I see it everywhere - I work in the biggest one of all - the federal government
The combination of very large egos and a lack of accountability and leadership makes the government bureaucracy very difficult to change. As a result, this combination makes individual jobs very difficult when it comes to performance.
Joe-- you make a very interesting point here about lack of accountability in bureaucracy. One would think that there is MORE accountability in bureaucracy, simply because the lines of control and authority are usually clear. But my experience is similar to yours--that it actually leads to LESS accountability in the end. I wonder why that is so?
I have two thoughts 1) it is easier to "hide" in the complexity of a big bureaucratic structure. Because of multiple levels of decision-making/approval, etc. it is often takes more time to discern where things went awry than it is worth to figure out, so no one even bothers. 2) people feel powerless operating in a large bureaucracy so they are less likely to step up and take personal accountability/responsibility for projects. It is easier to fade into the system than it is to lead.
Your thoughts?
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Reading this article http://www.mckinsey.com/Insights/public_sector/how_government_can_promot... I learned that some information is still trapped in paper records. In other words: I think you have a point, Chris, that the degree of openness / transparency is an important aspect. In this regard, I was thinking that this open data index would be helpful https://index.okfn.org/country
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Chris – Joe
My experience is that the first point, the complexity of the bureaucratic structure, is mainly responsible for the lack of accountability. We have noticed that the more actors are involved, the more careless and less accountable they are becoming. A good explanation might be that the inevitable fragmentation of responsibilities reduces the individual risk associated with them. In addition, such structures induce many repetitive controls that over time become sluggish due their increased reliance to the work of somebody else… The recent unfortunate event with the missing Malaysian plane is such an example…
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