Article 44. Replacing Bureaucracies with Total Change
Bureaucracies in many ways are like dinosaurs capable of adapting to new environmental threats yet still remaining a dinosaur. They are remarkably adaptable when it comes to protecting their self-interest. Some unnamed state governments have promoted and implemented Total Quality Management (TQM) teams. But what really happened is only lip service was given to the idea and the teams were simply added to the structure of the organization and any benefit from the implementation of TQM was lost.
TQM is the same idea as the Work Improvement Teams (WITs) which I recommend. However bureaucracies are inherently unable to process the words “Total Quality”. That is understandable since TQM came from a manufacturing environment, which focused on raising the quality of a companies products thus increasing sales and profits. TQM and WITs won’t work without getting the entire management to change their focus to process improvement and serving the public. The reason for an organization to exist is to perform one or more functions. Functions have a set of processes that can be improved by those performing the processes.
What is needed is cataclysmic change throughout the organization, which is nearly impossible in a bureaucratic organization. But change can come to bureaucracies if top management is willing to do the following: embrace the WIT concept, eliminate bureaucratic complexity, reduce the number of levels of the organization, empower all employees to be innovative and focus on the customer the public that you are serving.
I have discussed the WIT concept and how to implement the teams in Article 11. “Adaptation of Manufacturing Quality Improvement Techniques to Achieve Efficient Government “.
By “elimination bureaucratic complexity” I mean just that throw out detailed job descriptions and endless evaluations. Instead trust peer reviews from the WITs. Don’t read any memo over two pages long and if you do get any send them back to be rewritten. Totally kill this idea of my office is bigger than yours by eliminating all offices and have only conference rooms. Where I once worked some times when a person could not be promoted because the larger office required was unavailable with out building an addition to the office.
Reducing the number of levels of management is gut wrenching for bureaucracies because their power resides in their ability to promote personnel. This must occur if it doesn’t you will know that the implementation has failed. The reason for this change is that there is nothing tangible for these extra layers of management to do except get in the way.
What you want is flat lean organization that adapts to change through innovation and continuous improvement. Develop a “loose tight” organization allow personnel the freedom to innovate while keeping tight control on the budget. Your organization should have a tough side not by top management banging their fist on the desk but through peer pressure. This will spell the end to kick backs, waste and other forms of fraud. Remember most personnel in bureaucracies know what is going on under the table but don’t say anything through fear of retaliation.
Empower all employees to be innovative. Encourage small failures because you also get small successes and by duplicating these small successes the entire organization benefits from the improvement.
Focus on the customer the people you are serving. Bureaucracies tend to ignore this and have as their primary focus the organization itself and its survival. All improvements should in the end better serve your customer and the taxpayer.
