Diversity and representation in the U.S. Federal government: Analysis of the trends of federal employment

Public Personnel Management

Volumn 40, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 25-46

  Choi, Sungjoo ^a  

^a KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 79953112468     PISSN: 00910260     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/009102601104000103     Document Type: Article

References (101)

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24. The underlying rationale of representative bureaucracy is to provide equal employment opportunities for women and minorities who were historically discriminated against and to comprise the population of employees mirroring the whole population of society.
25. Nominal parameters include sex, race, religion, ethnic affiliation, clan, occupation, place of work, place of residence, industry, marital status, political affiliation, national origin, and language (Blau 1977).
26. Graduated parameters include education, income, wealth, prestige, power, socioeconomic origin, age, administrative authority, and intelligence (Blau 1977).
27. Blau (1977) argued that inequality in a society should be defined as the average difference in status rather than absolute status differences. Although the Gini index represents mean status distance relative to mean status, it is not apparent in the formula calculating it (Alker and Russett 1966). Blau (1977) and van de Geer created an alternative formula for the Gini index.[Mathematic Equation] where si is mean status in a category, pi is the fraction of the population in that category, and Pbi and Pai are the fractions of the population whose status is below and above that category, respectively. Thus, Pi + Pbi + Pai = 1.00 for every category. The sum is taken over all categories. The numerator is mean status distance, or absolute inequality, and the denominator is twice mean status. The ratio of the two is relative inequality (Blau 1997, 57-58).
28. Inequality must be distinguished from status diversity. Status diversity refers to the graduatedparameter equivalent of heterogeneity (Blau 1997, 10). While it is easy to distinguish perfect equality from a state of inequality, given two different, unequal distributions of some social reward, it is not easy to decide which distribution is the more equal (Allison 1978). A social structure is delineated by its parameters, which are attributes of people in the society that influence their role relations and thereby differentiate their social positions (Blau 1977). Two kinds of variables can be derived from these parameters. One variable refers to the attributes of individuals such as occupation, religion, income, and wealth. The other variable refers to new variables the distributions of these attributes produce such as the social structural characteristics in terms of the occupational distribution and the income distribution in society. The structural analysis focuses on these variables characterizing structural conditions and on their influences on social associations (Blau 1977). The structural analysis of various forms of differentiation, interrelations, the conditions leading to them and changes in them, and their implications for social relations (Blau 1977) can substantially contribute to understanding of human conduct and relations.
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33. Meier, K. J. (1993). Latinos and representative bureaucracy: Testing the Thompson and Henderson hypotheses. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 3 (4): 357-375.
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36. Foldy, E. G. (2004). Learning from diversity: A theoretical exploration. Public Administration Review, 64 (5): 529-538; (Pubitemid 39288953)
37. Pitts, D. W. (2005). Diversity, representation, and performance: Evidence about race and ethnicity in public organizations. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 15 (4): 615-631; (Pubitemid 41276783)
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58. Meier, K. J. (1993). Latinos and representative bureaucracy: Testing the Thompson and Henderson hypotheses. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 3 (4): 357-375;
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75. The sample includes 291 federal agencies including sub-agencies of 15 executive departments - Dept. of Agriculture, Dept. of Commerce, Dept. of Defense, Dept. of Education, Dept. of Energy, Dept. of Health and Human Services, Dept. of Homeland Security, Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, Dept. of the Interior, Dept. of Justice, Dept. of Labor, Dept. of State, Dept. of Transportation, Dept. of the Treasury, and Dept. of Veterans Affairs and small size (under 100 employees), medium size (100-999 employees) and large size (over 1000 employees) independent agencies.
76. The executive branch includes all agencies except the U.S. Postal Service, Postal Rate Commission, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, Tennessee Valley Authority, White House Office, Office of the Vice President, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, National Imagery and Mapping Agency, and Defense Intelligence Agency.
77. The absolute diversity index (AbD) and the relative diversity index (RelD) (e.g., Tam and Bassett Jr. 2004), Blau index of variability (e.g., Ely 2004; Harrison, Price, and Bell 1998;
78. Jackson and Joshi 2004; Mohammed and Angell 2004;
79. Pitts 2005;
80. Smith et al. 1994; Wiersema and Bantel 1992), the coefficient of variation (e.g., Ely 2004; Harrison, Price, and Bell 1998;
81. Jackson and Joshi 2004; Jehn and Bezrukova 2004; Wiersema and Bantel 1992), the entropy index of diversity (e.g., Ancona and Caldwell 1992; Jehn and Bezrukova 2004; Jehn, Northcraft, and Neale 1999; Krishnan and Park 2004; Pelled, Eisenhardt, and Xin 1999; Teachman 1980; Wiersema and Bantel 1992), Gini coefficient (e.g., Meier 1975), Hirshman-Herfindahle index, Lieberson index (e.g., Guajardo 1999), McIntosh D Evenness index, or Nachmias-Rosenbloom Measure of Variation (MV) index, the relational demography score (e.g., Tsui, Egan, and O'Reilly III 1992, 2001), and the Teachman's index (e.g., Keller 2001; Pelled, Eisenhardt, and Xin 1999; Teachman 1980).
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90. Cornwell, C. & Kellough, J. E. (1994). Women and minorities in federal agencies: Examining new evidence from panel data. Public Administration Review, 54 (3): 265-270;
91. Foldy, E. G. (2004). Learning from diversity: A theoretical exploration. Public Administration Review, 64 (5): 529-538; (Pubitemid 39288953)
92. Greene, V., Selden, S. C. & Brewer, G. (2000). Measuring power and presence: Bureaucratic representation in the American states. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 11 (3): 379-402; (Pubitemid 33688863)
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94. E.g., Cornwell, C. & Kellough, J. E. (1994). Women and minorities in federal agencies: Examining new evidence from panel data. Public Administration Review, 54 (3): 265-270;
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98. Greene, V., Selden, S. C. & Brewer, G. (2000). Measuring power and presence: Bureaucratic representation in the American states. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 11 (3): 379-402. (Pubitemid 33688863)
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