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“Are Civil Servants Different Because They Are Civil Servants ?” Ministère de la Fonction publique et de la Réforme administrative “Are civil servants different because they are civil servants ?” Luxembourg, June 2005 Dr Christoph Demmke Associate Professor Etude réalisée pour les besoins de la 44e réunion des Directeurs généraux de la Fonctionpublique des Etats membres de l’Union européenne 1 Are civil servants different because they are civil servants? Christoph Demmke 1. Introduction.......................................................................................................4 1.1. The end of a specific civil service? From the beginnings until the 21st century .................. 4 1.2 Objective of this study and methodology........................................................................... 6 2. Do organisations matter? Are public organisations different to private organisations?....................................................................................................9 2.1. Differences and similarities............................................................................................... 9 2.2. Performance in the public and private sector ....................................................................15 2.3 Different perceptions, different trust and different images ................................................18 2.4. Difference between image and attractiveness. Attractive public services without a good image?.............................................................................................................................22 3. Are there differences within the public service? Civil servants and other public employees..............................................................................................26 3.1. The difficult distinction between civil servants and other public employees......................27 3.2. Are various tasks being performed only by civil servants (public powers)?.......................37 3.3. Preliminary conclusions...................................................................................................42 4. Are civil servants different because they are civil servants? .........................43 4.1. The link between organisational structures and personality...............................................45 5. Differences between public employees and private employees......................50 5.1. Are civil servants more neutral and impartial than others? ................................................51 5.2. Why should civil servants be different at all? Should they be different?............................53 5.2.1 Arguments for differences between public and private employees .................................54 5.2.2. The civil servant as a dying species. Arguments why civil servants should not be different.......................................................................................................................56 6. Is public and private sector motivation different?.........................................61 6.1. The problem with motivational theory..............................................................................61 6.2. Are persons who are applying for public service jobs different?........................................62 6.3. Is there a specific public sector motivation? .....................................................................65 6.3.1. Introduction.................................................................................................................65 6.3.2. Different motivations between public and private employees ........................................66 6.3.3. Being job-security minded and other specific features of civil servants behaviour .........71 6.3.4. New evidence – no differences at all?...........................................................................72 6.4. Motivation and Pay..........................................................................................................73 7. Work Satisfaction............................................................................................80 7.1. Differences exist, but they are not significant ...................................................................80 7.2. Conclusions.....................................................................................................................85 2 8. Concerning rigidity and rules.........................................................................87 8.1. Civil Servants – are they bound by too many rules?..........................................................87 9. The performance of civil servants – better or worse than other employees? 92 9.1. Changing emphasis: the link between performance, quality, competitiveness and politics ............................................................................................................................92 9.2. The complexities of performance management in public service.......................................93 9.3. What do we know about performance?.............................................................................97 9.4. Working hard or hardly working? Concerning high and poor performance........................98 10. Job security as instrument in the fight against external pressure ............... 102 10.1. Job security versus external pressure..............................................................................102 10.2. Job security as motivational instrument..........................................................................104 11. What would happen if the civil service status were to be abolished?.......... 107 11.1. Looking for benchmarks: The privatisation of the public service and the case of Georgia (USA) ..............................................................................................................110 12. Conclusions: civil servants as ordinary people?........................................... 114 13. Annexes- questionnaire: Are Civil Servants Different Because They Are Civil Servants?............................................................................................... 121 3 1. Introduction 1.1. The end of a specific civil service? From the beginnings until the 21st century For a lengthy period, European societies believed that civil servants were linked to the authority of the state and could not be compared to employees in the private sector. This group of public employees were seen as agents intended to uphold the rule of law and to implement government policies. Consequently, civil servants had to have high standards of integrity and be entrusted with a single task: working for the common interest. In this conception, where the state was separated from society and citizens, it was inconceivable that civil servants should have the right to strike or the right to conclude collective working conditions agreements. After the Second World War, the tasks of the state evolved (especially in the social and education sector) and more and more people were recruited as civil servants. Consequently, public employment reached a new peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, as a consequence of the broadening of the public sector, it also became also less clear why civil-service positions in the field of education, research, and social security, for example, should be treated differently to those in the private sector. This expansion of the civil services and – in many cases – the preferential treatment of civil servants (especially as regards job security and social security provisions) have improved the attractiveness of public service employment but not necessarily the image of the public services. In fact, citizens, media and politicians have expressed more and more dissatisfaction with the public sector and with civil servants in general and campaign against the bureaucrats and expensive, slow, inefficient, and unresponsive bureaucracies. As a result, it has become more and more difficult to argue why certain features of the traditional public services, such as pay, social security, working conditions, working time, the right to strike and social dialogue, etc., should be distinct from those in the private sector. Today, one of the most important challenges for almost all European public services is budgetary constraints. Often, public services are considered too expensive, inefficient, over-regulated, and ineffective. The Lisbon agenda, in particular, plays an important role in this discussion. Consequently, solutions should aim at greater efficiency, effectiveness and fewer – or better – rules. The downside of this discussion is that positive features of national public services may not discussed sufficiently and civil servants are seen as cost factors and less as positive contributors to effective public organisations. The early 21st century has seen the introduction of new popular concepts such as governance, change management, knowledge management, life-long learning and new public management. In addition, in many civil services, decentralisation trends have been introduced, organisational structures and recruitment procedures have been changed, budgets reduced, working time patterns have been modified, performance management systems adopted, senior officials are appointed for a definite period of 4 time, pay and pension systems have been reformed and – more generally – alignment trends between the public and private sector have been pursued. To this should be added the impact of the European integration process on the public services and liberalisation and privatisation in the field of the
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