Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-08-17

ttldIl JllIec years.
1t will take up where a nue.
Committee on Human Develop
ment at the University of Chicago
left of last year. That survey,
based upon intensive interviews
with only q hundred executives
in Civil Service grades 1915. their
ages ranging from $3.50 tabled
the government executive a gen.
orally moderated individual who
was found to be rather warm,
highly intelligent. and capable of
doing a much better job than a
conformity demanding govern
ment system seems to allow"
Men Behind the Survey
DR.. Norman H. Martin, associate
professor in the School Of Business
at the University Of Chicago. made
the preliminary analysis with the
aid of william E. Henry. who had
completed similar dissection of
the executive in private industry.
DR.. Martin is one of three or
ganizers for the newer, much en-
larged survey, the others being DR..
w. Lloyd Warner. professor Of
sociology and anthropology at the
University of Chicago. and Prof.
Paul P. Van Ripper. professor Of
administration at Cornell Univer-
sity.
DR.. Warner also worked on the
earlier study, and Prof. Van Ripper
will be renewing some old asso-
Citations in the Government be-
cause he was an officer in the
Quartermaster Corps during World
War II, and later served as chief,
Military Services Section, Manage
ment Division, ONCE Of the
Comptroller Of the Army prior to
joining the Cornell faculty in 1852.
Cogitating over the careers and
fates Of Government employees is
an old concern of Prof. Van Ripper,
who as specialist in public adj
n1inistration and personnel, par
ticularly the Civil Service, last
spring published a book, History
Of the US. Civil Service, 1789-
1857"
DR.. Warner also is an old hand
at studying what motivates execu-
tives, but he has concentrated
heretofore on those in private in
dustry rather than Government,
and in 1855 he published. Big
BUSINESS Leaders in America" the
result of an investigation of "the
opportunity and mobility in Ameri-
can business" based upon the
careers Of some 5000 executives,
relatively small example COM
pared with what is projected for
the Government investigation.
DR.. Warmers key discovery re-
garding executives in private in
duStry was that access to the up
per managerial positions is more
available than at the beginning
of the century, which is lust the
opposite of what many people had
supposed.
Why Study Is Needed
Forecasting the detectives of
their study, the three social scien-
fists explained that "the increas-
ing impact Of government and pub
lie affairs on almost all aspects Of
American life makes it imperative
that more attention be given to
the crucial role Of government
executives, especially those at the
national level.
This role cannot be understood,
much less planned for or projected
into the future, without consider
able more knowledge concerning
the social origins, training, mobil-
ity. and attitudes Of those now &C.
cupying positions of great trust
and responsibility in the executive
branch Of the government" they
add.
Mobility" u q special term in
their book, and probably corre-
spends to what more generally has
been described as drive, ambition,
and push" and this part of their
study Of Government executives
apparently will get a good deal of
emphasis.
The preliminary study dis
covered that Federal executives
show only moderate drive and
achievement desires which tend
to increase as one ascends the
grade hierarchy where some do
show a desire for the sheer &C
complishment of work ITSELF"
However. they gained the early
impression that Government exec
utives do not possess the same
mobility push that is found in
business executive" and while
many think Of moving up in their
Jobs. so many of them fail that
they channel their ambitions more
in the line with "the security Of
the group"
The pilot study found that 1.-THE
typical Federal executive tends to
shunt some of his desire to the
realm of fantasy" and the ex-
panded investigation will try to
probe deeper into that fantastic
realm of the Government execu-
tive'S mind.
Aim Of the Study
In a broader way, the study will
be aimed to throw light on the
impact Of Federal executives upon
the democratic political system,
and the extent to which 1.-THE adj
ministrative apparatus can be ex-
pected to act in accord with the
desires Of the American voting
public"
In other words, the study is
going to inquire into whether civil
servants are sufficiently responsive
to "the will of the people" or tend