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<br />A ~ductivily program need not be
<br />,'ex~sive. Canada has, over the past seven
<br />yc~, institutcd what appears to be a first-
<br />.rate program at a cost of $13 milliom
<br />million, not billion. Arou~
<br /> tinglon, $13 million is mad mon~.
<br />
<br />-~Congresswoman Patricia Sch~'oeder
<br /> Democra! of Colorado
<br />
<br /> effective than private business at collect-
<br /> inl~lebts, the GAO found, partly because
<br /> itt
<br /> tn't use credit bureaus and didn't go
<br /> 'aft~small debtors.
<br /> Even if the public's worst suspicions
<br /> ablt the efficiency of bureaucrats were
<br /> trrI however, it would be as senseless
<br /> to blame the civil servant as to blame the
<br /> Iblu~l-collar worker and his purported loss
<br /> oflrk ethic for the slowdown in private-
<br /> ,sec.~r gains. Enlightened managers see
<br /> the source of the trouble in the system--
<br /> inlanagement--rather than in the work-
<br /> er. tven the right incentives, most people
<br /> Ii e to do a good job. In many agencies,
<br /> government employees have been per-
<br /> ,.foXing well for years. They seem to work
<br /> be~in operations like the passport office
<br /> that have a clear, straightforward mission.
<br />
<br />F tanks to one
<br />
<br /> .~ missions of education, defense, and
<br />the war on poverty are more nebulous
<br />anl~eem to defy productivity efforts. Un-
<br />fo~lnately, as the lower chart on page
<br />148 demonstrates, they are also the most
<br />exlinsive. The defense establishment has
<br />.cr~led hundreds of admirable productiv-
<br />ity~rograms. The Navy, for instance,'has
<br />introduced quality circles in shipyards,
<br />paBbonuses to computer operators who
<br />rail their output, and has streamlined
<br />purchasing for "fast payback" equipment.
<br />But these efforts are drowned in a pro-
<br />li!ltion of checks, hearings,
<br /> analyses,
<br /> r~--
<br />vi~s, and other complications. Anthony
<br />R. Battista, a member of the House Armed
<br />Seices Committee staff, figures it took
<br />
<br />152 FORTUNE ,~ lo, la~l
<br />
<br />Three Who Want
<br />Government
<br />to Shape Up
<br />
<br />We've got a long way to go before
<br />productivity has sex appeal. PeopIe are
<br />suspicious. Ail they've heard about it is bad.
<br />You've got to show them you can maintain
<br />services while absorbing budget reductions.
<br /> --James B. Hunt Jr.
<br /> Governor of North Carolina
<br />
<br />'13 steps to develop a new weapons sys-
<br /> tem until Defense Secretary Robert Mc-
<br /> Namara began converting the Pentagon~
<br /> to systems analysis in 1961. Today it
<br /> takes 400 steps. The Russians progressed
<br /> through four generations of tanks while
<br /> the LI.S. developed one..
<br /> Few people in Washington would dis-
<br />'agree with James M. Peirce, president of
<br /> the National Federation of Federal Em-
<br /> ployees, who says morale is at "rock bot-
<br /> tom.'' How can government workers be
<br /> expected to produce more, h~ argues,
<br /> when "their bosses [especially 'in the cur-
<br /> rent Administration] and the news media
<br /> have continually maligned, criticized, and
<br /> misrepresented federal ' employees." 'Se-
<br /> nior civil servants are leaving government
<br /> at an unprecedented rate--20% plan to
<br /> go in the next two years--mostly beca.use
<br /> their pay has been squeezed against a ceil-
<br /> lng of $50,112; the top seven grades are
<br /> bunched together at this limit. In the last
<br /> five years, top officials have had one 5.5%
<br />
<br />A good deal of the impetus for our
<br />productivity, drive came frorn Proposition 13.
<br />People are findlng they can do certain things
<br />with less money. That has created a major
<br />boost in morale in governmenL
<br />
<br /> --Dianne Feinstein
<br /> Mayor of San Francisco
<br />
<br /> cost-of-living increase, while the consum-
<br /> er price index has gone up 44%.
<br /> President Reagan has swept like an
<br />avenging angel into this dispirited army,
<br />wielding his cost-cutting sword. While
<br />wholesale budget cuts may spur some of-
<br />ficials to innovation, the bureaucracy has
<br />an extraordinary ability to deflect reform.
<br />A common reaction is known in the cap-
<br />ital as the Washington Monument syn-
<br />drome. Threatened with a reduction of
<br />furiding some years ago, the National
<br />Park Service warned that it would' have
<br />to close down the monument, its most
<br />2 popular fa~cility. Naturally, the monument
<br />'was not dosed and, as expected, some
<br />funds were restored. ' -
<br /> Even the most promising remedies have
<br /> a-way of going awry in Washington. In
<br /> 1978 Congress passed the Civil Service
<br /> Reform Act to increase work incentives.
<br /> The act created a Senior Execut. ive Ser-
<br /> vice of 7,200 top positions in which of-
<br /> ficials can earn bonuses that sometimes
<br /> run up to $20,000 a year. The results,
<br /> says an official of the Office of. Man-
<br /> agement and Budget, "have been very
<br /> disappointing." Instead of being used to
<br /> reward competence, the bonuses are of-
<br /> ten passed out in lieu of raises. With Rea-
<br /> continued
<br />
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