Donald Rumsfeld and other short sighted notables have suggested that the best way to cut back the Federal Government is to cut departmental budgets by as much as 10% across the board to quickly reduce spending. I disagree with this approach for the following reasons.
1. This approach punishes properly managed Government Departments sending the message that they should maintain overstaffing just to have extra personnel in case of a budget reduction.
2. This approach does nothing to determine the actual staffing required and because no one knows, Departments can chose to fight back and reduce productivity just to prove that a larger budget is required. See Article 16
Newt Gingrich has estimated that waste in the Federal Government is costing $500 billion. My objective is to identify and get all of the savings due to the American taxpayer that is available regardless of what is estimated.
My approach is to first simplify government, solve specific problems such as consolidating random duplicated activities with my Consolidation Model or addressing the specific needs of the Veterans Hospitals. See Article 48 “Consolidation of Gov Duplicated Services”.
This is followed by the standard installation of my General Reform Model for all governmental operations (Except Military). The General Reform Model begins by forming employee work Teams (Enterprise Lean Teams) to solve on the job problems increasing productivity. Each Team elects their own leader and meets about once a week. A good example is a hospital surgeon’s team which organizes the work to be done so no one has to wait on another person. Organizing the work is done to prevent building-in inefficiency. Boeing balances its aircraft assembly lines to make sure that the right part is installed at the right time by the right person and no one waits on another worker.
Enterprise Lean Teams have been successfully used by the state of Minnesota to improve efficiency in government. For example they are especially useful in reducing Document Turnaround times from months to just days. My only disagreement with Minnesota’s Lean Teams is they do not follow up and reduce personnel as efficiency increases.
When the employee Teams have gained experience. The entire organization is changed from the current Bureaucratic organization to a Team Managed organization, eliminating problems caused by toxic bureaucracies. The final activity is the use of Special OIG (Office of Inspector General) audit teams to collect data from the work teams and time study repeating activities (necessary to establish standards). From this data a new representative reduced budget is built. See Articles 58 “Reinventing the VA” and in Article 56, Proposed Consulting Agreement with details of approach in fixing specific problems of the VA. (all of my proposals were Rejected by the Obama Gov).
There is another higher level of government improvement using Six Sigma in Management Teams which I recommend. This involves broad studies of complicated decision making processes usually involving government contracts. See Article 47 “Technical guide to State Government Reform”
See also: Article 42. “Health Care The Cheesecake Factory and Lean Six Sigma”
“Restaurant chains have managed to combine quality control, cost control, and innovation. Can health care?”
by Atul Gawande August 13, 2012 Excerpt from the New Yorker
Once proven this approach to Government Reform can be adapted for required implementation for all DOD suppliers and manufacturers. The approach should also be recommended for all US manufacturers to increase competitiveness and prevent going after cheap labor in third world countries. Most US manufacturing high labor costs are caused by overstaffing not just by high wages. Competitiveness is the key to making America Great again. But a concentrated effort must be made to create jobs. See Article 15. Bringing Life to a Manufacturing Company’s Dead Zone.
See also My kindle Ebooks:
“Now We Know How to Reinvent the Federal Government-Using Enterprise Lean and Reform Models”,
“Now We Know How to Reinvent Industry- To Get Maximum Competitiveness”
“Now We Know How to Reinvent America-Using Enterprise Lean to Make America Competitive Again”
In 1975 I was a Consultant for Alexander Proudfoot the top downsizing consulting firm. In my first Two Weeks on the job I saved the Client, Clark Equipment of Battle Creek Mi, $100 Million (today’s Dollars) when I discovered that they were 50% overstaffed in their Production Control Depart. Nearly all US company Production Control Depts. are over staffed while production lines are carefully time studied no one is looking at this particular Dept.
In1982 I proposed to Sandy McDonnell CEO of the McDonnell Douglas Corp. That his pilot project of Quality of Work Life Teams (similar to Enterprise Lean) be given the authority to manage their own operations. Sandy agreed and the Bureaucratic organization was replaced with a Team Managed organization. There was immediate success and the revision lasted for 10 years when the company was sold to Boeing.
Lawrence Rosier Philosophy and Observations of Government Management
1. Think of government expenditures as an investment which increases income and taxes and the wealth of the entity.
2. Jobs created within government consume taxes and are not the same as jobs created by private industry which generate taxable revenue.
3. The best investment in State government ultimately yields sales of products in other states and the global market and increases the wealth of the state.
4. The best investment in US Government ultimately yields sales of products in the global market and increases the wealth of the nation.
5. Efficiency in government is found only where they know you are looking.
6. Under budget spending does not exist in government.
7. No one in government ever gets fired for malfeasance, corruption, waste of funds or hiring too many people.
8. Government Auditor practices should include auditing efficient use of manpower because “Time is Money”.
9. Reorganize government by eliminating Departmental Inspector General Offices that report to the Department Heads and have all Departmental Inspector General offices report directly to the US Inspector Generals office.
This eliminates conflict of interest issues.
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