Unraveling Red Tape

...Wilson reminds us that good policy does not make good government until it is translated into useful application by the employees of formal organizations...

...Dominant in the early and mid-20th century, they continue to influence approaches to good government and conceptions of public service...

...The best evidence for this proposition, if any is needed, is that most people do not like working in an environment in which every action is secondguessed, every initiative viewed with suspicion, and every controversial decision denounced as malfeasance...

...Even this book...

...Management —as opposed to administration—has no place in these outdated notions...

...This can be costlier than is generally realized, and can undermine a public servant's sense of purpose—a critical element of dedicated, coordinated, production...

...I think proponents of deregulation in government, like Wilson, ignore thepersistence of these ideas at their peril...

...We refer to them as inefficient, without stoppingto think about exactly what we mean by efficiency and inefficiency...

...In many government agencies, "good work" is defined more by adherence to a series of constraints than by the measurement of progress toward achieving a goal...

...Private, market-oriented bureaucracies not only enjoy much greater autonomy insecuring and spendingrevenues, but also pursue narrower objectives and are held accountable for observing fewer rules and regulations...

...Once we recognize their special character, Wilson believes, we will agree that many, if not all, government bureaucracies perform better than we probably suspected...

...But rarely does he know what effect his corrective will have on the actual work of the bureaucracy...

...Judges, however, are singled out for a stern critique...

...The author goes on to suggest several modest steps that might be taken to loosen present restrictions...

...This cannot be done from afar or from books...

...Second, that we should never expect efficiency from the public sector in the same sense that we expect it from the private sector, since every government agency has to contend with diverse societal interests (and our political system affords many opportunities for lobbying groups, the courts and politicians to protect those interests...

...Ultimately, Bureaucracy appears to be trying to persuade readers of two basic points...

...Dissatisfied with performance, we reach quickly for simple solutions—such as reorganization or imposing new controls—without giving sufficient thought to their likely effects in practice...

...Those proposals might very well be beneficial, especially given the generally positive effects achieved by business deregulation...

...Interestingly, in his otherwise magisterial treatment of American bureaucratic life, Wilson virtually disregards the doctrines of public administration...

...Reviewed by Michael Barzelay Associate Professor of Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Americanshave developed some unfortunate proclivities when it comes to comprehending and evaluating the public sector...

...In addition, discussions of major contemporary issues—e.g...

...Public officials and operators must "manage situations over which they have little control, on the basis of a poorly defined or nonexistent sense of mission, and in the face of a complex array of constraints that seems always to grow, never to shrink...

...In his conclusion, Wilson asserts the need for deregulating government: "We can agree at a minimum that detailed regulation, even of public employees, rarely is compatible with energy, pride in workmanship, and the exercise of initiative...

...the difficulties of military procurement—deepen our appreciation of dilemmas in the realms of governance and administration...

...Aware that Americans often measure public against private bureaucracies, Wilson takes pains to explain why the two cannot be evaluated by the same criteria...

...Our society, Wilson demonstrates, has "paid a price for having emphasized rules and constraints to the neglect of task and mission...

...My own experience with governmental reform leads me to believe that formulating and testing new "post-bureaucratic" doctrines to replace the old ones is essential to the process Wilson hopes will unfold...

...Bureaucracy can be read with equal ease and benefit by the inquiring citizen and the academic specialist...

...He also favors exploring new ways to make the suppliers of government services accountable for satisfying their clients' needs...

...He counsels political overseers and agency executives to reduce some constraints, particularly in the areas of personnel and procurement...

...The author wants us to understand how organizational structures determine what the operators see as the duties they are accountable for, as well as what constitutes quality performance...

...When a case involving a government agency is brought before a court, the judge decides whose claims are valid and fashions a legal remedy meant to enforce a right or redress a wrong...

...And he sensitizes us to the world of those he calls the "operators"—the schoolteachers, IRS agents, and other street-level bureaucrats who do the essential jobs...

...Further, he urges that overseers clarify what they expect from agencies, and that operators be held responsible for attaining reasonably consistent and measurable goals...

...In his new book, James Q. Wilson challenges Americans to approach these matters more carefully...

...Each concept and argument is elegantly illustrated by one or more case studies showing the way government agencies function...

...But they do not address the ideas that have caused bureaucracy to be overregulated in the first place...

...We are inclined to lump all bureaucratic outfits together in our minds, rarely pausing to consider how different their respective tasks and environments are...

...First, that the wellsprings of high-quality performance are quite similar in the private and public spheres...

...Unless we come to understand the causes of government actions, he fears, we will continue to encourage elected officials and judges to behave in a manner that undermines the capacity of various governmental arms to accomplish their primary goals...

...We tend to approve highly of our political institutions and our own particular representatives, but frequently denigrate government agencies and the people who work for them...

...Because Wilson's main intention is to alter our perceptions, and because he holds that much of our unhappiness with the public sector is the inescapable result of America's unique political system, there are few villains in his plot...

...According to Wilson, most judges do not understand how government organizations really function, and this has become an issue of increasing importance: "At a time when judges deferred to administrators, drew a careful distinction between policy and law, and denied standing to people with only remote interests in the decisions of the government, [the court's] ignorance was not a problem__If they [now] wish to manage agencies, judges will have to learn about agencies, their cultures, and their management...

...His hope is that an analysis of organizational activities will lead to experimentation with incremental changes in the handling of our institutional arrangements and procedures for providing the services we require and expect...

...One of the book's strong contributions is its focusing attention on the production side of the public sector...