Monday, May 21, 2007

McCain's Campaign Enters the Ridiculous

Senator John McCain's call for Republicans to return ethics and competence to government is laughable, especially given his prescription of holding cabinet level people accountable. This assumes political appointees serving as titular heads of departments are 100% responsible for all the systems they "supervise".

True they can mess things up terribly as proven by the current Bush administration on top of 12 years of Congressional leadership. Apparently the Justice Department has a system for evaluating performance but no one can remember it, much less explain it to others. The Veteran's Administration puts people on the panel deciding their own bonus. Those odds are better than Vegas for hitting the jackpot.

It will take a long time to repair the destruction done by President Bush's foot and knuckle dragging management style. One would need to appoint leaders who understand more than barking an expletive deleted laced list of demand, something for which numerous appointees are well known.

John's prescription involves holding Cabinet chiefs accountable for ensuring the integrity of their agencies and withholding money from government programs that don't meet performance expectations. Let's explore what Dr. W. Edwards Deming had to say about these practices:

"Hold everyone accountable? Ridiculous"

"Forces of destruction: grades in school, merit system, incentive pay (withholding money), business plans, quotas"

It looks like Senator McCain needs some remedial leadership training. The good news is The Deming Institute has a program right up his alley, "How to Create Unethical, Ineffective Organizations That Go Out of Business". It actually teaches the opposite of George Bush and Republican bleedership strategies. I hope Senator McCain's not campaigning in July. Maybe he can work in a few days in Sunny Southern California to bone up on Bush's sorry leadership and learn what to do differently.

No comments: