Comments on: Running Government Like a Corporation

By: Apikoros

Apikoros — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 03:27:42 +0000

I was present at the creation of the Department of Energy, my first job after dropping out of college. Xerox operator… a skilled, responsible position

When I went to work, it was the Federal Energy Office (FEO), then the Federal Energy Administration (FEA), back to FEO (budget cuts)), FEA (cuts restored), and Department of Energy! Went thru 5 or six offices in as many buildings, helped set up (literally) the first “cube farm,” never knew from one day to the next who or where I shoould report. A true zoo!

As I read the Post series, I can see all this and more in my mind. There is NO chance this will work within the next decade, I promise you.

By: maha

maha — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 03:16:02 +0000

“Never underestimate the power and value of institutional memory. That’s my primary rule of organizations these days, after years of watching restructurings in small and large outfits.”

I’m with you. Unfortunately your average CEO never worked in the trenches and doesn’t get it.

By: Chief

Chief — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 03:02:37 +0000

I have said for years that most businesses don’t thrive because of good management, they survive despite bad management. General Motors is the current good example.

Bush led several companies in the private sector that were abysmal failures. Now he thinks that he is still a CEO and he is a gross failure.

By: Steve from Canukistan

Steve from Canukistan — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 02:06:26 +0000

I always thought that the name “Department of Homeland Security“had an animal farm Orwellian ring to it that was more appropriate for Nazi Germany than a great democracy like the USA. I have worked as a manager in both the Canadian Federal government and the Province of Ontario for 22 years in the area of social policy and service delivery and have seen a lot of changes. I have also worked on a few major business transformation projects. When it comes to government big is never better! Canada learned that the hard way years ago. I predict the whole (DHS) thing will finally collapse under it own weight and will be quietly restructured into more manageable parts. Most likely either after the chief dunce gets sent packing back to Crawford on a permanent vacation or after another Kratina/911 type disaster that gets fumbled yet again.

By: Linkmeister

Linkmeister — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 19:52:52 +0000

Never underestimate the power and value of institutional memory. That’s my primary rule of organizations these days, after years of watching restructurings in small and large outfits.

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 18:30:59 +0000

I have worked for the Federal Government for 30 years and know for a fact that you cannot run a Federal Government Agency like a corporation. Of course, there might have been a modicum of success had any of these idiots known anything other than politics. You have to remove the politics from the Federal Government or nothing will work–as is being displayed now. That was the whole point of the Civil Service Reform Act.

And, if you are running a coporation, the last thing any smart CEO is going to do is cut its financial base (taxes). In fact, the whole purpose of any corporation is to increase its financial base. Thus, you cannot improve the Federal Government without money. But, then, we all know that the Republicans have never wanted any thing other than the death of the Federal Government. Boy, have these guys screwed up this country.