Compensation

the continuity and maintaining institutional memory, which is necessary to set its future priorities and learning. Despite the call to abolish the tenure system, there are a number of advantages. By providing tenure, human resources management can attract the best-qualified individuals for government jobs. These new recruits can then bring their knowledge about modern technology and the concerns of the younger generations to the forefront of government priorities. Under the tenure system, they will feel secure in the jobs and will do their best to the improvement of the tasks of the government without the fear of the loss of jobs due to politicization or any other external variable. On the other hand, the tenure system in developing countries, for example, in South Asia, has led to inefficiency, rigidity stifling innovation and changes crucial under globalization. The difficult challenge is how to maintain a tenure system, and, simultaneously, to preserve the efficiency in the government system. However, a tenure system with an effective performance evaluation can eradicate many of the concerns associated with tenure. The efficient public servants are crucial for dealing with the complex problems under globalization.

DemanD foR accountability The increasing demand for accountability as a result of media scrutiny means that public servants now live in a fish bowl. The demand for accountability causing increased managerial control diminishes the intrinsic satisfaction of the public service (Kearney and Hays 1994). The pressures for greater efficiency in government now make a career in government service less attractive to potential job seekers (Lavigna 2004). Governments in the developed world face serious challenges of recruitment and retention of public employees considering the increasing scrutiny as a result of accountability, and the levels of low pay and insecurity in public service. On the other hand, faced by the problems of the scarcity of jobs, and the opportunity for bribes and the generous perks associated with such jobs, the developing countries enjoy a better environment for the recruitment of the public servants, although not for the right reasons. Moreover, in developing countries, government servants are not exposed to intrusive scrutiny by the media as occurs in the developed world. The developing countries do not have effective tools to ensure accountability, which may provide a good reason for some to be attracted to government jobs. This lack of accountability, however, can lead to both corruption and the abuse of power: Compared to the developed nations, “where the

power of modern bureaucracy is counterbalanced by advanced political institutions, in most Third World countries the expansive power of the civilian and military bureaucracies is often unbalanced in relation to their weak political institutions” (Haque 1996, p. 320). In fact, in many countries in West Africa, and much of Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia, bureaucracy is aligned with military rule (Dwivedi and Nef 1982). Furthermore, the western system of bureaucracy may not work in developing countries. Although colonial rule resulted in the installation of powerful administrative systems in the Third World, “it failed to export democratic political institutions” (Haque 1996, p. 319). Frequently, traditional criteria such as family, ethnicity or caste overrule qualities like merit, ability, and achievement (Haque 1996). Nepotism and friendship prevails over the merit system in recruitment, and thereby prevent the development of a career system (Hopkins 1991).

The Canadian government has made significant efforts to foster an understanding and appreciation of the challenges and achievements of public service (Kernaghan 2000). The problem of recruitment has also been noted in countries like Australia (Williams 2001) and Belgium (Bouckaert and Victor 2001) and it is widespread in other countries. The politicians blame the bureaucracy for the ills of society, thereby tarnishing the image of government servants. To deal with the challenges of recruitment, some of the countries have adopted a policy of decentralizing agencies giving more power in terms of recruitment.

While the pressure of accountability has caused a problem of recruitment in the developed world, developing countries suffer from a lack of accountability, which causes bureaucrats to act irresponsibly. The challenge is to strike a balance between accountability and at the same time to ensure the freedom of government servants to exercise their talents and skill for the implementation of public policies.

comPensation In an era of low budgets, it is difficult to attract the cream of the crop when the organizations cannot afford to offer a competitive salary. In an age of globalization, there are sufficient opportunities for talented people to find jobs outside government. Although salary is not the only factor that attracts people to the jobs it remains a powerful factor in a world of rising prices and the ever-growing necessities of life. At modern times, the increasing desire for more amenities in life push people for increasing