DEPP working paper

This Working Paper is part of the Development Economics and Public Policy series

The Merit System and Integrity in the Public Service

Willy McCourt

Abstract

Controversies in early 2007 surrounding the personal role of the World Bank's President, Paul Wolfowitz, and the OECD's Secretary-General, Angel Gurría, in making senior appointments in their agencies show that citizens increasingly expect public agencies to be seen to make their appointments on merit at every level. The definition of merit as ‘the best person for any given job’ is bland, but applying it consistently contradicts the existing practice of many, perhaps most public bodies, because it means that posts at all levels will be open to competition, and appointment decisions will be transparent and challengeable. Departures from the merit principle should therefore be exceptional and closely specified.

To advance merit, governments should establish an institutional framework whose elements might include elements like an independent central staffing agency and a staffing Code of Practice. But that framework is merely the precursor to merit. Professional upgrading of appointment methods, introducing assessment centres and improving the conduct of panel interviews etc., are also necessary for the quality of staff appointments to improve. In this way, public agencies will not only have appointments that are fair (including towards disadvantaged groups such as ethnic minorities) and less subject to corruption and patronage, but also skilful. It is reasonable to expect that as the quality of staff appointments improves, the quality of public services that those staff provide will improve too.

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