth look at problems with the US civil service commissions, actual text from the Act/ how act was drafted, explain more clearly how everything links, possible side-effects of Act, and Significance of Act. In conclusion, using the WikiProject article quality grading scheme I would rate this article as C-class.

Analysis: Jake
Article Class:C -Problems with civil service commission: created in 1874 by Pres. Grant, by 1978 the commission was no longer able to carry out specialized functions in vastly different world from the nineteenth century. The commission was widely viewed as unable to protect workers rights especially in instances of racial or sexual discrimination. Instances like the Watergate scandal highlighted corruotion in the government and brought the problem to the public attention. -Grants 2nd successor, Pres Garfield, advocated the commission yet refused patronage to Charles Guiteau. Guiteau responded by murdering the president,which effectively activated Pendeltons law (ending spoils system).

-Reforms made: prohibited blatant abuses of power like hiring of family members (nepotism), also gave rules on how to remove an individual whose performance is inadequate, created Senior Executive Service, "allowing more flexibility in administration at the top of the government".Also known as "merit System".

-"Rank-in-persons": Based on personal credentials, such as academic or seniority. Opposes the "rank-in-position" system (based on relative worth as a whole).

-OPM: Manages "merit System" hiring/firings of US government -FLRA: Manages Labor Relation and unions of goverment workers -MSPB: judicial-type board hearing complaint of government agents about the "abuse of their agency management"

Proposal
Here is the draft of the proposal I created. Under Section 3 there are 5 topics listed, each of us will take on topic. Be thinking about which topic you would like and we can decide in class tomorrow.

The Retransformers

Toni Schach - TMSchach

Kenneth Butts - KennyJButts

Vanessa Rodriguez - Van Rod94

Jake Wiggins - Wiggins Jake

Byrson Smith* - Bryson Smith

“Civil Service Reform Act of 1978”

Wikipedia Proposal

Section 1: Article Evaluation

The article begins with a one sentence general summary of what the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 reformed and a very brief reason why the Act was implemented. It goes on to explain that the Act abolished a government commission and formed three new agencies, followed by a description of each agency. The rest of the article is comprised of a quote from a book describing the Act, a provision in the Act explained, and where the Act is codified in the United States Code.

The leading section of the article is understandable, however, the history of the Act, why it was formed, and what it does are very brief. The article is lacking citations and only has two credible sources. The structure is somewhat clear but would benefit from that addition of headings and subheadings. The various aspects of the topic are not well balanced. The existing article focuses on the information about the new agencies, but lacks information on the origin, comprehensive effects of the Act, the correlation between Watergate and US civil service commission, and how the Act was drafted. Despite the lack of information, the article showed no discernible bias throughout. This article has room for much improvement and should expand on those areas addressed above, as well as include a high level, clear overview of the significance of the Act. Based on the WikiProject article quality grading scale this article is a C-class.

Section 2: Outline of Proposed Revisions

The current article that exists on Wikipedia will be kept and we will add the following headings in order to present additional information in a clear and easy to follow manner:

Significance of the Act (Campbell, Coggburn, Coleman, Ingraham & Ban, Jimmy, Lee, Lynn, Pfiffner, Sundquist)

History - Why the Act was formed (Campbell, Coggburn, Coleman, Pfiffner, Sundquist, US Dept of Labor)

Drafting process of the act (Coggburn, Jimmy, US Dept of Labor)

In-depth description of what the Act does, with a link to actual text from the Act (Coggburn, Coleman, Sundquist, US Dept of Labor)

Comprehensive effects of the act (Barnes, Clymer, Foster, Ingraham & Ban, Ingraham & Rosenbloom, Lah, Lee, Lynn, Pfiffner)

Correlation between Watergate and US civil service commission (Campbell, Coggburn, Ingraham & Ban)

Section 3:

Each person in the group will be responsible for the initial draft of one of the following sections:

Significance of the Act - Vanessa

History - Jake

Drafting Process - Toni

Comprehensive Effects - Kenny

Correlation between Watergate and the Act - Bryson

4/7 - Initial draft of individual section due

4/9 - Team evaluation notes of each proposed section due

4/12 - Group will meet in person to discuss individual sections

4/14 - Final individual sections due, to be reviewed by entire group again

4/19 - Group will meet in person to form in-depth description section

4/21 - In-depth description completed

4/23 - Proposed final revisions due, to be discussed

4/26 - Group will meet in person to finalize revisions

4/28 - Completed revisions due

Initial Contributions - Toni
Group - here are my initial contributions. It turns out there really isn't that much information available on the actual drafting process of the Act, so if anyone else has found that their section is larger than they imagined, I would love to assist on that. Or I can take over the "In-depth description" section. Let me know what you guys would like for me to do! This is what I have found so far on the drafting process.

CSRA was the first federally passed comprehensive civil service reform since et Pendleton Act of 1883. (Coggburn)

Leading up to the passing of the CSRA, the federal government grew in both size and complexity, causing the public to question the government’s cost and blame policy failures on the bureaucrats. (Coggburn)

Congress spent 7 months forming the legislation and enacting it.

In March, President Jimmy Carter sent a proposal to Congress to bring about civil service reform in order to “bring efficiency and accountability to the Federal Government.”

In August of 1978, “Congress approved a plan that restructured the central institutions of Federal personnel management.” (Jimmy)

GROUP INITIAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Keeping existing article intro, with a few minor tweaks:

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, (October 13, 1978, Pub.L. 95–454, 92 Stat. 1111) (CSRA), reformed the civil service of the United States federal government, partly in response to the Watergate scandal. The Act abolished the U.S. Civil Service Commission and distributed its functions primarily among three new agencies: the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA).

In-depth description of what the act does (Toni)
The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 created rules and procedures for federal civilian employees. There were two parts to the reform; The Reorganization Plan and the The Civil Service Reform Act. The Reorganization Plan divided the Civil Service Commission (CSC) into the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Additionally, the Federal Labor Regulations Authority (FLRA) was created.

Responsibilities are as follows: In addition to the creation of new agencies, a new grade classification for the government’s top managers was created - the Senior Executive Service (SES). These managers were strategically positioned throughout the government and were rewarded via bonuses based on merit. Middle managers were now paid and rewarded based on evaluations and merit only. The act also created processes for firing employees found to be incompetent and provided protection for "whistleblowers"
 * OPM provides management guidance to agencies of the executive branch and issues regulations that control federal human resources.
 * The MSPB conducts studies of the federal civil service and hears appeals of federal employees who have been disciplined or otherwise separated from their positions. Personnel actions which discriminate among employees based on marital status, political activity, or political affiliation are prohibited by the CSRA. Federal employees may file complaints regarding possible violations of this rule with the Office of Special Counsel, which was created as a subunit of the MSPB.
 * FLRA oversees the rights of federal employees to form collective bargaining units (unions) to bargain with agencies. The CSRA imposes standards on the officers of those unions which are enforced by the Office of Labor-Management Standards in the U.S. Department of Labor.[1]

Inititial Contribution (Jake)
Contribution- history of events leading up to the need for reform. (By: Schultz, David A.; Maranton, Robert. Politics of Civil Service Reform. 1998, Vol. 1, p149-159

=== History (Jake) ===

The original legislation allowing federal employees to organize together and protect rights was the Lloyd-LaFollette Act in 1912. However the act only allowed for employees unionize together and petition the government, but gave them no real bargaining power. The Act was amended by both President Kennedy (executive order 10988) and President Nixon (Executive Order 11491), but neither executive orders truly fixed the problems with the original act. By the time President Carter took office in 1977, the Lloyd-LaFollete Act was perceived as entirely obsolete and forced the necessity of legislative reform. With the American public wary of the organization of government following Watergate and the OPEC embargo, President Carters time in office coincided with a period in which bureaucratic organization was open to "reexamination". Carter ran his campaign promising to "strengthen presidential control over federal services", and once in office created the CSRA. Carter intended for the act to create more bureaucratic officials involved with policy making (rather than administration) the were more closely politically controlled by the presidency. The CSRA arose from a growing wariness of the United States Government by the General American population. Preceding the Act in 1978 was nearly a decade of major blunders committed by the White House. In short, the federal government had "widely over-promised and woefully underperformed". Incidents like the Watergate scandal coupled with the consensus public opinion of the Vietnam War being a complete failure led the push for reform The Reform sought to fix common problems across the public sector such as eliminating manipulation of the merit system without inhibiting the entire structure, how to both invest authority in managers while simultaneously protecting employee from said authority, limit unnecessary or excessive spending, and make the federal work force mirror the American people more closely.

Correlation between Watergate and US civil service commission (Bryson)
This Act institutionalized and legitimized the unionization of federal government employees. The Civil Service Reform Act was presented as a response to the Watergate scandal, but the permanent government employee group (the Civil Service) had nothing to do with the Watergate scandal. Labeling the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act a response to water gate was a premiere example of a tactic: Never let a crisis go to waste. We know that Civil Servant, Mark Felt of the FBI was the whistleblower who exposed the scandal and ensured that it failed. In President Carter’s signing statement of the Act he said “It gives managers more flexibility and more authority to hire, motivate, reward, and discipline employees to ensure that the public’s work gets done. At the same time, it provides better protection for employees against arbitrary actions and abuses and contains safeguards against political intrusion.” (Sisson)

Drafting Process (Toni)
CSRA was the first federally passed comprehensive civil service reform since the Pendleton Act of 1883. Leading up to the passing of the CSRA, the federal government grew in both size and complexity, causing the public to question the government’s cost and blame policy failures on the bureaucrats.

In March, President Jimmy Carter sent a proposal to Congress to bring about civil service reform in order to “bring efficiency and accountability to the Federal Government.” Congress spent 7 months forming and enacting the legislation and in August of 1978, “Congress approved a plan that restructured the central institutions of Federal personnel management.”

Significance of the Act (Vanessa)
The Civil Service Reform Act was the first time that an American president has included civil service reform among his major legislative priorities. The act is intended to better execute the laws governing federal personnel management of the people and who operate within those laws. It restores the merit principle, provide greater management flexibility, better rewards for better performance, provide needed protection for employees, and provide equal employment. (Campbell, 99 )

There is a pay increase for employees, senior level manager, which is based on their performance and contribution and not just on their length of service (Campbell,101 ).

The Office of Personnel Management evaluates the effectiveness of programs and ensures compliance with policies. OPM provides assistances to improve overall management and utilization of human resources (Campbell,100 ).

The Merit Systems Protection Board is a redesign of the Civil Service Commission that was an appeal system that many employees felt that it was biased. The board is to make a judgment on appeals and complaints, investigate alleged abuses and violations, and protect that employees that come forward with these allegations. The MSPB creates an Office of Special Counsel. The office has investigative jurisdiction over all prohibited personnel practices and the authority to independently initiate investigations. If any charges result in these investigations they are then brought up to the MSPB. (Cambell,100 )

The act made it possible for a federal employee to bring up legitimate political abuse or of gross waste and inefficiency to the public, blowing the whistle, without repercussions like harassment or threat of job security that results in economic hardship. (Campbell,99 )

The act also called for affirmative action by making employment more equitable. The statistics of women and minorities working in executive positions was fairly low. Partly the reason why is the impact of veteran preference. The lack of appropriate management judgment led to the disproportionate representation of veterans in the federal workforce. Most of the American veterans are white males and was favorable to the personnel recruitment program. The Civil Service Commission had enacted a policy to fill senior positions with an aggressive outreach recruitment to attract capable women and minorities.(Cambell, 102 )

Comprehensive effects of the act (Kenny)
In a Supreme Court ruling Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, said "the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 was intended to replace a patchwork of statutes and rules that developed when employees had the right to challenge agency actions in district courts across the country." (Barns)

The CSRA was one of the biggest changes in Federal personnel regulations since the Civil Service Act of 1883. But panelists at the Midwest Political Science Association say the CSRA has had "no effect on equal employment practices, has not created the kind of corps of professional managers that was intended, and has been shrugged off by some agencies." (Clymer)

According to Professors Patricia Ingraham and Carolyn Ban the CSRA, "which is hailed by many as the major domestic achievement of the Carter presidency, was a far-reaching attempt to change and control the massive federal bureaucracy." (Ingraham, ban)

A study conducted by Professors T. J. Lah and James Perry indicates that "most CSRA provisions have diffused more broadly internationally than would be expected based on their technical efficiency and effectiveness in the United States. According to the analysis, provisions from CSRA have diffused widely among OECD countries and suggests that CSRA has profoundly influenced civil service systems around the world." (Lah)

There is a study, conducted by three Arizona State Professors, that found "employee attitudes on most dimensions have been mildly positive; employee attitudes somewhat reflect reform policies of each administration, presidential leadership, and environmental change; and perceptions of organizational effectiveness, job satisfaction, and support for organizational change have been affected predominantly by customer orientation, supervisory leadership, empowerment, teamwork, performance evaluation fairness, and performance rewards. Finally, the study suggests that civil service reform integrate long-lasting strategies based on improved responsiveness and competitiveness of federal employees." (Lee)

According to Hugh Heclo, many of whose ideas informed the 1978 reform act, "argues that the system today is often more responsive to the ambitions of political appointees and the presidents they serve than to the longer term needs of the polity. On the other hand, the ambition of creating a government-wide cadre of career general managers with highly developed leadership skills has not been fulfilled." (Pfiffner)

Content
Lead paragraph is clear about main point and gives a nice summary. The key points are history, significance, and in depth analysis of the Reform act. The outline follows the relevant issues and key significance of the event.

Analytical focus
The evidence provided sufficiently supports the article along with several scholarly articles.

Representativeness
Tone is appropriate for a wiki article.

Sourcing
References appear reliable and numerous. Many, if not all, stem from reputable articles.

Neutrality
Article avoids stating opinions as fact with balanced coverage of the material.

Readability
Overall, the piece is easy to maneuver through.

Language
Sentences are carefully crafted, avoids major grammatical errors.

Organization
Structured clearly, however maybe more subsections to break up lengthier sections.

Formatting
Proper wiki format was followed with article titles and section headings.

illustrations
No illustrations included.

Question 1: Like the most?
I love the organization of the group's page and the ease of clicking to specific subsections.

Question 2: 2 improvements
Two improvements, as stated previously, maybe a few more subsections as well as maybe an image or two. C0l1E3N93 (talk) 15:12, 28 April 2015 (UTC)