We teach about management as part of the public policy curriculum, whether or not we work in a public administration program. And all of us who teach--or learn--in a university setting know about the amount of "bureaucracy" it takes to get reimbursed, untangle a payroll problem, or use a motor pool vehicle. Students nearly always encounter problems with the cashier, registrar, and library at some point in their lives. And we all have--or know people who have--horror stories about "bureaucracy." Mostly, we associate these stories with the public sector; when complaining about the private sector, we often just complain about an industry sector--airlines, cable TV, cell phone carriers--rather than about the inherently bureaucratic nature of these firms.
But what if we didn't have management? This article addresses this question. It applies to the private sector, but is relevant to the public sector as well. Here in North Carolina, the crime lab in the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has run afoul of the law and of good management. Would improved management have made SBI better, much as it did the Indian textile firms in this article? I imagine it would.
