The Foreign Service Journal, March 2008

T he AFSA Governing Board was disappointed to see sev- eral highly-placed State Department officials — the State Department spokesman and two assistant secretaries—seek todenigrate the credibility of AFSA’s worldwide opinionsurveyof theStateDepartment ForeignService anddismiss out of hand the results of a poll inwhich thousands of our colleagues participated. And this was done in a public forum, on the State Department’s Internet blog, DipNote . AFSA takes these criticisms serious- ly, especiallybecause they come fromindi- viduals in senior leadership positions in the department. Because the criticisms were posted in a public forumthat would be seenbymanyForeignServicemembers, AFSA sent out a Jan. 15AFSAnetmessage in response. Many people frominside and outside the Foreign Service posted com- ments (seeboxbelowfor one typical exam- ple). Go tohttp://blogs.state.gov/ , January postings, to see all the exchanges. While AFSA understands that these senior officials might not share the opin- ions reflected in the survey results, it stands by the survey as valid and relevant. The electronic poll drew completed respons- es from4,311 State Foreign Servicemem- bers out of a total of 11,300 possible respondents. The respondents included specialists and generalists, as well as those assignedoverseas and those assigned domestically, in almost exactly their respective percentages in the total Foreign Service population. Any pollster or statisticianwill con- firm that a response rate of nearly 40 percent of the total population con- stitutes a statistically valid survey sample. The criticismthat the survey is inconsequential because itwas “self- selecting” is inaccurate. Every pub- lic opinion poll is inherently self- selecting in that participation is voluntary. The State Department itself has con- ducted a number of employee surveys in recent years that have attracted a smaller percentage of voluntary respondents than did AFSA’s poll, yet State con- sidered them to be highly valid and representative. AFSA’s intention is not to cause a rift between State Departmentmanagementand employees. Foreign Service members remainprofound- ly loyal anddedicated toour sense of duty. But there are clearly some very serious concerns held by a great many members of our profession that senior departmentofficialswould be well advised to take to heart. The survey results can help State manage- ment understand what those concerns are and seek better ways to address them, ina spir- it of open-minded- ness, working side- by-side with AFSA. For the record, AFSA’s senior leaders gave a one-hour briefing on the survey’smethodology and results to three of the State Department’s topofficials on Dec. 18, several weeks before the survey was published. AFSA’s leaders briefed anoth- er top official on Jan. 10. While several of them ex- pressed some concerns about the specific phraseologyof a few questions, all of those officials indicated that they agreed that the survey provided valuable insights into the views of their Foreign Service employees. Foreign Service employees can judge for themselves the credibil- ity of thisworldwide poll. Detailed resultswere reported in the January issue of AFSA’s Foreign Service Journal (www.afsa.org/Jan08sur vey.pdf ). MA R CH 2 0 0 8 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 65 A F S A N E W S “As others have noted, the simple fact that senior officials more or less dismiss the opinions of over 1/3 of their employees speaks volumes to the issue. I must have missed that management skill in business school. You want people to fall in line? Unquestioningly volunteer for service in Iraq? Accept the pay cuts involved in serv- ing abroad? We signed up to do this and we’re all (most of us, at least) more than happy to salute leaders that we respect. In return, though, show some respect for our opinions and act on them as appropriate. Debating the scientific validity of the survey itself simply shows the all too frequent State ‘leadership’ attitude of ‘suck it up quietly’ as opposed to inspiring us.” (Comment on DipNote from “J in U.S.,” Jan.15) “I read with dismay the article in the Washington Post reporting on an AFSA survey which purported to show disap- pointment within the Foreign Service with Secretary Rice’s leadership. “As any professional pollster will tell you, this kind of survey is imprecise and misleading. The survey does not include a representative sampling of the Foreign Service and it collates only the opinions of those who respond. It is a snapshot of a self-selecting group, and should not be understood to reflect the views of the nearly 12,000 mem- bers of the Foreign Service. “More to the point, it does not reflect my views. I have had the honor of working for Condoleezza Rice at the National Security Council and at State Department. She [is] committed to the State Department as an institution, the Foreign Service as an organization, and Foreign Service Officers as individuals.” (Comment on DipNote from Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon, Jan. 9.) FOREIGN SERVICE FLOGGING State Officials Blast AFSA Survey on DipNote Blog