Bush's management style fails again.

[JDPriestly]

And it will always fail. There were two problems here. The first was the inability of anyone in the Bush administration to imagine or foresee the problems that would arise if a hurricane of the magnitude of Katrina hit New Orleans. The second was that FEMA, the state of LA and the parishes couldn't work together before or even after the disaster. Both of these problems are due to Bush's top-down management style which, I have heard experts say, he learned at the Harvard Business School.

Here is how I understand that Bush works. He and his cabinet, which is the equivalent of his board of directors, decide on a policy, a direction and then gather the information that supports their chosen policy direction. Bush then determines the broad lines of what he wants to do about it and asks a select group of people to advise him on how to accomplish the goal he has set. That method may save time and money in some situations, but it excludes a lot of valuable, even necessary, input and ideas.

Bush should follow the Clinton management model. For example, in organizing the Department of Homeland Security, he should have solicited ideas about all kinds of potential disaster/terrorist scenarios as well as suggestions about as wide a variety of possible solutions as he could obtain. He should have involved people from the local levels in suggesting both potential disaster scenarios and solutions. The DHS should have been working with governors and local officials regardless of their political affiliations over the years to devise and practice carrying out plans that could deal with the whole panoply of potential emergencies.

Bush's management style has failed in Iraq and now in New Orleans. It doesn't work. Many big businesses in the US are trying to use the same top-down plan. That's why we have fallen behind and can't compete in the international markets. Think car manufacturers. Our businesses and our government would do much better if they adopted a more democratic model. Top-down organizing doesn't result in quality work in the long run. It just doesn't get the job done.

[zoeb]

1. like that's f&*king new to this group! eom

[TahitiNut]

2. That's how the Japanese kicked our corporate butts.

Besides actually following Baldridge, that is. The Japanese follow a "management by consensus" approach. By the time they actually implement a change or new project, it's virtually accomplished since the participants are all on-board and have discussed their relative roles and relationships thoroughly. There's almost no need to announce or train people in the changed methods ... since they've already beat it up to see if it holds water. It frustrates the hell out of American 'managers' who don't have the patience or willingness to attend to detail. It works. Big time.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Clueless

[xultar]

4. You mean behaving like a spoiled bully jackass isn't working.

Whoda thunk? :shrug:

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

6. LOL

:rofl:

[Spinzonner]

5. But his mismanagement style is solid