DEPARTMENT ADJUSTS CLASSIFICATION LEVELS OF OFFICER POSITIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-04722A000300010009-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 4, 2002
• Sequence Number: 9
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For RaWase 2 $/b6Q CI W 24 "300010009-5
Department Adjusts Classification Levels of Officer Positions
By WAYNE A. SWEDENBURG ities, others were overly liberal in ap- review of nearly 7,000 positions has
The Department is implementing plying standards for job levels. taken 18 months to complete.
recommendations that resulted from a A Special Survey Group, sometimes Although the reclassification rec-
worldwide classification study of all referred to as the Hall Group, made ommendations initially made by the
Foreign Service officer positions. a preliminary reclassification survey Hall Group have been taken into ac-
This study, which is the outgrowth of all officer positions in the fall of count by the professional staff, it has
of Management Reform Recommen_ 1970. In reviewing positions abroad, relied more on following accepted
dations and work of Task Force I in the Group used as a key baseline the principles and techniques practiced
September-October 1970, has sought relative demands placed on the Dep- by classification organizations else-
uty Chief of Mission and from the where in government.
to establish a valid position classifi- baseline uniformly ranked all other The recently-comp
leted study has,
cation structure for the Foreign Serv- y ice. As uture positions, ig Ser positions in descending order. Posi- therefore, taken into consideration
of their location posor abroad) and tions in Washington were reviewed by comparable positions in other U.S.
of their plan (Ftio FSR, or ab, d) and application of the same concept of Government agencies, published
were individually reviewed by a pro- rank order. standards, including those prepared
fessional staff of classification analysts When it presented its report the during the past two years by the staff,
to determine their appropriate level. Group emphasized that, in meeting and internal program priorities in ar-
To recount briefly the reasons for its term of reference, its methods may riving at appropriate class levels for
this study, it will be recalled. that have resulted in recommendation for positions. The staff has always re-
re-
from June 1962 until February 1971 a greater downgrading of positions solved borderline cases by deciding in
position classification authority was than would have been the case had favor of the higher grade.
delegated to major organizations of functional positions and standards Determining the job content of each
the Department. common to all Washington agencies Foreign Service officer position in the
A general entnon of grade/class been used as the base. United States and abroad has been a
levels took place during this /clod. The Group, therefore, urged the formidable undertaking. The staff
This is attributable plibuacele to several period.
causes, Department to establish a professional used updated position descriptions to
his is l staff to review position allocations in the extent possible as well as the first
p y (a) pressures by manage- a e of performance re orts to obtain
ment within the bureaus, (b) in some accordance with applicable standards job information. p
cases, the inexperience of the per-' and to formulate new or revised
Field trips were taken by staff mom-
sonnel technician responsible for posi- standards where warranted before im
-
tion classification lemon#in hers to obtain current information
(c) a tendency to p g any broad classification
project future programs or shifts in changes
r
p
ogram emphasis which later failed Acting on these recommendations, andJ other )1111The~ staffs coordinated
to materialize, and/or (d) the compe- the Department in February .1971 re- their findings with the respective bu-
tition between the bureaus to obtain centralized the position clas.ification reaus, and also consulted with the
and retain the best qualified officers functi
i
PE
on
n
R under direction of other foreign affairs agencies. The
-which sometimes involved placing the Director General of the Foreign Office of Management and Budget and
artificially higher grades on positions Service and th
Di
t
e
rec
or of Personnel. Civil Service Commission have been
ment. induce an officer to take an assign- A professional staff of classification regularly apprised of the study's
to
specialists was formed which imme- progress.
Generous use was made of "in- diately undertook an in-deptf study Although the new classification
cumbency only" allocations, and these of all officer positions. The individual levels will appear in the Department's
higher levels usually remained after
incumbents left.
It should not be construed from the
foregoing that the various offices then
having classification authority did not
consistently attempt to apply proper State Department review completed
classification principles, but rather
that parochial demands were often
over-riding.
The looseness in classifying For-
eign Service, and to some extent Civil
Service, positions during this period
did, however, result in an unbalanced
position structure and significant mis-
alignment of like positions in different
organizations and different geographi-
cal areas.
While some offices were conserva-
tive in their claA&p6vectcFpq,R61aase 2002/08/06 CIA-RDP78-04722A000300010009-5
 Ap rovedFgr Ree
official staffing pattern eginnrng u y
1, 1973, any impact of the study will
be spread over the next three years.
Since there has been both an upward
and downward shifting of grade levels,
the overall effect in implementing the
study will not be overly pronounced
except perhaps at the more senior
levels. However, the attrition of FSO-
l's and 2's at the customary annual
rate should offset the effects which
might otherwise appear at these levels.
The 1973 promotion list reflected
the first tranche of the reclassification
program. Even so, a larger number
of officers were promoted this year
than in 1972, Department officials
anticipate that next year's list will be
substantially the same.
The following illustrates the overall
changes resulting from this study:
FSO-1 and 2 Reduced by 23%
FSO-3 Reduced by 6%
FSO-4 and 5 Increased by 8%%
FSO-6 Increased by 17%
FSO-7 and 8 Increased by 3%
As indicated above, a number of
positions at the FSO-1 and 2 levels
(equivalent to supergrades), and to a
lesser extent at the FSO-3 level, have
been adjusted downward.
One of the reasons for this action
is because many of these affected
positions have historically been filled
by officers holding a personal rank
of one, two, or even three grades
lower than the classification of the
position.
More openings at FSO- 4 and be-
low, particularly at FSO-6, ,vill afford
younger officers expanded opportu-
nities for assignments to positions of
more responsibility earlier in their
careers. The number of "program di-
rection" positions at the FSO-4 level,
for example, was increased over 200
percent (from 18 to 55).
Downward changes in senor posi-
tion levels were more pronounced in
the administration cone than in other
functional activities although the po-
litical cone took more reductions at
the FSO-1 level than consult r, in-
formation-cultural, economic-com-
mercial, or specialized profcs.,,ional
groups.
.An increase of 65 positions in the
economic-commercial cone in grades
FSO-5 through FSO-7 will :offer ad-
ditional opportunities for younger of-
ficers.
Whereas the greatest number of
positions in the consular cone were
previously classified at the FSO-7
level, the recc~~lassificatig stuc~y bows
that the gre5tpr Hai ei4 rt
be at the FSO-6 level. There will be
2002/ 8/06 : CIA-RDP78-p4 0tf},Q,00010009-5
slightly more positions at tfie 4 promotion, and
to FSO-7 level in the consular cone
than before.
Increased numbers of positions at
the FSO-4 and FSO-6 level in the
political cone will swing the greatest
number of positions in this activity
from the FSO-3 level to the FSO-4
level.
The highest number of positions
in the information-cultural and eco-
nomic-commercial cones are also at
the FSO-4 level. In fact, the FSO-4
level continues to be the most popu-
lous grade level in positions available
as well as the level held as a per-
sonal grade by the greatest number
of officers in the Service.
The Department does not intend
that any individual employee should
be adversely affected by the impact
of this reclassification effort nor
should there be any major realign-
ment of work forces resulting there-
from.
What this study will provide, how-
ever, is a rational position structure
base which can be used reliably for
determining recruitment, training,
needs.
other manpower
It will also ensure a more con-
sistent assignment pattern with officers
more often being assigned to posi-
tions classified at the level of their
own personal grade. Hence, a better
matching of people and jobs will be
possible with benefits accruing to both
the officer and his organization.
The Department expects there will
be further classification adjustments
as the Position and Pay Management
Division of PER, the staff responsible
for this study, obtains additional in-
formation on specific positions and
as program emphasis and job content
change. New regulations and proce-
dures governing the position manage-
ment function will be issued in the
near future.
Statistical tallies reflecting the
changes are under preparation and it
is planned to present them in a sub-
sequent issue of the NEwsLETTER.
Mr. Swedenburg is Chief, Position
and Pay Management Division Office
of the Deputy Director of Personnel
for Policy, Classification and Evalu-
ation.