1. Chapter 7: Administrative Reform

2. “As society continues to change rapidly, the solutions of the past are no longer sufficient. Not only is there no ‘one size fits all’ solution across countries, but countries should also learn to use reform to create institutions that can constantly adapt to changes in their own societies and to changing outside forces.”
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2002

3. Reform in America
Americans have always been devoted to reform – the country began with a commitment to change!
Most innovative administrative thinking comes from the private sector.
Arise from experiments at state and local levels of government

4. Conflicting Theories Reform Strategies: Downsizing Reengineering
Continuous improvement

5. Type of Reform: Downsizing
Downsizing: government is too big, so shrink government
e.g., Set arbitrary ceilings on taxes or personnel
Originated at state level in 1970s, continued through 1990s and 2000s

6. Reform Strategy: Downsizing
Goal: Lower expenditures
Direction: Outside-in
Method: Blunt targets
Central focus: Size
Action: Discontinuous

7. Downsizing Policies
Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR): 1992, passage of constitutional amendment in Colorado to limit tax increases; sparked similar legislation in other states
Private Sector Survey on Cost Control (Grace Commission): 1984, produced 2,500 recommendations that its report said would save $425 billion over three years; desired huge cuts in federal government

8. Downsizing Policies (continued)
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act (Gramm-Rudman): 1985, forced Congress and the president to begin bringing the burgeoning federal deficit under control; made downsizing important at all levels of government
Reinventing government: 1993, Gore and Clinton attempted to make federal government work better and cost less; term from 1993 book of the same title by Osborne and Gaebler
National Performance Review promised voters $108 billion in savings by 1999

9. Assessing Downsizing Movement largely atheoretical
Little planning done in advance of adopting measures
Has limited growth of government spending and tax revenues in United States
Unclear effects on quality of services and efficiency of administration
More symbolic for officeholders

10. Type of Reform: Reengineering
Reengineering: championed by Michael Hammer and James Champy: “reform by starting all over,” redesign of work process of three Cs: customers, competition, and change
Some, like Frederickson, question validity of a government approach based on customer service – citizens are owners

11. Type of Reform: Reengineering (continued)
Customer service movement: in infancy, emphasizes how to identify customers and incentives for employees to serve customers better
Performance management: reshapes incentives throughout the system (e.g., Virginia and federal level)

12. Reform Strategy: Reengineering
Goal: Efficiency
Direction: Top-down
Method: Competition
Central focus: Process
Action: Discontinuous

13. Assessing Reengineering
Single-mindedness of reengineers is greatest virtue and biggest weakness
Great influence on Gore’s "reinventing government"
Many believe reengineering is a high-risk venture

14. Type of Reform: Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement: more gradual, continuous bottom-up movement to top of organization
Total quality management (TQM): seeks to improve quality within existing process through continuous improvement
Deming: Costs decline as quality increases
Reengineering believes in process, but TQM also emphasizes product, organization, leadership, and commitment

15. Reform Strategy: Continuous Improvement
Goal: Responsiveness
Direction: Bottom-up
Method: Cooperation
Central focus: Interpersonal relations
Action: Continuous

16. Assessing Continuous Improvement
TQM has been around longer than reengineering; utilized more
Drove Gore’s “reinventing government” more than other reform efforts
Many state and local reforms

17. Transparent Performance
Failure of “vending-machine” government
Obama administration implements a new strategy: transparent performance
Virtually connecting with citizens
Redefine accountability through transparency

18. Conflicting Approaches
Fundamental precepts of each movement directly conflict with others
Supporters of downsizing believe dramatic action is required; reengineers and continuous improvers believe greater efficiency and smaller organizations ought to be the result

19. Conflicting Approaches (continued)
Reengineers seek to transform lower-level workers by dramatic policy change at top; continuous improvers say let lower-level workers define organization’s transformation
Approach that works best is unknown

20. All the World’s a Stage
Administrative reform is part of government everywhere.
No single set of ideas drives it globally.
Developed most in the last decade.

21. Conclusion Reformers have mixed and matched ideas.
Reforms have produced significant effects in America and other nations.
Management matters only to the degree to which it matters politically.
Many reforms have created big and sometimes unexpected new problems.