Public Administration Operations

Public Administration Operations The state legislature merit program is an effective approach to allocating awards; this means that the terms of allocating the awards should be specific when outlining the criteria for those who qualify for the merit award program. Leaving this decision to the managers is likely to cause significant problems regarding the distribution of the merit increase.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Public Administration Operations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A better structuring of the program could be achieved by combining the merit increase awards with the 3 percent across-the-board raise for all the state employees. This eliminates potential problems associated with judgments on the distribution of the program (Kearney and Carnevale 56). The program should ensure that there is a uniform merit increase for all the employees basing on their performance. There are a number of issues raised by the merit pay system that req uire implementation. The first notable issue is adopting a merit pay system that is based on the principle of fairness to ensure that no particular group feels that it has been undermined. The second issue raised by the merit pay system is the methodology that can be used in assessment of the performance. The challenge is assessing the performance of senior wardens who have served for a long time, and recently hired guards who are yet to serve. It is important also acknowledge that one size does not fit all (Kearney and Carnevale 65). Developing a plan for the merit pay system requires taking into consideration both the viewpoints of the conflicting sides. This implies that the merit pay system should take into consideration both the concept of performance appraisal and the fact that all the guards are competent and need a merit award for their service. Basing on this, a performance evaluation system will be established prior to the implementation of the merit based systems. This me ans the distribution of the merit based pay awards will base on the outcomes of the performance evaluations. This guarantees fairness during distribution basing on their performance. The reaction of the union is mainly because it is of the opinion that its employees failed to undertake their duties that they are paid to accomplish. It is the role of the union to ensure that employees assume their responsibilities as stated under their pay requirements.Advertising Looking for essay on public administration? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Failure to do so raises questions; this could be the possible justification of the union’s action. In addition, the union action is justified because they were not informed that the students were doing the work that their employees are supposed to do. The termination of the bargaining unit members because of budget cuts was not of importance in this case. This implies that the municipal union should investigate the circumstances leading up to the action prior to the implementation of any action such as the laying off the workers (Kearney and Carnevale 63). The decisions undertaken by labor unions usually have an impact on the daily lives of the citizens; this is mainly because of their disruptive nature. For instance, unions impose strikes and boycotts, which are likely to impose significant effects on the delivery of public services. In this particular case, the union argued for accountability, which resulted to questioning their motives by the public regarding their role. In the capacity of the union president, addressing the conflict requires the reinforcement of accountability among the union employees to undertake their union work. Failing to perform the union work in future will result to punishments such as being laid off. This guarantees that the park is attended at all times without any concerns that the students will abandon cleaning up the par k. In either case, the school should seal an agreement that gives the voluntary responsibility of attending to the park, which will be followed by laying-off the union workers for budgets cuts (Kearney and Carnevale 61). Kearney, Richard and David Carnevale. Labor Relations in the Public Sector. New York: Marcel Dekker, 2001.

The Ostend Manifesto, 1854 Proposal for US to Acquire Cuba

The Ostend Manifesto, 1854 Proposal for US to Acquire Cuba The Ostend Manifesto was a document written by three American diplomats stationed in Europe in 1854 which advocated for the U.S. government to acquire the island of Cuba through either purchase or force. The plan created controversy when the document was made public in partisan newspapers the following year and federal officials denounced it. The goal of acquiring Cuba had been a pet project of President Franklin Pierce. The purchase or seizure of the island was also favored by pro-slavery politicians in the United States, who feared a slave rebellion in Cuba might spread to the American South. Key Takeaways: Ostend Manifesto Meeting requested by President Pierce led to proposal by three American ambassadors.Plan to acquire Cuba was rejected by Pierce as too audacious and unacceptable politically.When the proposal leaked to opposition newspapers the political battling over slavery intensified.One beneficiary of the proposal was James Buchanan, as his involvement helped him become president. The manifesto never led to the U.S. acquiring Cuba, of course. But it did serve to deepen the sense of distrust in America as the issue of slavery became a simmering crisis in the mid-1850s. In addition, the crafting of the document aided one of its authors, James Buchanan, whose rising popularity in the South helped him become president in the election of 1856. The Meeting at Ostend A crisis in Cuba developed in early 1854, when an American merchant ship, the Black Warrior, was seized in a Cuban port. The incident created tensions, as Americans considered the fairly minor incident to be an insult from Spain directed at the United States. The American ambassadors to three European countries were directed by President Franklin Pierce to meet quietly in the town of Ostend, Belgium, to come up with strategies to deal with Spain. James Buchanan, John Y. Mason, and Pierre Soule, the American ministers to Britain, France, and Spain, respectively, gathered and drafted the document that would become known as the Ostend Manifesto. The document, in fairly dry language, stated the issues the U.S. government had been having with Spain’s possession, Cuba. And it advocated that the United States should offer to purchase the island. It stated that Spain would likely be willing to sell Cuba, but if it didn’t, the document argued that the U.S. government should seize the island. The manifesto, addressed to Secretary of State William Marcy, was sent to Washington, where it was received by Marcy and passed along to President Pierce. Marcy and Pierce read the document and immediately rejected it. American Reaction to the Ostend Manifesto The diplomats had made a logical case for taking Cuba, and they argued throughout that the motivation was the preservation of the United States. In the document they specifically noted the fear of a slave rebellion in Cuba and how that might pose a danger. Less dramatically, they argued that Cuba’s geographic location made it a favorable position from which the United States could defend its southern coast, and specifically the valuable port of New Orleans. The authors of the Ostend Manifesto were not thoughtless or reckless. Their arguments for what would be a controversial series of actions paid some attention to international law and demonstrated some knowledge of naval strategy. Yet Pierce realized that what his diplomats proposed went far beyond any actions he was willing to take. He did not believe the American people, or the Congress, would go along with the plan. The manifesto might have been a quickly forgotten exercise in diplomatic brainstorming, but in the very partisan atmosphere of Washington in the 1850s it quickly turned into a political weapon. Within weeks of the document arriving in Washington, it had been leaked to newspapers favorable to the Whig Party, the opponents of Pierce. Politicians and newspaper editors directed withering criticism at Pierce. The work of three American diplomats in Europe turned into something of a firestorm as it touched upon the most contentious issue of the day, slavery. Anti-slavery sentiment in America was growing, especially with the formation of the new anti-slavery Republican Party. And the Ostend Manifesto was held up as an example of how the Democrats in power in Washington were devising underhanded ways to acquire territory in the Caribbean to extend America’s slave-holding territory. Newspaper editorials denounced the document. A political cartoon produced by the noted lithographers Currier and Ives would eventually ridicule Buchanan for his role in the drafting of the proposal. Cartoon of four ruffians robbing a respectable man with the Ostend Manifesto, to capture Cuba, written on a nearby wall and caption The Ostend Doctrine. Practical Democrats Carrying Out The Principle. circa 1854. Fotosearch / Getty Images Impact of the Ostend Manifesto The proposals set forth in the Ostend Manifesto never came to fruition, of course. If anything, the controversy over the document probably ensured that any discussion of the United States acquiring Cuba would be rejected. While the document was denounced in the northern press, one of the men who drafted it, James Buchanan, was ultimately helped by the controversy. The accusations that it was a pro-slavery scheme boosted his profile in the American South, and helped him secure the Democratic nomination for the election of 1856. He went on to win the election, and spent his one term as president trying, and failing, to grapple with the issue of slavery. Sources: Ostend Manifesto. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopediaâ„ ¢, Columbia University Press, 2018. Research in Context.McDermott, Theodore, et al. Ostend Manifesto. The Manifesto in Literature, edited by Thomas Riggs, vol. 1: Origins of the Form: Pre-1900, St. James Press, 2013, pp. 142-145. Gale Virtual Reference Library.Patrick, J., Pious, R., Ritchie, D. (1993). Pierce, Franklin. In  (Ed.), The Oxford Guide to the United States Government. : Oxford University Press.