The Public Manager: The New Bureaucrat articles from September 1993

The Public Manager: The New Bureaucrat archives from September 1993

Here's my chance: an SESer directs the NPR. (senior executive service member Robert A. Stone; National Performance Review) (National Performance Review) (Interview)
September 22, 1993... An interview with Robert A. Stone, 24-year veteran of the Department of Defense, charter SES member, who is project director of the National Performance Review. HALE: How long have you worked for the federal government, in what departments and...

Did NPR reinvent government reform? (National Performance Review) (National Performance Review)
September 22, 1993... The inherent problem is to do something quite important but also quite mundane and undramatic within a political force field of superficial soundbite discourse. The current movement to "reinvent government," a centerpiece of the Clinton...

Reinventing the workplace: interagency telecommuting centers. (National Performance Review)
September 22, 1993... Managers will learn how to manage for results rather than checking to see if an employee is still at his/her desk. Tasking will become more objective and employees will have a better idea of what is expected of them. "If we don't find...

Transforming federal civil service.
September 22, 1993... Can federal human resource management become more strategic, adaptive, and responsive to managers' needs? The answer is a resounding yes! But major changes are needed. Human knowledge, skills, and experience have become increasingly pivotal...

The public and the foreign policymaker. (foreign policy planning should consider public opinion studies)
September 22, 1993... We do owe the electorate our best judgment; this does not mean we should not give due weight to the public opinion studies in our policy planning activities. In a democracy like ours public opinion is a powerful force. If the public is not...

Introduction to the series. (government programs using new information technology and electronic delivery services) (Information Management/Technology)
September 22, 1993... The nation and its government in particular have yet to tap the potential benefits that can come with a more integrated information strategy. Key to Better Government Today all segments of society rely on information and information...

Machiavelli reinvented: integrity, power, and democratic responsibility. (Integrity in Government)
September 22, 1993... Machiavelli's solution offers too little guidance on determining political ends but much of it is remarkably cogent in service to a worthy end. In The Prince, Machiavelli describes what a ruler or aspiring ruler must do to maintain or acquire...

Disability rights: final frontier of the civil rights movement? (Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990) (Managing/Valuing Diversity)
September 22, 1993... The ADA provides an opportunity for government--and for each of us--to reaffirm our commitment to people with disabilities. "No Blacks Allowed!" Can you imagine entering a building with this sign on the door? Probably not. How about one that...

Needed: better customer service, more proactive outreach. (Toward a Positive Image)
September 22, 1993... We have to persuade the next generation that careers in government are exciting, rewarding, and important. In the world envisioned by George Orwell in 1984, Big Brother kept track of public opinion on government through omnipresent "thought...

Reinventing government: moving beyond the buzzwords. (Young Professionals' Arena)
September 22, 1993... Changing the risk-intolerant nature of the bureaucracy is key to reforming the system. Young professionals will be better off if they are ready for it. I am sure that most readers of this department, despite their short tenure with the federal...

Experiencing reinvention from the inside. (inside experience about VP Al Gore Jr.'s National Performance Review) (Young Professionals' Arena)
September 22, 1993... A presidential management intern tells about her experience on the vice president's National Performance Review. When the opportunity arose to work in an organization led by Vice President Gore and a cadre of seasoned professionals from federal...

The Washington Monument Syndrome. (reviewing the National Performance Review) (The Uncivil Servant)
September 22, 1993... National Performance Review Review BY THE TIME of publication of this issue of The Washington Monument Syndrome, the much ballyhooed National Performance Review should be public information. This is the task force of Assistant Vice President...

Too many rights, too few responsibilities. (Amitai Etzioni's solution for social movement) (The Bookshelf)
September 22, 1993... GEORGE BUSH INVOKED a "kinder, gentler nation." Bill Clinton urged Americans to strengthen our communities. Harkening to "community" is a common thread in today's political discourse. Even reinventing government entails empowering communities....

Breaking the quality barrier. (quality management and innovative practices in the public sector) (Quality Management)
September 22, 1993... In cooperation with the American Society for Public Administration, we present a special Public Manager supplement dedicated to an overview of quality management and innovative practices in the pubic sector. The 1990s mark a turning point for...

Employee empowerment: flaws and practical approaches. (includes related article) (Quality Management)
September 22, 1993... TQM may be developing into a governmentwide experiment that will be viewed as a failure but in fact may never have actually taken place. The call for quality in America has been heard. Indeed, we are seeing more of the voice of the customer in...

Leadership for public service quality improvement. (comparison with the private sector)(includes related article) (Quality Management)
September 22, 1993... Despite positive evidence of progress, when compared with the private sector, governments still have a long way to go. There is an urgent need to improve quality in all functions and at all levels of American public services. Unfortunately, few...

Quality and competitiveness: new partnerships, new structures. (Quality Management)
September 22, 1993... These are two questions that all nations should ask themselves. Who are we competing with? What are we competing for? Competitiveness depends on a number of factors, including cost, design, and dependable delivery. But quality is clearly the...

Quality as change management. (managing change makes all the difference) (Quality Management)
September 22, 1993... Managers must approach the process of change and implementation with equal attention and resources. Learning how to manage change can make all the difference. Over the past 10 years, the quality movement has been in the forefront of the...

Process reengineering: breaking the quality barrier. (Quality Management)
September 22, 1993... The lure of process engineering is its promise to achieve a quantum leap in overall performance improvement. Just when you thought it was safe to start wading into the quality management waters, along comes something new and different that...

TQM: a labor-management cooperation and participative management assessment. (total quality management) (TQM and Labor Management Relations Issues)
September 22, 1993... Introduction Quality is fundamental to organizational survival. No one would dispute that in either the public or private sector. But when quality theory reaches organizational workplace practices, the actual choice of methodologies becomes...

The evolution of workplace democracy: from labor-management cooperation to total quality management. (TQM and Labor Management Relations Issues)
September 22, 1993... Today there are those encouraging even greater participation of employees in management decisions on a broad range of employment issues with the promise of productivity and quality improvement. These proponents of the "quality movement" focus...

TQM and labor relations cooperation: a match made in heaven or devil take the hindmost? (total quality management)(includes related article) (TQM and Labor Management Relations Issues)
September 22, 1993... From the union perspective, the public sector presents unique opportunities. It is a highly unionized environment and representation includes a significant number of services and professional employees. These are workers American unions must...

TQM, performance appraisal, and training: selected issues and implications. (total quality management) (TQM and Human Resources Management Issues)
September 22, 1993... Introduction Much has been made of the problems associated with getting management and employees to come together as partners to make quality a reality in the public sector. An even larger problem that may need to be addressed first is what...

At last, an alternative to performance appraisal: total quality management. (TQM and Human Resources Management Issues)
September 22, 1993... What do the years ahead hold? Future history presents three scenarios. The first forecasts retention of performance appraisal systems. Clinging to power, management is unwilling to empower workers, and thereby diminishes the effectiveness of TQM...

Perspectives of performance appraisal in a TQM environment. (total quality management) (TQM and Human Resources Management Issues)
September 22, 1993... TQM relies on teamwork and cooperation and focuses on improving systems instead of individual performance. Deming and others advocate eliminating performance appraisals because they claim appraisals improperly motivate employees to focus on their...

Toward a public sector blend of human resources management and TQM. (total quality management) (TQM and Human Resources Management Issues)
September 22, 1993... TQM should cause the organization to review both its methodology in terms of the establishment of base pay and its other pay objectives such as seniority, merit, equity, and the importance of the market in setting pay. Pay issues have not...

A TQM perspective on group communications and decisionmaking processes. (total quality management) (TQM and Participative Management Issues)
September 22, 1993... Introduction Perhaps the most compelling feature of total quality management is its reliance on bottom-up workforce involvement. TQM uses a variety of work groups that emphasize participative management. Employees are asked and expected to...

Involving front-line employees in state and local government decisionmaking. (TQM and Participative Management Issues)
September 22, 1993... Under TQM the rationale for the worker participation is increased productivity. The worker's input and suggestions are needed because the worker who performs a given task has information about that task that no one else has. Participation is...

Using teams to create a quality culture. (total quality management teams) (TQM and Participative Management Issues)
September 22, 1993... Our experiences with foundation, functional, and quality improvement teams have had a positive impact on GSA in many different ways such as increasing employee involvement and interpersonal communication, identifying cost reductions, stimulating...

The soul in the machine: quality, power, and the future of work. (total quality management programs) (TQM and Participative Management Issues)
September 22, 1993... It is a given that no quality program can succeed in the long run if it is unable to address the working needs of the employees who operate it. Necessary for getting the job done well is the satisfaction of other human needs. Reciprocally...

A paradigm for lean quality and productivity performance in government. (total quality management) (TQM and Customer Focus/Service Issues)
September 22, 1993... Introduction A quality organization, so the theory goes, begins with the voice of the customer. Indeed, many of the quality pioneers in the private sector explained quality in very direct customer terms: "quality is the satisfaction of...

Operating under the quality umbrella: citizen service priorities and effective use of limited resources in local government. (total quality improvement) (TQM and Customer Focus/Service Issues)
September 22, 1993... The literature is filled with warnings about the hazards of using citizen surveys for decisionmaking. This paper encourages the use of citizen surveys as an important tool for shaping services to fit demand. Those who engage in applied research...

Service quality: bringing TQM together with customer service. (total quality management) (TQM and Customer Focus/Service Issues)
September 22, 1993... It is a given that everything won't go smoothly in every transaction. There will be problems with core services; there will be irate customers who are handled badly. The cycles of service provide an opportunity to see what problems may occur and...

Strategic management and TQM: promises and possibilities. (total quality management) (TQM and Strategic Management Issues )
September 22, 1993... Introduction How important to quality management is top management commitment? If continuous quality improvement is truly a bottom-up, employee empowerment focused movement, what do organizational leaders do? Are they involved participants or...

TQM in the public sector: an application to municipal services. (total quality management) (TQM and Strategic Management Issues)
September 22, 1993... As the quality vision permeates an organization, people trained in quality process improvement techniques focus on work processes and systems that have the greatest impact on senior management's quality improvement goals. A hallmark of total...

Reformulating organizational culture: the key to TQM in the public sector. (total quality management) (TQM and Strategic Management Issues)
September 22, 1993... Since the early 1980s, there has been a growing body of literature on organizational culture and its attempts to perpetuate or change cultural values and individual behaviors of members in order to increase their chances of being competitive or...

Public sector quality management. (total quality management) (TQM and Implementation Issues)
September 22, 1993... Introduction When all is said and done about TQM in the public sector, one should remember three things: implementation, implementation, and implementation. Essentially, this entire supplement has been about implementation issues. customer...

Performance measurement and TQM in the public sector. (total quality management) (TQM and Implementation Issues)
September 22, 1993... The total organizational performance system (TOPS) is currently being implemented in a 4,000+ employee government agency as part of an overall program to enhance organizational effectiveness, within an environment of increased fiscal...

The panacea phenomenon and the fate of total quality management. (TQM and Implementation Issues)
September 22, 1993... Total quality management is a philosophy that focuses attention on customers' wants, a set of techniques that are needed to institutionalize a system, and leadership necessary to keep the organization operating according to the philosophy of...