Civil Service Reform

Because of the splintered nature of public human resource management in the United States, civil service experimentation at lower levels of government, particularly the states, may be influencing personnel policy at the federal and local levels. Four models of human resource management service delivery are utilized as an organizing point for discussion of six state and local cases. The article draws implications for the design and reform of civil service systems and suggests that strategic modernization of civil service systems may be more effective than radical reform.