ive bargaining agreements); and social equity (overcoming social inequalities in job allocations). Fourth, public personnel management is personnel systems--the laws, rules, and regulations used to express these abstract values in fulfilling personnel functions. Political systems are designed to enhance responsiveness through legislative or executive control over hiring and firing decisions.
Since the competition for public jobs among individuals and more broadly among advocates of these four values and systems is intense, the history of public personnel management in the United States can be understood conceptually as conflict and compromise over how the range of personnel functions will be performed. Disagreements over individual selection and promotion decisions usually reflect more basic conflicts over the criteria by which public jobs should be allo
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