| |
| |
|
Politics Information |
|
|
|
The Lemon Dance: Why Government Doesn't Work
Former Senator, Daniel Moynihan, accurately summed up the situation when he posited that,"[t]he single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because! it's so rare." In the case of politicians the public is protected from ineptitude and apathy through term limits. Unfortunately for John Q. Citizen, the vast majority of government bureaucrats exist in an environment devoid of responsibility or accountability. The endless transfer of incompetent workers rather than their outright dismissal represents a choreographed farce known as the "Lemon Dance." The negligent, unqualified and indifferent workers that fill millions of government positions do so with the assurance that they will never be fired for their transgressions. For example, your average sanitation worker wakes up in the morning confident that regardless of missed routes, spilled garbage or traffic collisions while on duty, he will continue to have a job the next day. A recent study by the Los Angeles Daily News concluded that only six out of thirty-seven thousand Los Angeles City government employees had been fired for poor performance. On the national level, the Federal Times reported in 2003 that none of the approximate half a million workers of the eight Cabinet-level departments were fired for poor performance from June 1993 to June 1998. The public must ask themselves whether local and federal governments have collected the finest group of individuals capable of error-free work, or if there are inadequate systems in place that are unable to address the rampant poor performance of government workers. The outrageous misappropriation and waste of taxpayer dollars provides another contributing step in the offbeat "Lemon Dance." Consider a recent example where two Los Angeles sanitation workers made over $8,000 of unauthorized calls on city-issued cell phones. After several warnings, and continued misuse of their cell phones, the city workers were not terminated while management lamented that they "did not have an adequate policy explaining to their employees that it is wrong to use city cell phones for personal business." The inability of government superiors to adequately discipline government employees makes the "Lemon Dance" the modern-day Achilles Heel of government. Entrusted with running society's most important institutions, government finds itself in a position where it can neither terminate its least qualified employee, nor reward exemplary standouts. Instead, government bosses tend to look the other way when faced with the poor performance of their subordinates. The complete lack of accountability present in government has, in turn, created a culture of apathy where workers have no motivation to perform at even adequate levels. Richard Riordan, former Mayor of Los Angeles and present Secretary of Education for the State of California, cites a lack of accountability as the leading cause of poor performance plaguing government institutions. Riordan admits that government run bureaucracies "do[es] not hold anyone accountable, because [it] might hurt somebody's self esteem by firing them." Former General Electric Chairman Jack Welch's strategy for improving employee performance deserves consideration. Concluding that it was better to release an ineffective employee immediately rather than allowing them twenty-five years of wages and retirement benefits, Welch regularly fired the bottom ten percent of his employees based on performance evaluations. This type of approach could do wonders for local, state and national government. The termination of deserving employees sends a clear message throughout the organization that incompetence will not be tolerated. Albert Einstein suggested, "bureaucracy is the death of all sound work." The current state of government employment certainly supports his assertion. However, government must begin to clean house. Until it becomes possible for government to dismiss incompetent workers, the public will continue to be held hostage by unions and ineffectual procedures that would prefer the "Lemon Dance," to even modest accountability. Copyright 2005 Michael Levine Michael Levine is the founder of the prominent public relations firm Levine Communications Office, based in Los Angeles. He is the author of Guerrilla PR, 7 Life Lessons from Noah's Ark: How to Survive a Flood in Your Own Life. GuerrillaPR.net is a resource for people that want to get famous in the media, without going broke. http://GuerrillaPR.net
MORE RESOURCES:
Politics - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Environmentalism and Roads in Our Forests Many environmentalists are against roads through the forest because it could disrupt wildlife, hunting areas for other mammals. They also worry about the affect on all the species living there. US Social Security - Is President Bush A Robin Hood After All? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued a report Monday that pointed out that even though the US proposals will yield a system that reaches the poor in a more redistributive way than many other countries, the average pay outs of the government pensions are rather low at around 51% of a retiree's previously earned salary as compared to over 70% in other OECD countries.Only New Zealand and Ireland outperform the US in reaching its poorest nationals because they have simple flat-rate state pensions. Cloaking Giant Airships is Possible, Why Stop There? We know we can cloak a giant airship from those looking up at it by simply using a video to tape what is above it and then display that on the bottom of the blimp. Those looking up at it will see not see a blimp but rather the sky above displayed like a giant flat movie screen which has been curved around the bottom of the blimp. Upcoming Palestinian Elections Might Put Extremists In Power The Palestinian Fatah Movement is doing whatever it can to brush up its image in the run up to this Summer's parliamentary elections, including the appointment of young blood into the ranks. The outcome of the elections is going to be of crucial importance for the chances of peace with Israel as well as the country's division of power. Unemployment Iraqi Style Let's put it all into perspective: the U.S. Franchising Democracy and Creating Cohesive World Government There are so many problems with our perceived perfect checks and balances system of our government, that one cannot use the exact United States version model of government to create a franchise agreement for future governments of the world. A standardized system of government in all countries of the World needs to exist if we are all to live peacefully on the planet, trade and respect each others cultural heritage and tolerate the many different renditions of World Religion. The Liberal Solution: Assault a Conservative? Ok, here is what happened: On March 31, 2005, Pat Buchanan, conservative commentator and former presidential candidate, was giving a speech at Western Michigan University when some 24-year-old ding-dong, who apparently did not like what he was hearing, decided the appropriately mature and tolerant behavior would be to attack Mr. Buchanan with a bottle of salad dressing. The Criminality of Transition Lecture given at the Netherlands Economic Institute (NEI) on 18/4/2001Human vice is the most certain thing after death and taxes, to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin. The only variety of economic activity, which will surely survive even a nuclear holocaust, is bound to be crime. 911 Conspiracy Theory Revealed During Coffee Shop Conversation A coffee shop conversation about a Great Country in Historic Times. It seems there are many out there who believe in conspiracy theories and are all too quick to label and judge our leadership as evil. Federal Trade Commission Franchising Division; Inept? Why are we over regulating the franchising industry? What are we doing to an industry which has given so much to America? Is the Federal Trade Commission Franchising Division; inept? They keep making rules and the over disclosure has the average UFOC - Uniform Franchise Offering Circular at over 200 pages? This is insanity; not to mention a waste of paper.No one in the Federal Trade Commission Franchising Division should be allowed to make rules unless they themselves have worked in an actual franchisor sales office, completed the International Franchisor Associations 'Certified Franchise Executive Course' and owned an actual franchised outlet. American Eugenics "When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong you cannot be too conservative." - Dr. Interview With A Former ACLU Office I had the benefit of getting an interview with Mr. Reese Lloyd, a former ACLU lawyer affiliated with the largest Veterans Organization in America, the American Legions. Constitutional Amendment Needed on Sodomy Laws Many very nice and loving homosexual male couples want to get married. Sure they can have various personal vows and contractual relationships, share monies; even call themselves married; domestic partners or sole mates. Double Standards for Regulators? Elliot Spitzer, recently said he wanted to drive a stake through the heart of a founding member of the NY Stock Exchange. Since when is it okay for someone who is an Attorneys General to act out like this? We are seeing more and more abuse of power. Ronald Reagan is Right Why is it that every single thing government does; it does not do well? Why is it that every single mistake of any real hurt is caused by the government? Why is it that every time government screws up AGAIN, we are told that they will fix the problem? Yah right? When has government ever fixed anything? Ronald Reagan once said the most scary words in the English Language were; "Hi, I'm from the Government; and I am here to help you!" he later said when asked about that quote that he could not recant it and offered advice to anyone who hears it; "RUN" he said.Let's face it you do not have to be Ronald Reagan to know when you are being fed a line of malarkey. Wealth Distribution and Inheritance, What Will They Buy? Cars Wealth Distribution is often discussed at length in periodicals such as American Demographics Magazine, much of this information does not hit the main stream media. A recent article on the huge transfer of wealth to the Baby Boomers, revealed some very interesting facts about such trends in the United State. John Roberts - Supreme Court Nominee President Bush's selection of the Hon. John Roberts is an interesting choice. Conspiracy Theory; Kill Off the Old Folks Recently I met a man in a coffee shop, a conspiracy theorist, which had me cornered and began to get into a way-out conspiracy theory. As I listened to this crazy idea, he complained about all the usual folks. Cloning; The Possibilities and Advantages of Thought Swapping We can all see the issues involved in the cloning debate, which go much deeper than religion; the real debate has to do with evolutions process of a self-replicating organic machine, human beings, and the future of science and the species. There will be power shifts in economic status amongst ruling elite, political families, etc along with issues of entanglement, connected brains and communication abilities in the future. Bush and Kerry Differ on Immigration Policies Up until the final debate at Arizona State University, the issue of immigration had not been much discussed. Both presidential candidates know very well that illegal immigration is a hot button topic in our country, and each man is now trying to use it to his political advantage.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
