>The approximately 300 federal departments and agencies do not easily allow moves to other departments for high-priority programs, and it is easier to hire in the federal public service than it is to fire. Only a handful of federal public servants are terminated for incompetence every year because it is difficult to prove, and public-sector unions will strongly oppose any attempt to terminate one of its members. The easier solution is to shuffle a non-performing employee to where they will do the least damage, making the federal government larger and less efficient.
>Still, the prevailing bias in the public service – to come up with new measures, not downsize operations – remains a problem. Government bureaucracies, no matter which political setting they serve, tend to overstaff and expand their operations. Cuts in the bureaucracy do happen from time to time, as was the case in the late-1970s, the mid-90s and in 2012. But cuts always come from above, often in reaction to pressure from financial markets, the media or unforeseen developments in the global economy – never from inside the bureaucracy.
>But the issue of size alone does not tell the whole story of the challenges that the public service faces. The bigger problem is that it has lost the plot, becoming more about passing the buck than delivering on programs. Canadians, their politicians and public servants need to decide what they want the public service to be, if it is to attract the best and brightest to serve.
>[…]
>Despite investments in IT and digital service delivery, a top-heavy Ottawa-centric management cadre explains why the government has not been able to improve the productivity and quality of the public service, or to reduce staff to the degree expected. The IT challenges go beyond the high-profile failures of the Phoenix pay system and the ArriveCan app. Ottawa has still not decided how best to manage IT services – whether responsibility should rest with a single service or with a loose collection of 300 organizations. No decision on this file means thicker government, more executives and blurred lines of accountability, all while efficiency, savings and easily accessible services are left wanting.
>[…]
>Public-service managers increasingly embrace shifting responsibility by delegating upward: moving up what is important and, at times, what is unimportant but controversial. Upward delegation also creates a crippling overload problem. Prime ministers, the PMO and the Privy Council Office can only deal with a limited number of issues on top of the requirements of the day. As a result, too many issues and decisions are left unattended, and a nondecision too often constitutes a decision, in the eyes of those waiting for one.
>Having managers own what they do is what’s needed, and that requires creating room to allow them to make decisions. The federal government is actually providing the opposite by building several management levels between front-line managers and departmental heads – and that doesn’t even take into account the ever-increasing number of “associate” or “senior” titles attached to many management-level positions. The more management levels you add, the less ownership that managers have.
>Ultimately, a top-heavy management cadre slows down decision-making, adds costs, dilutes accountability and disempowers managers and their staff. Public servants owning what they do now matters less than having the skills to manage the blame game.
>[…]
>So what can be done? The government could start by eliminating two management levels, as well as the “associate” and “senior” positions, and scale back the size of central agencies. But much more is needed, including a need for a fundamental review of accountability requirements, with the goal of clarifying who is responsible for what. We must reconsider the working relationship between politicians and career officials, the role of public-sector unions in the management of government operations, and the ways in which the government incentivizes front-line managers and their staff to deliver programs and services to Canadians.
>Unless we address these challenges, we run the risk of seeing the best and the brightest avoid public service. After all, other sectors offer what the public service no longer does: room to own what people do, and opportunities to make a tangible contribution. Talented Canadians look for fulfilling jobs; they don’t want to be just a part of a large machine that places a premium on generating announceable initiatives, kicking decisions upstairs and managing the blame game. The public service will continue to miss out on these Canadians if it doesn’t establish that it’s looking for more.
!ping Can&Administrative-state
ProfessionalStudy732 on
I was reconnecting with friends this summer. A lot are senior project managers and what not. They all commented on the real bad general malaise and tolerance for efficiency that’s settled in over the last 5 years.
AmbitiousDoubt on
Overall this is a problem in the United States too.
3 Comments
Archived version: [https://archive.fo/fOThK](https://archive.fo/fOThK).
Summary:
>The approximately 300 federal departments and agencies do not easily allow moves to other departments for high-priority programs, and it is easier to hire in the federal public service than it is to fire. Only a handful of federal public servants are terminated for incompetence every year because it is difficult to prove, and public-sector unions will strongly oppose any attempt to terminate one of its members. The easier solution is to shuffle a non-performing employee to where they will do the least damage, making the federal government larger and less efficient.
>Still, the prevailing bias in the public service – to come up with new measures, not downsize operations – remains a problem. Government bureaucracies, no matter which political setting they serve, tend to overstaff and expand their operations. Cuts in the bureaucracy do happen from time to time, as was the case in the late-1970s, the mid-90s and in 2012. But cuts always come from above, often in reaction to pressure from financial markets, the media or unforeseen developments in the global economy – never from inside the bureaucracy.
>But the issue of size alone does not tell the whole story of the challenges that the public service faces. The bigger problem is that it has lost the plot, becoming more about passing the buck than delivering on programs. Canadians, their politicians and public servants need to decide what they want the public service to be, if it is to attract the best and brightest to serve.
>[…]
>Despite investments in IT and digital service delivery, a top-heavy Ottawa-centric management cadre explains why the government has not been able to improve the productivity and quality of the public service, or to reduce staff to the degree expected. The IT challenges go beyond the high-profile failures of the Phoenix pay system and the ArriveCan app. Ottawa has still not decided how best to manage IT services – whether responsibility should rest with a single service or with a loose collection of 300 organizations. No decision on this file means thicker government, more executives and blurred lines of accountability, all while efficiency, savings and easily accessible services are left wanting.
>[…]
>Public-service managers increasingly embrace shifting responsibility by delegating upward: moving up what is important and, at times, what is unimportant but controversial. Upward delegation also creates a crippling overload problem. Prime ministers, the PMO and the Privy Council Office can only deal with a limited number of issues on top of the requirements of the day. As a result, too many issues and decisions are left unattended, and a nondecision too often constitutes a decision, in the eyes of those waiting for one.
>Having managers own what they do is what’s needed, and that requires creating room to allow them to make decisions. The federal government is actually providing the opposite by building several management levels between front-line managers and departmental heads – and that doesn’t even take into account the ever-increasing number of “associate” or “senior” titles attached to many management-level positions. The more management levels you add, the less ownership that managers have.
>Ultimately, a top-heavy management cadre slows down decision-making, adds costs, dilutes accountability and disempowers managers and their staff. Public servants owning what they do now matters less than having the skills to manage the blame game.
>[…]
>So what can be done? The government could start by eliminating two management levels, as well as the “associate” and “senior” positions, and scale back the size of central agencies. But much more is needed, including a need for a fundamental review of accountability requirements, with the goal of clarifying who is responsible for what. We must reconsider the working relationship between politicians and career officials, the role of public-sector unions in the management of government operations, and the ways in which the government incentivizes front-line managers and their staff to deliver programs and services to Canadians.
>Unless we address these challenges, we run the risk of seeing the best and the brightest avoid public service. After all, other sectors offer what the public service no longer does: room to own what people do, and opportunities to make a tangible contribution. Talented Canadians look for fulfilling jobs; they don’t want to be just a part of a large machine that places a premium on generating announceable initiatives, kicking decisions upstairs and managing the blame game. The public service will continue to miss out on these Canadians if it doesn’t establish that it’s looking for more.
!ping Can&Administrative-state
I was reconnecting with friends this summer. A lot are senior project managers and what not. They all commented on the real bad general malaise and tolerance for efficiency that’s settled in over the last 5 years.
Overall this is a problem in the United States too.