The federal civil servant as hero: the calling to governance

Abstract

The morale of the federal workforce is probably at an all time low. The malaise that shrouds the federal workforce is primarily caused by a sense of alienation that many federal workers feel. They feel alienated from themselves and from a community. In this book I approach the problem of alienation from theoretical, personal and empirical perspectives.

To gain a deeper understanding of the alienation of the organizational employee, one must look at the individual holistically. Using Carl Jung as my guide and employing his theories of the unconscious, spirituality, individuation and psychological type, I develop what I call an organizational personality typology. This organizational personality typology is contrasted with the more conventional and more one-dimensional organizational role typologies developed by organizational theorists such as Anthony Downs in Inside Bureaucracy and Robert Presthus in The Organizational of contact with their environment and themselves, a sense of meaninglessness and alienation, and an obliviousness to messages from their unconscious.

Other people choose the journey of heroism. The heroic journey as portrayed in the heroic myth serves as a model for those people in search of psychological health and spiritual sustenance. It is a journey that has three primary stages: the calling, the encounter with death, and the return to the community. Each of these stages has applicability to the American public administration tradition.

The heroic journey is not merely confined to the world of myth. The heroic journey, as practiced in the public service, has current exemplars in both novels and in real life. Furthermore, it is a journey that is open to both the GS-3 clerk and the agency administrator. It is an attitude reflective of a life-affirming stance towards oneself and others.