Federal agencies this year will be subject to a new statutory requirement. A new law requires the Office of Management and Budget to annually determine if agency programs meet goals set out in their annual performance plans. To do this, OMB has created a new review process. A provision of the Government Performance and ResultsRead… Read more »
Analytics guru Thomas Davenport says that the field of strategic analytics has been upped a notch to “3.0” with the recent trend of shifting the use of analytic methods from improving internal operational efficiency to improving the operation of products and services. Dr. Thomas Davenport, in a recent Harvard Business Review article, says “Some ofRead… Read more »
How can leaders inspire employees to help their colleagues? The leader of the design firm IDEO, Tim Brown, set out to create a help-friendly organization in order to spur greater creativity. Collaboration is key to effective organizations. But how can leaders encourage helping behaviors among employees? A recent Harvard Business Review article by Teresa Amabile,Read… Read more »
A recent news story of how the on-line shoe company Zappos has eliminated the position of manager has raised again the question of whether management matters. A new Harvard Business Review article says “yes,” and they have the data to prove it. The Zappos story about eliminating traditional managers has an exciting air to it.Read… Read more »
The Clinton Administration promoted customer service. The Bush Administration expressed sympathy for taxpayers. The Obama Administration has advocated citizen engagement. So, who are we? Customers? Taxpayers? Citizens? Or something else? And how should government managers respond, given the differences implied by these various roles? A recent academic article by Georgia State University professor John ClaytonRead… Read more »
Set your New Year’s resolutions now! In early 2014, for the first time federal agencies will simultaneously submit refreshed strategic plans to Congress, covering the next four years. You should put them on your “must read” list for the new year. Many agencies have been quietly posting their draft strategic plans on-line for public comments,Read… Read more »
Government agencies regularly report “incident” data, such as the number of burglaries, house fires, cases of food poisoning, bankruptcies, workplace injuries, and more. While these data can be used externally for accountability, they can also be used internally to predict and prevent these kinds of incidents. These days, more detailed, near real-time data can beRead… Read more »
Can federal performance management schemes influence efforts at the local level? Typically, performance management works best in systems where agencies engage in direct service delivery, where leaders have more control over what is going on. But in complex intergovernmental programs, can effective performance management systems be developed and work? A recent case study of theRead… Read more »
Agency and program leaders depend on a range of mission support functions, such as finance, technology, acquisition, or workforce management, to get their jobs done. The delivery of these functions, however, have changed significantly over the past quarter century. Twenty-five years ago, federal agencies typically did not have key executives leading mission support functions. TheseRead… Read more »
Research on decision-making has made advances in recent years, but the research has not been applied to the actual practice of decision-making, observes Swiss professor Phil Rosenzweig in a recent article in the November issue of Harvard Business Review. Dr. Rosenzweig says in his article this is not because executives don’t want to make goodRead… Read more »