Letters

There is one quick fix available for "The Year 2000 Problem" (May) that our government has not yet considered:

Just persuade all of the world's religious leaders to proclaim the arrival of another Messiah, thereby starting the calendar over again. Not only would this do wonders in promoting world peace, but it could allow federal managers to save a few dollars in computer reprogramming costs this fiscal year to keep our federal deficit under control.

Karl Olson

U.S. Army, AmConGen

APO AA

HELP ON TEAMS

I read with great interest Mark Abramson's article "First Teams" (May). As a career government employee, I was encouraged by the management efforts of the U.S. Information Agency to refocus its operations through a nonhierarchical team approach.

One critical element appears to be missing from the article-didn't USIA get significant private-sector support and expertise on the team approach from an outside consultant?

Other government managers who may be interested in the team approach in their organizations would, I believe, be well-served to seek both a customer of the team approach such as the Agriculture Department and team approach concept expertise from private-sector sources.

Peter D. Gness

Annapolis, Md.

SINK OR SWIM

I much enjoyed your article on APHIS (April). It truly is a great agency to be a part of. I accepted a demotion just to be able to come to APHIS from another agency, and I have had no regrets whatsoever.

As for resistance to change from the agency's old guard: it is a struggle as ancient as the struggle between good and evil. Whenever you get any group of people together in an organization (whether its a church, a scout troop, or a government agency) there are always some people who get their jollies out of exercising control and lording over other people. In the traditional bureaucratic structure, these sorts of people find ample rewards. However, in a team-based environment, where win-win decisions are ordinarily sought, control freak behavior can make a team extremely dysfunctional. So there are naturally some people longing for the good old days of rules and regulations, authority and obsequiousness.

But we really cannot afford to return to the days of bloated bureaucracy and rigid hierarchy. So everyone will just have to learn to swim with the new current, as difficult as it may be, or find employment elsewhere.

Willard C. Losinger

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Fort Collins, Colo.

OUT WITH THE OLD

In reading the letters to your publication there seems to be a theme, by many people who have dedicated their lives to government service, that the work that is being done today should last forever.

I theorize that government work has three phases: growth, stagnation and reduction. These phases are the constant. The government is not a business. Agencies should not seek to grow beyond their mission, nor should they seek to remain in business once the mission is accomplished. The danger of civil service is to resist the normal cycle of government.

For example, in the 1890s the regulation of railroads and interstate commerce was important to the growth of America. The ultimate use of interstate commerce laws to overturn Jim Crow laws was the peak of the Interstate Commerce Commission's life. Regulation in commerce recently was deemed unnecessary and the agency was abolished. Times change; civil service and the government that support it must also change or it should be done away with by elected officials.

Reengineering, redeployment of resources and seeking out new definitions for old missions with good organizations and great people is the job of higher management in the civil service. They should share the risk, since they get the reward.

Doing the actual work is the job of the rank and file civil servant. Pushing a pencil, stacking paper or doing the electronic equivalent is the sum total of government work. It produces no increase in value and is a conduit for the redistribution of the wealth of others. The rewards are meager so should the risks be.

Whichever category one's life work fits into, the maxim is that change is constant and the people must be served, new laws and agencies will replace the old, and opportunities to serve will always appear.

Rudolf R. Birzin

Telecommunications Specialist

General Services Administration