Every government is a “government of forms.”
Government is a poor manager. It is, of necessity, concerned with procedure, and it is also, of necessity, large and cumbersome. Government is also properly conscious of the fact that it administers public funds and must account for every penny. It has no choice but to be “bureaucratic.” Whether government is a “government of laws” or a “government of men” is debatable. But every government is, by definition, a “government of forms.” This means inevitably high costs.
But, the purpose of government is to make fundamental decisions, and to make them effectively. The purpose of government is to focus the political energies of society. It is to dramatize issues. It is to present fundamental choices. The purpose of government, in other words, is to govern. This, as we have learned, in other institutions, is incompatible with “doing.” Any attempt to combine governing with “doing” on a large scale, paralyzes the decision-making capacity. Business has had to face, on a much smaller scale, the problem that modern government now faces: the incompatibility between “governing” and “doing.” Business management learned that the two have to be separated, and that the top organ, the decision maker, has to be detached from “doing.” Otherwise he does not make decisions, and the “doing” does not get done either. In business this goes by the name of “decentralization.”
ACTION POINT: What are some clear examples of nonprofit organizations that are doing a better job addressing a social problem than a government agency?
The Age of Discontinuity
* Source: The Daily Drucker by Peter F. Drucker