Loss of the Tenure System

have sufficient opportunities to attract people for recruitment into government services although they may have detrimental effects on the country.

On the other hand, in the developed world, and particularly in the United States, government officials are criticized as being inefficient and wasteful. One of the popular themes in American politics is to reduce its size. Both Democratic and Republican presidents since President Carter have sought to decrease the government size. Immediately after his inauguration, President Trump issued a directive to freeze hiring. Gloembiewski (1989) expressed dismay in the state of public service because older people are leaving at the first opportunity, middle-aged people are reconsidering their commitment to government services, and younger people are pessimistic about the future of public service. The overall trust in government is at an all-time low in both developed and developing countries. As a result, the prestige and the importance which government officials had once enjoyed no longer exists. The privatization movement, New Public Management and the Reinventing Government philosophy have constantly criticized public officials for being wasteful, rigid, and inefficient. These management practices have led to the rise of a disrespect for public services. As a result, the commitment to public service is no longer the principal driver for influencing people to join the government.

In earlier times, the prestige, power, and respect associated with the jobs attracted people to join public services. Bourgault and Gusella (2001) found that pride in one’s job influences worker performance, fostering retention. In an age of globalization, with an increased emphasis on privatization, public servants are looked upon as inefficient and wasteful. The proponents of reinventing government and the New Public Management with their advocacy of privatization corroborated the image of inefficiency. The media, with its constant coverage of government corruption and waste, further damaged the reputation of the public service. It has led to what Cohen et al. (2013) call a crisis of public management.

The constant projection of a negative image of public service complicates recruitment into government services (Reichenberg 2002). According to the GAO report (2014), nearly 600,000 (or 31 percent of federal employees) are eligible to retire by September 2017. Holmes (2012) speaks in terms of a “retirement Tsunami” as a result of the the baby boomer generation leaving the workforce. In a 2006 “Survey of the Profession,” the International City/County Management Association found that over “60 percent of members are over 50 years old, implying an imminent loss of experienced city and county managers” (Holmes 2012, p. 450).