Reform, a management term, describes the effort to repair, revitalize or simplify the functioning of a complex system. It is an essential part of good business strategy, because most business processes involve multiple, interdependent systems. The system might be a hardware or software product or a company’s business operations. Examples include a computer network that supports many users, or an IT department that manages the computers and related services for an entire business or region. The word might also refer to any effort that improves, upgrades or simplifies the operation of a system, such as upgrading software, updating hardware, and making changes to the way a business operates.
Americans are deeply divided on their preference for bigger or smaller government. But they can be sorted into four broad philosophies that help predict how they might respond to government reforms. These are the expansionists who favor a larger but not very major federal government; the streamliners who favor a smaller but very major government; the rebuilders who prefer a medium-sized government with extensive reform; and the dismantlers who prefer a small government with substantial reform.
While President Biden’s “management agenda vision” won praise from many experts, it falls short of the large-scale repairs needed to flatten federal hierarchy, retrain and retrain the feds, cut unnecessary bureaucracy, and remove the barriers that prevent the best managers from succeeding in the job. Unlike the Nixon, Carter, Reagan and Clinton administrations that averaged five major government reform bills per year and President Gore’s search for a modernized federal government, Congress has been reluctant to step in. Unless it receives a presidential call to action, this reform draught will continue.