The Civil Service Reform Act and Performance Appraisal: A Research Note on Federal Employee Perceptions

Abstract

The Civil Service Reform Act was intended to transform the public sector. This paper draws upon surveys conducted in 1979 by the Office of Personnel Management and in 1986 by the Merit Systems Protection board to contrast federal employee perceptions towards performance appraisal. Identical or nearly identical items included in both surveys tap attitudes that indicate that the new objectives-based performance appraisal system does not appear to have garnered much in the way of added support. Perceptions regarding blanket ratings, participative objectives setting, feedback, the fairness of standards, and the fairness of ratings have changed but little. The change that has occured has been, for the most part, in the way of introducing uncertainty.