Should Your Agency Go to Rehab? (No, No, No)
Is your agency like Amy Winehouse? That's what EPA's Marcus Peacock wants to know.
If you have no idea who Amy Winehouse is, I'll tell you how you want to answer the above question: No. And I'm impressed that Peacock does know who she is.
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ABOUT THIS BLOG
Government Executive Editor in Chief Tom Shoop, along with other editors and staff correspondents, take a fresh look at news affecting the management and operations of the federal bureaucracy.
The chutzpah of an EPA official bragging on a performance management system when EPA management has its fingers firmly placed in its ears and is humming loudly to block out the clamor regarding its inaction on climate change and regulation of CO2. Here is a hint: When you ignore the worst environmental crisis facing our nation and the globe, and get slapped down by THIS supreme court (Massachusetts v EPA) and are facing multiple congressional investigations, maybe there is something important missing from this touted performance appraisal system?
You_Have_Got_to_be_kidding Posted Wednesday, January 30, 2008 1:57 AMAfter 33 years, I retired from EPA 3 years ago. When I see how poorly led the Agency is today, have no regrets that I left.
The performance measures never bore any relation to reality and, when the numbers did not meet management's expectations, they were cooked.
The current Administrator is the first to have been an Agency employee before his appointment but has turned out to be a huge disappointment in spite of that.
Bring back an out-work politician like Christie Whitman.
osc3 Posted Wednesday, January 30, 2008 12:10 PMWhoa. I don't think anyone should confuse differences in opinion regarding policy decisions with how well a management system is working. I look at the latest independent assessments of EPA's managers and management system and come to a very different conclusion than some of these comments:
rated a 'top ten' agency for 'performance-based rewards and advancement' in 2007 by the Partnership for Public Service and American University;
rated the best agency for overall management in 2007 by a seven person expert panel headed by Howard Weizman at OPM; and
scored #2 out of 26 agencies on the last President's Management Agenda scorecard in 2007 (a new one will be out tomorrow).
Chutzpah? no. Pride in the Agency's managers? yes.
Marcus Peacock Posted Wednesday, January 30, 2008 1:14 PMThat the EPA "cooks" the books to cover up poor management is nothing unique. DOD has done it for decades and continues to do so.
Let's face it, there is very little accountability in federal agencies. But, they constantly find ways to pat themselves on the back so they can strut like a (sterile) rooster in a hen house for the pubic and the Congress. Our representatives know that is just a charade, but it is so much easier for them to acknowledge the self accolades than address the problems.
(It's just too messy to discuss the waste, the damage and the deaths.)
Robert M. Posted Thursday, January 31, 2008 5:28 AMI used to be disgusted, now I'm just amused. We have an abundance of staff who come from a world of 'it's Gov't money, who cares'. And as for Robert M., ..couldn't have said it better!! Sad, but that goes on in many, if not all, agencies. Waste is rampant.
Amused.. Posted Thursday, January 31, 2008 10:46 AM