FROM SOCIAL DOCTRINE TO IMPLEMENTATION: AGENDA SETTING IN COMPARABLE WORTH

Policy Studies Review, August, 1984, Vol. 4, No. 1.

Elulne Johensen FROM SOCIAL DOCTRINE TO IMPLEMENTATION:

AGENDA SETTINQ I# COMPARABLE WORTH

INTRODUCTION

The emergence o f comparable worth as a social doctr ine and i t s trans- formation into policies and programs prescribing new evaluative cr i ter ia in job analysis for personnel systems has placed public personnel administrat ion in a classic pol icy dilemma: neither standing pa t on traditional classification systems nor in i t iat ing new evaluatlve practices wil l shield it from legislative, union, o r judicial intervention (Johansen, 19841, publ ic personnel administration barely had adjusted to the impact o f a new bilat- eral dimension that collective bargaining brought to employee-management relations (Sulzner, 1982, p. 280). when a t r i lateral constituency o f administrat ive agencies and policymakers representing womens' groups and public sector unions entered the policy arena w i th an ar ray o f sophlsticat- ed agenda sett ing and implementation strategies, dif fused nationally (Crune, 1980), to challenge exist ing systems. Chronically underfunded and harnessed to piecemeal systems that comprise merit prlnciples and bargained positions that are d i f f i cu l t to reconcile in practice, publ ic personnel administration fu r ther i s hampered by ideological confusion over whether i t s process and product i s apolitical o r not (Klinger, 1979).

The circumstances surrounding the choice have been set in motion on the subnational level. Proponents o f comparable worth have transformed it from a dif fuse social doctrine, which proposes equal pay for work o f comparable value, to a concrete methodology known as objective job evol- uotion, which assesses components o f jobs relat ive to organizational pur- pose (Remick, 1978). The f i r s t statewide objective job evaluation study using comparable worth cr i ter ia was done in the State o f Washington and has ye t to be implemented (Remick, 1980). The in i t ia l f indings of other such evaluation studies have bee cited as evidence o f discrimination by unions in l i t igation in several states (Bureau o f National Affairs, 19811, including a $300 million sui t against the State o f Connecticut, the case considered below.

Poiicy analysis i s used in this study to describe features o f the agenda setting process in one state: the symbolization employed, especially labeling, and the character o f the resources available to agenda setters to follow through w i th organizational incentives to insure Implementation. The significance o f th is study lies in i t s exploration o f the impact on policy and administration o f the use o f multiple strategies of agenda setting and implementation by coalitions o f advocacy groups. The strategies to build legislative support ref lect the tradit ional advancement o f publ ic policies to assist the economic advancement o f women through pragmatic, incremental tactics that focus o n narrowly defined role equi ty issues' (Gelb and Pal- ley, 1982, pp. 5 , 7, 9). The coalitions concurrently built two additional features into the i r strategies: part icipation by the affected groups in the implementation o f policies and use o f collective bargaining and litigation to insure administrative attention to the goals of the sponsors.

B y conceiving o f agenda sett ing in i t s broadest sense (i.e., that it include analysis o f emergent policy systems designed to act on problems on

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72 Policy Studles Rsvlerr, August, 1964. 4rl

a continuing basis (Hoppe, 1977, p. 39). th is study of fers insights into how legislation that reduces confl ict in the policymaking stages increases biases during implementation toward groups with well defined interests and access (Lowi, 1969, 1971) o r bargaining advantages (Derthick, 1972), o r empowers other entities such as administrators (Kaufman, 1977; Seidman, 1980) or the courts (Jaffe, 1965; Davis, 1971). Any o f these outcomes have importance, theoretically, fo r assessing the continuing viabi l i ty o f public personnel administrators in the policy process. The study explores four things: (1) how comparable worth developed as a general policy issue; ( 2 ) policy framework to interpret i t s development; (3 ) application o f the framework to the coalitions and strategies developed by advocates in the Connecticut case; and (4 ) probable effects o f policy strategies and changes on subsequent evaluation and pay practices in the public sector.

DEVELOPMENT OF COMPARABLE WORTH AS AN ISSUE Comparable worth as a concept challenges the dual occupational and

wage structure that exists between male and female jobs. Proponents see working women increasingly caught in a downward spiral o f wage and status deflation, holding responsible jobs for less pay because they cannot be paired with equal but higher-paying job categories (Johansen, 1984). Unti l recently, the Equal Pay Act o f 1963 (EPA) and Ti t le VII o f the Civ i l Rights Act o f 1964 (Ti t le VI I ) have not offered legal recourse to women for challenging sex-segregated occupations, market factors that may perpetuate inequity, o r evaluation systems using factor weights that favor tradit ion- ally male occupations. Comparable worth i s an elusive concept, however, w i t h a methodological as well as a doctr inal fuce.

Much o f the l i terature on comparable worth deals w i t h general feminist theoretical treatments o f equity principles and legal action against implicit discrimination in sex-segregated occupations (Blumrosen, 1979; Chandler, 1980; Gassaway , 1981 ) . An emerging focus nationally is toward scrutiniz- ing job evaluation policies and procedures and weighing the efficacy of more government intervention in wage structur ing and evaluation practices (Meeker, 1981; Reichenberg, 1983). In 1979 and 1981 the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) commissioned the National Academy o f Sciences to study job evaluation practices to ascertain what relationship, if any, existed between the wage gap and personnel evaluation systems (Treiman, 1979; Treiman and Hartman, 1981 ). The f indings were cautious, academic, and tentative. In 1980 a national coalition o f labor and women's organizations published Manual an Pay Equity, which resulted from the f i r s t national Conference on Pay Equity held in Wash- ington, DC, October 24, 1979. The manual and conference served as dif fusion instruments* for the several hundred "experts and activists who had gathered to share information, discuss problems, and to begin to develop a coordinated strategy to raise women's wages'' (Grune, 1980, p. 3) . The manual integrated the legal, evaluative, policy and collective bargaining experiences o f proponents o f comparable worth and outlined legal, political, and organizational moves available to activists on the subnational level. It was the f i r s t comprehensive action guide in four cri t ical areas: employment statistics; case law under Ti t le VII and the EPA; EEOC activities, rules and policies; and state and local legislative policies and collective bargaining init iat ives directed toward studying job evaluation practices and lor restructur ing them to bring them into congru- ence with comparable worth cri teria.

The conclusions o f the conference were fai r ly expl ici t : by itself, no single strategy had worked--comparable worth had been considered but

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rejected in debate over the EPA in 1963 and was unl ikely to find much support in less l iberal Congresses (Haener, 1980, pp. 66-67); l i t igat ion cases and strategies has been poorly selected and had set damaging prece- dents (C. Wilson, 1980, pp. 89-90); l i t igat ion under the broad Ti t le V11 prohibitions o f discrimination seemed to be stymied by the application o f the EPA standards under the Bennett Amendment (Lemons v. City of Denver, 1980; Christensen v. State of Iowa, 1977) and by the fact comparable worth job evaluation studies to document discrimination in wages for women looked promising but had no immediate payoff in wage o r position remedy. Such studies were informational and lacked enforcement mechanisms. Pervasive in the manual were examples and exhortations to direct comparable worth to the subnational level, where feminists had some organizational and political advantages and where strategies coordinated and deployed in the public sector through "studies, organizing, legislation, collective bargaining, lobbying and litigation" could be effect ive (Grune, 1980, p. 1 1 5 ) .

AN INTERPRETIVE POLICY FRAMEWORK

Johansen/Agenda Set t ing i n Cmparable Worth

Schattschneider believed that ordinar i ly it is the weak who desire to socialize conflict. The crucial problem in pol i t ics then becomes the management o f confl ict once an issue enters the political arena. W h o is involved, how the issue is defined, the resources available, and the displacement o f confl ict are shi f t ing instruments o f political strategy (Schatt- schneider, 1960, pp. 36, 40, 69, 170).

For Comparable worth to have become a viable issue on the political agenda subnationally, several theoretically important components had to be in place to facilitate change: ( 1 ) the resources o f the actors--in th is case, groups desir ing change in the economic status o f women--had to conform to the requirements o f a plural ist, incremental decision setting. As such the actors had to socialize the confl ict wi th in manageable bounds by gathering allies and redefining the issues, and (2) the environment wi th in which change was desired--the public personnel system--had to be susceptible to the displacement o f confl ict because o f organizational weakness. Regard- less o f the tradit ional mobilization of bias in American polltics that had systematically limited the access to power o f women's groups, the sophisticated organizational structure o f the emerging feminist movement, and i t s knowledge and use o f p lural ist ideology, noted by (Gelb and Palley, 1982, pp. 3-13), gave it a decided advantage over those who operate and defend large public personnel systems.

Although there may be a good deal o f latent support for women's equity issues (Daniels e t al., 1982, pp. 578-587). proponents o f comparable worth qui te accurately received there was even more support for c iv i l service reform and restr icted themselves to specific technical issues w i th in personnel administration rather than general equity principles. The politically relevant characteristics o f the actors and the vulnerabi l i ty o f the public personnel environment helped tip the balance toward comparable worth during agenda setting.

The interest g roup liberalism (Lowi, 1969) o f legislators institutionalized dissent by providing for the inclusion o f feminist agenda setters in committees charged with overseeing program execution o f objective job evaluation studies. Some o f the studies later became the basis o f union litigation. An analysis o f the resources of the actors and the characteristics o f the environment follows, and discussion o f the importance to personnel administration o f the implementation stages foilows the Connecticut case study in the succeeding section.

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1. Resources o f the Actors. A theoretical approach to the study o f the m le o f women in American politics i s offered by Gelb and Palley (1982) as a set o f rules to which emergent groups must conform to achieve even limited social change. The groups must conform to achieve even limited social change. The groups must be perceived as legitimate, and, to appear so, must focus on incremental, narrowly defined issues that do not portend sweeping societal changes (especially role changes in the case o f women). They must provide information, avoid confrontation, and mobilize allies. Finally, they must expand o r contract their definit ion o f an issue and manipulate symbols favorable to it to contain it wi th in manageable bounds. Generally, the broader the goals sought and the more visible the issue, the more that prevai l ing values wil l seem threatened and counter movements w i l l appear to contest change (1982, p. 11). Gelb and Palley adjudge the most successful examples o f issue attainment in the policymaking setting to have been when feminists conformed to the scope and bias o f the system and participated in coalition building around single issues organized b y reformist and pragmatic leaders who generated an image o f competence and broad-based support (1982, pp. 5, 38, 170). A significant factor in the organizational l i fe o f national feminist groups, according to Gelb and Palley, i s the increasing staf f dominance o f most boards in the ''selecting o f issues and employing tactics and strategies for political influence" (1982, p. 42).

The incorporation o f women's advocacy groups within agencies on the state level, such as commissions on the status o f women, has moved from the solely legislative focus o f nongovernmental groups that concentrate on mobilizing political resources to the more sophisticated administrative agency inside-uccess model o f policy development described as the "easiest and most successful way for achieving both formal agenda status and implementation o f ... policy'l (Cobb, Ross, and Ross, 1976, p. 128).

It is the elevation to agency status, and the increasing dominance o f the boards o f state commissions on the status o f women by professional staf f that has altered the traditional policy framework and interest g roup strategies. Professional staf f o f state commissions on the status o f women are assuming leadership roles in selecting issues, forming administrative constituencies (Selznick, 1949), and employing tactics and strategies. The institutionalization o f women's advocacy groups within state agencies also has facilltated the purposive interaction o f women legislator caucuses with many women's special interest groups, including public sector unions. Unions have increasingly sought liaisons w i th professional staf f o f state commissions and have become part icipants in feminist policy planning networks. While friendships and shared ideological concerns strengthen the linkages among these groups (Gelp and Palley, 1982, p. 170), the dominant factor in successfully orchestrat ing legislative action and planning implementation strategies has been the availability o f slack resources3 o f the professional staf f o f the state commissions. The staf f assumes the role o f political entrepreneur Walker (1977, p. 445) in formulating problems and mobilizing attention to ideas whose Iltime has come.Il Further, the staf f provides the legal and technical information to feminist lawmakers who seek women legislator caucus support to influence fellow lawmakers (Gelb and Paiiey, 1982, p. 170). One additional resource o f the actors in the successful adoption o f publ ic personnel policies has been the defusing o f a potentially d lv is ive Issue, such as comparable worth, through labeling to stress i t s technical nature (Nelson, 1978, p. 35) and the real lying o f inf luential allies who wil l stress i t s pragmatic nature (Gelb and Palley, 1982, p. 170).

Joh.nsen/Agenda Setting i n Curtparable Worth 75

2. Characteristics o f the Environment. Public personnel administration suffers from problems o f image and control. Even fr iendly cr i t ics call i t s operations Ilimpersonal, slow, unresponsive, rigid and expensive1@ and say It Ilscarcely accomplishes public employment objectivesn1 (Newland, 1976). Traditionally, personnel managers have not been public advocates o f equity issues; their demeanor is set by allegiance to the customary principles o f neutral i ty and objectivi ty in administration. Legislative belief systems fu r ther reinforce the notion that the work o f publ ic personnel adminls- tration is apolitical and procedural rather than confl ict r idden and valua- tive. But, jus t as laorganizational arrangements are not neutralll in the public sector (Seidman, 1980), neither are procedures and the r igor wi th which they are enforced. Insuff icient guidelines exist in public personnel administration to assist managers in responsibly administerlng highly politicized systems. Indeed, personnel managers who s t r i ve for organizational effectiveness by studying their own operations may flnd themselves selectively punished by adversaries who use the Improved information generated as political currency in a contest for control.

Environmental factors are o f paramount importance for publ ic personnel systems. Three subgroups identi f ied by Klinger (1981 )--managers, employees, and outside groups--holds confl ict ing values and objectives rela- t ive to the operation o f the system and affect i t s survival in cri t ical ways. Legislators, courts, and regulatory agencies influence the system In i t s labor relations functions. Most controversies involving confl ict ing objectives o f competing subgroups have discredited the tradit ional assumptions "that personnel act ivi t ies are routine and noncontroversial1# (Klinger, 1981, p. 2). Personnel theorists considering structural and behavioral Impedi- ments to c iv i l service reforms about women see many environmental dllem- mas to be addressed; Friss (1982, pp. 44-45) Identifies four. ( 1 ) The need for management f lexibi l i ty, balanced against the competing need for "adequate guidelines to safeguard and prevent abuse o f the merit system." (2 ) The need to safeguard objectivi ty or, where subjective factors play a major role in processes, to scrut inize them for conformity to larger equity principles. (3 ) The growing role o f unions as determlnant vehicles in pay policies i s part icular ly pert inent to feminist concerns that male-dominated unions may block changes in job evaluation practices and cr i ter ia to safeguard their advantaged position. (4) The dominance o f market factors plays unevenly on female-dominated occupations. Exceptions exist: Public employers usually pay more than pr ivate to blue-collar workers, less to management and professional workers, and the same low wages to those in nursing according to Friss. So, by itself, market rationale seems ambiguous when applied.

Two dominant process recommendations seem to be galnlng currency in theoretical works and personnel practice. The f i r s t i s that, because unions have won Federal Labor Relations Author i ty sanction for bargaining over the procedural aspects o f performance appraisal systems (Sulzner, 1982, p. 282) and because job evaluation and wage determination mechanisms are "neither value free nor scientifically derivedm8 (Neuse, 1982, p. 16). affected groups should s t r i ve fo r greater part icipation in job evaluation through collectively bargained contracts o r pa r t o f tradltional merit systems and should remove the "influence o f experts1@ (Neuse, 1982, p. 16) .

The second process recommendation is that job redesign i s a more comprehensive approach to ending discrimination. In theory, organizations can redesign job classes; enlarge the complexity, scope, and responsiblllty of jobs; construct career ladders; and provide on-the-job t ra in ing to

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facilitate upward intergration rather than merely make salary changes (Neuse, 1982, p. 17) . In practice however upward mobility plans using job redesign have encountered union hosti l i ty in the public sector over the potential cooptation o f individuals and suspicioned l imit ing o f collectively bargained benefits.

One conclusion seems clear from even a cursory study o f environmental factors: Public personnel systems, as organizations, wi l l have to pay closer attention to survival concerns and environmental factors as they try to reach consensus on goals, objectives, and practices. Through the growth o f incompatible goals, incremental policies, subgroup politics, and archaic practices, the systems have become the likeliest target for issue displacement, unredeemable by even the majesty o f scientific management o r the sanctity o f efficiency.

APPLICATION OF THE FRAMEWORK TO THE CONNECTICUT CASE

The Connecticut case conforms to what Cobb, Ross, and Ross (1976) call the "inside access model" o f policy development. B y using the professional staf f o f the Permanent Commission on the Status o f Women to develop select legislative and interest g roup constituencies and confine expansion to part icularly inf luential groups, proponents achieved formal agenda status and enhanced possibilities o f implementation.

The politically relevunt context of the decision sett ing is cr i t ical to applying the policy framework to the Connecticut case. Context i s under- stood to be "the whole situation, background, or environment relevant to a part icular event ... o r creation" (Webster, 1970). To trace the progres- sion o f comparable worth from doctr ine to policy and from policy to administration, i t Is necessary f i r s t to describe and explain the context that informed the successive decisions and then to relate the events that flowed from the inside-access model o f policy development and implementation.

Two organizational factors were p a r t o f the context o f the decision setting and the development o f strategies. The f i r s t factor was the note- worthy organizational change within the Permanent Commission on the Status o f Women. Created in 1972, the PCSW was brought from leaderless disarray and contention over operating style and mission (Oldfield, 1976) to a cohesive, advocacy agency professionally directed toward political activism (Bucknell, 1982). The second factor was a series o f organizational constraints on the policy formation and operations o f the Department o f Personnel and Labor Relations (DPLR). One constraint was the inst i tut ion o f collective bargaining in 1975 (PA 75-566). which came as a surprise to many observers. The legislation was hasti ly passed and then implemented on very short notice (Biloon, 1979). Another constraint was a general reorganization o f state government, in 1977, that causes a general administrative aftershock. The confluence o f the two events made the DPLR director prone to accommodate legislative requests, o r a t least prone to extreme caution relat ive to any personnel issue to which lawmakers were attentive. The context then was in pa r t composed o f the organizational renaissance o f the PCSW, which adopted the inside-access model to structure events and the organizational vulnerabi l i ty o f the DPLR, which reacted circumspectly to events.

The chronology of events begins in the mid-seventies w i th constituent complaints to State Senator Audrey Beck by women employed by the State o f Connecticut who were unhappy over low pay; absence o f career mobii- i ty , counseling, o r t ra in ing opportunities; and threats to job security for protesting perceived inequities. Beck and another feminist senator, Betty Hudson, di l igently pursued each complaint w i th the employing agencies to

Johanren/Agenda Sett ing i n Conparable Worth 77

try to reach some agreement on the points a t issue administratively. The situation ballooned however as conferences w i th discontented individuals turned into lunches for rooms full o f people, then into large meetings, joined by the new public sector unions that were seeking constituencies and issues.

In 1975, Susan Bucknell was appointed executive director o f the Perma- nent Commission on the Status o f Women, bringing to it an activist orlen- tation. The PCSW embarked on a study o f state clerical workers (PCSW, 19771, aided by the Connecticut State Employees Association (CSEA), which had achieved union status w i th PA 75-566. Af te r a number o f public meetings and numerous conferences w i th state agency and DPLR personnel, Beck found she could not untangle where responsibility for the women's complaints rested--with the agencies o r w i th DPLR rule making; all disclaimed responsibility. She then concluded that legislative action was needed to address the problems o f dead-end jobs and lack o f career incentives and draf ted the Upward Mobility Program bill (PA 77-250) to initiate k r e a t i v e administrative remedies" for bureaucratic intransigence (Beck, 1982). The bill contained no appropriat ion provision o r any tangi- ble incentives o r guidelines for implementation, soon incurred union hostili- t y , and was abandoned by Beck and other sponsors af ter two years.

Bucknell served on the multi-agency Upward Mobility Program study committee and wrote i t s report (Report, 1979), two modes o f behavior that established her v is ib i l i ty and pattern o f interaction wi th various successive study and advisory committees and evaluation task forces. Slack resources (Nelson, 1978) in the Connecticut case was Bucknell's time, opportunity, and desire to serve. They allowed her to operate the PCSW l ike a single-issue constituency, selecting legislative issues to research and lobby for and mobilizing allies to achieve policy objectives. Bucknell had secured a position o f independence relat ive to the appointed PCSW board o f commissioners and was free o f i t s direction. Not encumbered l ike other administrative agency directors wi th administering programs, she assumed leadership roles and gained considerable expert ise on selected issues. She was part icular ly adept in the area o f employment Issues and became a close working partner o f women union lobbyists. What i s compelling about the relationship--each acting for her g roup in an agency-clientele relationship--is i t s resemblance to an administrative constituency (Selznick, 1949).

As Gelb and Palley (1982, p. 40) note, incentives for feminist leaders in political settings are ideological and social. I l lndividuals are drawn into the movement's network by ideology and often personal relationships, and they remain pa r t o f the complex organizational structure through extensive contacts, networks, and social ties." When the Upward Mobility Program failed to achieve i t s sponsors1 purposes af ter two years o f administrative study, it was natural that Beck look to Bucknell and union activists for a new direction. One union leader, Betty Tianti, had been a close friend, early supporter, and one-time campaign manager o f Beck's, and, as prima- r y lobbyist for AFL-CIO, had considerable contact wi th Bucknell. Incen- t ives beyond social consideration, fo r Beck, were straightforward. She believed in pay equity for women, had been thwarted in trying to produce administrative remedies, and needed continuing union financial and lobbying support for a number o f other legislative issues.

No one now can recall who Init iated comparable worth as a logical next step; it seems simply to have arisen in a discussion among Beck, Hudson, Bucknell, and Tiant i and other union activists who were contemplating the imminent demise of the Upward Mobility Program. How to construct a bill wi th safeguards such as those making implementation actually possible!

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Someone brought up the State o f Washington's experience with comparable worth, and the concept caught on with the group. Bucknell believes Beck then asked her to get a copy o f the Washington legislation regarding the objective job evaluation study. The bill Bucknell later wrote and had introduced called for the direct implementation o f changes in the classifica- t ion system, which Beck subsequently changed in committee testimony to a study o f the classification system. After th is false start, the legislation and strategies appear to have reached maturi ty through a number o f planning meetings that involved two more union lobbyists (Sylvia Terr i l l , CSEA; and Debby King, Local 1199, a hospital and health care workers union). Out o f the meetings, which began before and continued through 1979 legislative session, came a coalition that could lobby and marshal support for the bill. Bargaining and litigation--to raise the stakes for governmental inaction--were later assumed by the unions.

The Issue moved direct ly to the policy arena, where labeling and in- tense lobbying made objective job evaluation #'a mainstream political issue. It

As Bucknell (1980, pp. 125-28) was to tel l the national Women's Conference on Pay Equity f ive months later, "1298 [Senate bill number for PA 79-72] never had a vote against it.'' Bucknellls account o f the strategy and outcome is instruct ive.

The coalition worked.

The administrat ion was not enthusiastic about the b i l l . The major unions and the AFL-CIO were i n support o f the b i l l . The CSEA supported SB 1298 as part o f t h e i r agreeing not t o oppose a management b i l l tha t the Personnel Director wanted. This deal was the key t o ge t t ing and maintaining administrat ion support. The c le r i ca l s lobbied i n such a way tha t leg is la to rs recognized t h i s as a consti tuent issue. We could not have gotten the b i l l out o f the labor comnittee without the cha i r ' s support (Also an AFL-CIO person). It could not have been lobbied through without strong labor support, not only CSEA, ... but also the s ta te AFL-CIO, whose ch ie f lobbyist was a woman (T ian t i ) , and the campaign manager f o r the woman leg i s la to r (Beck) who had been the or ig ina l supporter . . . .

We were i n a pos i t ion t o constantly research and answer questions. What would i t mean t o have an object ive basis f o r evaluation o r ra t i ng jobs? What was comparable worth? How much would i t cost? We were also able t o b r ing together the various par t ies and mediate and comnunicate between the par t ies ....

The PCSW's ro le was also important.

Her prognosis o f outcome was equally precise:

Our route t o monitoring the study and the implementation i s an advisory comnittee. The membership includes the major unions and advocates f o r the b i l l and others recomnended by the Director o f Personnel. We see the continued coa l i t i on o f the various forces as c ruc ia l i n addressing real c o n f l i c t s tha t the study and implementation could ra ise . . . .

She concluded:

The work i s only j u s t begun. Legis lat ion i s only one strategy t o achieve object ive j o b evaluation. It does have an advantage as an organizing tool . It may wel l be People can focus on a b i l l .

Johansen/Agenda Setting fn Canparable Worth 79

... tha t the most sa t is fac to ry resu l t o f object ive job evaluation i s the stronger organization o f c l e r i c a l s themselves. It also depends on the existence o f other strategies such as court cases. I th ink the ul t imate success i n Connecticut ... w i l l depend on the extent t o which we mesh these various strategies.

The strategy o f introducing comparable worth under the label o f objec- t ive job evaluation, I t s methodological rather than doctr inal fuce,' effec- t ively converted a potentially controversial issue into a motherhood issue. Employment, equity, par i ty, and womenls r igh ts are expl ici t ly controversial, but af f ix ing a technical label to the issue directed attention to I t s potential for personnel reform through scientific management mechanisms. Scientific o r technical issues are less l ikely than social issues to be hotly debated since they seem amenable to mechanistic solutions (Nelson, 1978).

The outcomes included three studies that passed the Connecticut legislature: the 1979 Pilot Objective Job Evaluation Study, PA 79-72 referenced above, the 1980 Classification Study, and the 1981 Objective Job Eval- uation, which called for a large survey and subsequent analysis o f 2500 job classes. An advisory committee structure was implanted to guide the studies, and i t s membership included several advocates (Buckneli, PCSW; Tianti, AFL-CIO; and King, Local 1199) as well as eleven union representatives, four publ ic and two pr ivate personnel managers, and two legislators representing the Labor Committee. The same consultant was hired for al l three studies: Norman 0. Willis and Associates, who had conducted the State o f Washington studies and was the choice o f the advocates on the committee.

The f i r s t study's f indings indicated there might be some faulty aspects to the classification system, that, in some classes, pay and ski l l levels were not commensurate wi th responsibility, and jobs staffed predominately by women paid 8-18 percent less than those staffed by men. Willis recom- mended fu r ther study as well as the implementation o f the concept o f comparable worth to achieve greater equi ty (Willis, 1980). The second study concluded that the classification system was not operating as poorly as had been suggested in the pi lot study. The third study, authorized In June 1981, wil l complete gathering data by 1984. A full-time DPLR staf f person, Barbara Waters, was named director of a new Objective Job Eval- uation Unit. She had experience In DPLR and good working relations wi th the PCSW and union representatives.

A month af ter the passage o f the bill inst i tut ing the third objective job evaluation study, the U.S. Supreme Court opened the way for sex-based wage discrimination claims, such as those using comparable worth factors as standards o f proof under Ti t le VII . in County of Washington v. Cun- ther (1981). it ruled that appeals under Ti t le Vllts broad prohibitions against discrimination no longer had to meet the narrow tests o f equal pay for equal work o f the EPA. Although the court expl ici t ly did not base i t s opinion on comparable worth, it nonetheless ruled that women who hold di f ferent jobs than men can f i le discrimination charges (Neuse, 1982).

In July 1981, the American Federation o f State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which was to contend w i th CSEA for representation o f state clerical employees, joined an exist ing CSEA su i t f i led In federal court in 1979. The remedy asked fo r $300 million. AFSCME, using data from the objective job evaluation studies, charged inequality o f "rates o f pay which defendants [o f ] the State o f Connecticut have determined to be o f comparable o r equal value to work performed by male employees a t higher rates o f pay.Il5

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Elsewhere, AFSCME engaged in str ike action in the City o f San Jose, California, again c i t ing objective job evaluation study f indings and also filed suit against the State o f Washington. in San Jose, the political environment was conducive to immediate remedy, and the feminist dominated c i ty council provided a settlement that included $1.45 million in pay adjustments for women found to be in undervalued positions. The sui t in Connecticut i s st i l l pending. I t s one immediate effect has been to curtai l administrative comment on the progress o f the cur ren t study while the earlier f indings are under litigation. The Advisory Committee is routinely briefed on the progress o f the study and retains i t s character as a resource for the implementation goals o f the advocates.

PROBABLE EFFECTS ON PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION

Outcomes o f the policy process have t o be analyzed along two di- mensions: by the events immediately apparent in the instant case and by the probable long-term effects o f the framework applied elsewhere.

Comparable worth is an intriguing social doctrine. How and why it has achieved policy status on the subnational level is as much as study o f interest group and bureaucratic politics as it i s a study o f the formulation, diffusion, and adoption o f a poiicy issue concerned with equity principles. The significance o f th is study lies in i t s exploration o f the impact on poiicy and administration o f multiple strategies o f agenda sett ing and implementation by coalitions o f advocacy groups.

The shif t ing use o f comparable worth, as either a social doctr ine o r a methodology to assess jobs, has varied wi th the distr ibut ion o f power resources o f the sponsors and the value structure o r receptiveness o f the policy setting. The movement o f the issue form an abstract social doctr ine to concrete policies has depended upon the availability and use o f symbolic and practical resources o f the issue's sponsors during agenda setting. While the coalitions sponsoring the issue tend to be the same regardless o f the context--women officeholders, publ ic unions and women's commission staff-agenda setting strategies have varied from open confl ict to adminis- t rat ive remedies, depending upon the political resources o f the sponsors and the degree o f support for the issue in the general environment. In San Jose, open conflict was used, while in Connecticut, interests shared w i t h executive agencies made for common purposes and the possibi l i ty o f enacting social change by employing administrative devices.

Policy goals have remained fair ly consistent for proponents, irrespective o f place. These goals call for the inst i tut ion o f an intr icate series o f systemwide job evaluation studies, be i t for a c i ty, state, o r universi ty system. Findings o f preliminary studies could in turn be used as data for follow-up activities, such as: (1) sex discrimination suits under Ti t le VI I of the Civ i l Rights Act o f 1964; (2 ) negotiations under merit systems o r through collective bargaining fo r internal equi ty adjustments; and ( 3 ) classification and pay plan revision w i th employee, union, and women's advocacy group participation.

The ski l l fu l displacement o f the confl ict original ly concerned w i th pay equity for women onto publ ic personnel's classification practices and systems is more d i f f i cu l t to analyze systematically. While it is correct that not everyone is equally implicated nor inf luential in the policy emanation process and that analysts should study the resources and leverage potential o f a small group o f poiicymaking actors whose roles are central to agenda setting (Gergen, 1968, p. 181). the assumption that an individual o r group has leverage throughout the l i fe o f an issue fails to take into account the strategies and constraints that administrative organizations

Johansen/Agenda Sett ing fn C4mperable Worth 81

employ as they define and pursue political objectives and cope w i t h the environment (J. Wilson, 1973, p. 30). As Bardach (1972, pp. 241-61) suggests, a t the level o f description the t8political dynamics o f the implementation process resemble the dynamics o f the policy adoption process." But similarity o f process does not mean that the symbolic and practical institutional, social, o r personal resources o f political actors in policy init iat ion translate into organizational incentives in program delivery or implementation.

Personnel systems have varying incentive systems and act individual ist i- cally to meet their maintenance and enhancement needs (Wilson, 1973, p. 30). Differences in historical or ig in and in the social and political struc- tures in which personnel systems are embedded as well as perceptions o f personnel system's organizational autonomy o r vulnerabi l i ty operate to facilitate o r retard implementation. Political actors inf luential in agenda setting well may affect the incentive structure o f an implementing organization and subsequently intervene in i t s technologicql processes. Such intervention, though, depends direct ly upon having two sets o f resources: political, meaning those relevant to policy settings; and organizational, meaning those relevant to implementation.

There is wide disagreement over the efficacy and desirabi l i ty o f continuous intervention in al l stages o f the pol icy process from init iat ion to implementation. Bardach sees a more interactive role for those who set the agenda. He wants them to become involved as part icipants in the continuous, successive modifications o f program and policy that he believes implementation requires (1980; 1977). Bardach foresees a continuous intervention by the original sponsors o f legislation. Vagueness o f statutory author i ty for instance is not necessarily an insurmountable problem. Lowi (1969, 1971 ) contrariwise insists that vague legislation increases biases during implementation toward groups with well defined interests and access. According to Lowi (1969, p. 85) . few standards o f implementation accompany delegation o f power to administrators, and he hypothesizes that a public philosophy o f interest g roup liberalism has arisen to jus t i f y participation o f groups in governance and delegation o f authority from lawmaking bodies to administrators. The effect i s rationalization o f access for privi leged groups and the undermining o f accountability.

Several practical matters wil l certainly affect whether original sponsors o f objective job evaluation studies can successfully intervene and bargain for advantages during implementation in Connecticut and other jur is- dictions. Two potential constraints involve nongovernmental actors: the business community and public sector unions that represent male constituencies. Both have a material interest in wage s t ruc tu r ing and classifica- t ion systems in the public sector. Although the national AFL-CIO is on record as support ing comparable worth, i t s stand represents more the lobbying a t national convention in 1979 o f leaders o f the eight thousand member Coalition o f Labor Union Women than the operational acceptance by rank-and-file male publ ic sector union members. More women members i s a rational objective for national and local unions, and feminist authors increasingly depict unions as vehicles for accelerating social change in the workplace (Cook, 1980; Scott, 1982). But publ ic systems wil l be hard pressed to continue funding blue-collar, male-dominated union demands a t former levels o r to increase compensation for predominately sex-segregated female occupations. More than likely, publ ic and pr ivate management wil l find more merit in a heavier machine-person mix for activities that women tradit ional ly handle than to financially commit themselves to a potentially rest ive workforce.

82 Polfcy Studles Revfar. August, 1984. 4:1

In large central ized personnel systems, objective job evaluation operations w i l l be isolated es separate technical un i ts , much l ike EEO-Affirm- at ive Action, collective bargaining, and o ther controversial act iv i t ies (Kl inger, 1981). Such un i ts wi l l have as much access and c red ib i l i t y in h igher pol icy circles as i t s systems d i rectors believe is pol i t ical ly expedient o r administrat ively necessary. Isolation wi l l safeguard against the politically vulnerable appointed directors' be ing held d i rec t l y responsible fo r the uni ts ' work. Distance wi l l allow some selection a n d d iscret ion in approval o r disapproval o f unit products.

Fu ture pat terns o f pub l i c personnel pol icy and pol i t ical ly relevant behavior during agenda sett ing and implementation o f comparable w o r t h wi l l probably follow the Connecticut model; tha t is, incremental policies propos- ing objective job evaluation studies wi l l be suggested t o streamline personnel operations as well as t o review factor weights in classifications schemes for relevance to organizational purposes and f o r possible bias. Proponents w i l l stress the technical na ture o f the issue and suggest the conf l ic t i s over management practices, which requ i re the application o f more scienti f ic principles. Union members o f adv isory committees and select evaluation teams deployed by such studies wi l l d o the shirtsleeve work o f scrut in iz ing classifications job by job t o reach some consensus over benchmark po- sit ions. The most d i f f i cu l t stage wi l l be when dol lar f igures are attached to the classification systems newly certified as scienti f ical ly der ived and equitable. A t tha t time, new strategies and arenas o f ac t i v i t y w i l l become relevant. A l though it is d i f f i cu l t t o p red ic t how comparable w o r t h wi l l develop in any par t icu lar set t ing o r in the cour ts , economic issues are the new agenda for women in polit ics.6 W i t h unionization, publ ic personnel administrat ion has no readi ly apparent constituencies t o bo ls ter i t s claims to legitimacy as apolit ical representatives o f neut ra l employment policies. One f i rm predic t ion is tha t the issue is un l ike ly to g o away.

FOOTNOTES

'Celb and Palley (1982, p. 7) d is t inguish two k i n d s o f issues: role equi ty and role change. IIRole equity issues are those policies which ex- tend r i g h t s now enjoyed by o ther g roups ... t o women." They appear narrow in the i r implications. Role change issues "are perce ived t o threaten ex is t ing dependent female roles o f wife, mother a n d homemaker.Il

'The term diffusion i s used in t h i s s tudy t o r e f e r t o theories developed by Everet t Rogers and others c i ted by Jack L. Walker (1969).

3Slack resources i s used by Barbara Nelson (1978) t o r e f e r t o organizational resources available t o pol i t ical actors by v i r t u e o f position. Such resources also include time, oppor tun i ty a n d ambition.

'Remickls (1980, p. 418) analysis o f why the State o f Washington's comparable wor th act iv i t ies fai led o f fe rs a prescr ip t ion t o o ther states: "If the Washington experience i s generalizable, It appears tha t once an evaluation system i s touted as el iminating sex bias ... it may be impossible t o implement it. 'I

51ntervention Complaint f i led by t h e American Federation o f State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) (Ju ly 21, 1981, p. 5 ) in Connecticut State Employees Association (CSEA) v. State of Connecticut, H-79-197 (D. Conn. 1 .

Johansen/Agenda Sett ing i n Canparable Yorth 83

especially Pay Equity: Equal Pay for Work of Comparable Value, Part I and 1 1 , Joint Hearings before the Subcommittees on Human Resources Civi l Service Compensation and Employee Benefits o f the Committee on Post Office and Civi l Service House o f Representatives, Ninety-Seventh Congress, Second Session, September 16, 21, 3 0 and December 2, 1982.

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Subsequent research was conducted during 1980-1981 when the author was on sabbatical leave from the State University o f New York a t Buffalo and during the spr ing o f 1983 when he served as a Senior Fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Inst i tute o f Government in Albany, New York. Materials for the earlier phase o f the program reviewed here were gathered while the author was a Faculty Fellow o f the National Association o f Schools o f Public Affai rs and Administration a t the U.S. Department o f Housing and Urban Development in Washington from 1977-1978. Ar thu r Johnson and John Clayton Thomas were kind enough to comment on an earlier version o f th is article.

Documents

FROM SOCIAL DOCTRINE TO IMPLEMENTATION: AGENDA SETTING IN COMPARABLE WORTH