GovernmentExecutive.com

It can probably be said that few people enjoy a trip to the doctor's office. But a physician's visit is a necessary evil, and with regular medical checkups, a person has a better chance of living a long and healthy life.

The same analogy drives Workways of Governance: Monitoring our Government's Health. Much like we go to the doctor for a checkup, this book argues that the federal government needs to "develop a periodic review of the quality of institutional life and work in government."

The book, edited by Roger H. Davidson, founding director of the Governance Institute, is laid out in essay format and drawn predominantly from academics. The text analyzes all aspects of the federal government, from Congress and the judiciary to civil service workers and the complexities of the presidential advisory system.

Each essay provides essential information about a given institution, a wide assortment of data, interviews and first-hand observations to provide practical evidence for the author's judgments. From this, the authors then suggest specific institutional checkups that could be used to help measure the health of that branch.

While all of this is useful, developing institutional checkups can be tricky, mainly due to the institutions themselves. This point was not lost on the authors.

For example, in the chapter concerning the Senate, George Washington University professor Sara Binder writes, "devising a checkup for the Senate is fraught with difficulty. When doctors conduct such an exam to rate people's health, it is based on a consensus of what constitutes a healthy body. No such consensus exists for what constitutes a healthy legislative body."

This book should also not be mistaken for a top-down review of everything the government does right and wrong. "Workways" tries only to offer ways of measuring effectiveness; it does not make radical or specific suggestions on how to actually improve the operations.

That said, those who seriously care about the way the government operates would be well served to page through these essays. Just as some people foolishly wait until after a heart attack to see a doctor, the editor invokes the memories of Sept. 11, 2001, and asks why it usually takes a crisis to review the operations of the government.

Like medical exams, "institutional checkups" can sometimes be inconvenient, time-consuming, and force change on long-term habits. But if they lead to a more efficient and healthier government as a whole, then those in power would be wise to do as the authors suggest and make them a more regular part of governing.

COMMENTS

• Preventive maintainance. We are talking the same language here. The health of your people is the wealth of your organization. Preventive maintainance can set the course straight before it becomes overwhelming for anyone. Then we've got a better smarter government. patrick mcdonald Posted December 16, 2003 1:19 PM