This study examines federal employee attitudes since the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. By reviewing seven employee surveys conducted by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management since 1979, we examine how attitudes have changed. We then analyze the degree to which organizational effectiveness, job satisfaction, and support for organizational change are affected by customer orientation, supervisory leadership, empowerment, teamwork, training and development, performance management, diversity, family-friendly policies, and labor relations. This study finds that (a) employee attitudes on most dimensions have been mildly positive; (b) employee attitudes somewhat reflect reform policies of each administration, presidential leadership, and environmental change; and (c) perceptions of organizational effectiveness, job satisfaction, and support for organizational change have been affected predominantly by customer orientation, supervisory leadership, empowerment, teamwork, performance evaluation fairness, and performance rewards. Finally, the study suggests that civil service reform integrate long-lasting strategies based on improved responsiveness and competitiveness of federal employees.

Using lessons and experiences from the city of Phoenix in information technology professional recruitment and retention, this article argues that in spite of public-sector constraints, local governments can and should become an employer of choice for technical professionals in this age of rapid change and technological progress. The article concludes that those who think and act strategically will more likely be the winners in the next technological rally.

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This article provides background information on public and non-profit sector innovation in the past thirty years in the West as well as in China. We summarized and commented on the articles in this issue, which document cases of public and non-profit sector innovation in China and dieorize their significance. These cases tell vivid stories about how Chinese organizations innovate and also point out the importance of the role of government in initiating or constraining these innovations. We find, through die review of these studies, that China's public and non-profit sector organization innovation experiences carry some important messages about the unique features of China's public and non-profit organizations that should not be ignored while studying changes in China.