Evening star., 1924-10-24
STATUS IN FEDERAL SERVICE
STILL is PUZZLE TO 100000
Reclassif ifcation Body Drd,Us Specifications After
Building Its Bridges, Engineers Body
Official Declares.
BY WEBSTER.

division staff-being carried on in
accordance with the provisions of the
classification law-was abandoned by
majority vote of the board on No
vember 12, 1923. and pronouncement
made that no duties classification was
practicable for field positions.
See Book a. Cloak.
Evidently the board in an endeavor
to comply with the law has prepared
this publication as a cloak to hide, il
possible. its earlier sin OF omission.
What would the public think of an
engineer who built a bridge. using
labor and material in accordance
with the funds supposedly available
and largely ignoring the require
ments OF loads. traffic, available ma
terials, etc, and who. when the bridge
was practically completed, prepared
detail plans and specifications to
show what had been done? Would
any rational being consider such a
procedure logical or proper? Yet the
Personnel Classification Board and
the various Government departments
operating under a plan adopted BY
the board have alIocated about
100000 Federal employees under just
such a system-allocations first and
specifications afterward.
Publication Interesting.
A study of the so-called "class
specifications" contained in the pub
lication issued by the board, is inter-
esting as 1t indicates in the first
place that they are not GLASS specifi-
cations" at all. The specification for
Junior scientist, Pit" for example,
seems to be merely the definition of
the grade given in the act excluding
the medical, engineering and veter-
marian group. Just how such a
statement will be OF any moro value
than the grade definition to the
board, or to the departments IN the
ALLEGATION OF personnel to the COM
pensation schedules of the act. is not
clear. These statements certainly
do not comply with the provisions Of
the act as noted in the third para
graph OF section 8, and as quoted by
Chairman Bailey in the letter OF
transmittal," as follows:
''It shall prepare and publish an
adequate statement giving (1) the
duties and responsibilities involved in
the classes to be established within
the several grades. illustrated where
necessary by examples of typical
tasks, (2) the minimum qualifications
required for the satisfactory per-
formance of such duties and tasks,
and Sl the titles given to said
TO be Of value the class specif,ca-
tion should be more definite and
specific than the grade definition.
The statement OF duties and re-
sponsibilities given for "junior scien-
tist" is very general and indefinite
and lacks lists Of typical tasks"
which would make It OF real value as
an instrument in the administration
Of the act.
Even a person not familiar with
the detail requirements OF these two
classes Of positions would know that
the junior physicist must be able to
do certain things and have specific
know edge quite different from that
required OF q junior chemist. II the
United States Civil Service Commits
sion received q request from de-
partment for a junior scientist 1t
would be necessary to go back to the
department and ask what kind OF a
scientist was wanted, and II Il were
learned that the department wanted
. junior physicist It would be further
necessary to determine what training
in related scientific branches might
be considered acceptable.
AS department heads are required
to make allocations initially, such
class specifications should have been
prepared by the classification board
! early in its work to serve as real
! basis for the departments ALLEGATION
! of their employees. The preparation
of proper class specifications is the
basic step in all personnel classified.
! ton work, and 1t is obviously Jus,
as logical and rational to write a
specification for bridge after it is
completed as it is to write class
specifications after the classification
has been made.