| Comment Number: | OL-10511734 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 5:00:31 PM |
| Subject: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment |
| Title: | National Security Personnel System |
| CFR Citation: | 5 CFR Chapter XCIX and Part 9901 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
I am a Department of Defense employee, and I'm concerned that the proposed National Security Personnel System (NSPS) will not work well in a government setting. I understand how frustrating it is to be encumbered by personnel issues when trying to get important work done, but I don't think there's any effective way around dealing with people as they are. The proposed system looks like that of a petulant child who, rather than deal with the reality of not getting immediate gratification, throws a tantrum rather than go through the effort of assessing the problem, developing a realistic solution and then doing the work to make it happen. In the private sector this problem is dealt with by the market deciding not to deal with ineffective organizations, but that's not an available pressure in governemnt settings. I work in a unit run by an unqualified manager, who fosters a clique and excludes people who are more qualified and expose the lack of qualifications. Real knowledge and expertise is denigrated. Awards and recognition are arbitrary and capricious. The principal thing keeping the unit functioning is not the manager but the well-qualified workforce and the very interesting and challenging work. Putting additional authority and responsibility in the hands of this manager, as NSPS would do, will destroy the unit's effectiveness. The manager does not have the knowledge, ability and experience to realistically determine who's a high and low performer. This manager is interested solely in their own career and not in the subordinates. The criteria applied in evaluating performance would be their own interest and the interests of those seen to help in this. This manager could not be trained to do otherwise. They're personally, morally, technically, professionally, and experientially unqualified. It's not possible to train such a person to manage effectively under the NSPS. A totals change in the person is needed, and they're not inclined to make that change. In fact, they don't even recognize that their performance is a problem. The mission will suffer if this goes through with managers like this in place. Unfortunately this situation has become more and more common in DoD. Leadership is greatly weakened and is disappearing. Communication and trust is gone. Dishonesty is taking over. Competent, knowledgeable, experienced people feel unappreciated and unwelcome in an organization that badly needs their expertise and contribution. Rather than make the mistake of going in the wrong direction, which NSPS represents, DoD should address the real problems so as to make the organization more efficient and effective, including the cost controls and flexibility which NSPS is probably, but misguidedly, trying to accomplish.