by James C. Sherlock
The chart above shows that management and administrative overhead growth has been a trend not limited to government. The difference is that corporations are making quick and decisive strides in reversing the trend.
It is axiomatic that government should minimize overhead to maximize efficiency in delivery of services. And to lower its costs.
Efficiencies need to be found:
- to maximize value for citizens;
- to speed decision-making;
- to minimize administrative consumption of the time and attention of front line workers; and
- to restore freedom of speech suppressed by government bureaucracies assembled for that purpose.
All senior government managers would sign up for those goals — as theory. But execution is hard. Internal pressures against change are seldom exceeded by external ones that demand it.
An excellent report in the Wall Street Journal makes an observation that they may wish to consult for inspiration.
Companies are rethinking the value of many white-collar roles, in what some experts anticipate will be a permanent shift in labor demand that will disrupt the work life of millions of Americans whose jobs will be lost, diminished or revamped partly through the use of artificial intelligence.
‘We may be at the peak of the need for knowledge workers,’ said Atif Rafiq, a former chief digital officer at McDonald’s and Volvo. ‘We just need fewer people to do the same thing.’