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Top U.S. Scientific Misconduct Official Quits In Frustration With Bureaucracy

Posted by timothy on from the an-exit-interview-I'd-like-to-overhear dept.

sandbagger writes "The director of the U.S. government office that monitors scientific misconduct in biomedical research has resigned after 2 years out of frustration with the 'remarkably dysfunctional' federal bureaucracy. Officials at the Office of Scientific Integrity spent 'exorbitant amounts of time' in meetings and generating data and reports to make their divisions look productive, David Wright writes. He huge amount of time he spent trying to get things done made much of his time at ORI 'the very worst job I have ever had.'"

13 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Just like where I work ... by Old97 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    and its a large corporation in the private sector. Its hard for very large organizations to be efficient.

    --
    Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most. - Clement Mok
  2. Been there. by Narcocide · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The sickness is endemic, and not just in government either; pretty much all big business suffers from this once it reaches critical mass. Basically, when you have a hierarchy of people who are so separated by degrees of management tier that the bulk of them no longer care about the actual stated goal or task of the organization and don't interact socially or even actually know anyone high enough up in the organization who does, and then you let them self-schedule their time in business meetings, every business meeting will become an elaborate excuse to not do any work. The meetings themselves look like work from a distance though, so this type of dysfunctional situation can persist for decades without anyone who cares actually noticing.

    1. Re:Been there. by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The reason is quite simple: we have all the technology and resources required so that people DON'T need to work, that was the whole concept behind the leisure society.

      But instead we choose to continue with this outdated mentality of "40 hours a week for everyone" otherwise you're not a worthy human being.

      So, what do you do with all these people? Well, you make them spend exorbitant amounts of time in meetings and generating data and reports to make them look productive.

      We are squandering the most glorious time in history in terms of energy resources, technology and machinery in order to maintain a social order that comes from the caves.

      Everyone is *so* productive in today's world! Oh my yes! That's why it takes two people working in a household today to barely maintain the lifestyle my single-income parents had 40 years ago!

      We're so productive, but *what* are we producing and for *who*?

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
    2. Re:Been there. by kilfarsnar · · Score: 4, Interesting

      We're so productive, but *what* are we producing and for *who*?

      Great post. That's the million dollar question, right there. We certainly are propping up an outdated socio-economic system. But powerful people retain their power through this system. That's the obstacle I see. Otherwise we could all be working much less, have full employment and much more time for personal pursuits.

      --
      "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
    3. Re:Been there. by boristdog · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Bob, I'd say in a week I do an average of 15 minutes of real work."

    4. Re:Been there. by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 5, Interesting
      My parents had a washing machine, television, radio, a car, a house, heating, food from a supermarket, paved roads, clean drinking water, municipal waste collection, etc... All this with one salary for a blue collar job with decent job security, benefits and a pension plan. That's what I'm talking about.

      I'd gladly trade your "instant communications" (of mostly trivial garbage) for that. I walked to the library then, I can still do it now. I just don't understand why we accept diminishing returns for all these technologies except for a few people on top. Because they deserve it. Sure.

      But I'm talking nonsense.

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
    5. Re:Been there. by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Your "outdated socio-economic system" is someone else's "reality".

      The reality is that as worker productivity has increased by orders of magnitude, worker pay adjusted for inflation has decreased sharply. There's no defense for that.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  3. Been there, quit that. by luckytroll · · Score: 5, Informative

    I spent a lost year of my life working for a similar agency. The systematic fear and redundant covering of asses made for endless meetings.

    The only thing worse than busywork is busywork with a profound sense of importance attached to it.

    1. Re:Been there, quit that. by alen · · Score: 4, Insightful

      the micromanaging is there due to the media

      no one is perfect and sometimes something happens where the media picks up on it, turns it into a major issue and starts calling for people in the government who made the decision to be fired.
      government workers know this and so they CYA everything they do down to the exact letter of the law or regulation

    2. Re:Been there, quit that. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's not just the media. It's also Congress. Any member of Congress could decide to turn your group into a political football at any time. This is especially likely if you have spent money on something that is easy to mock.

      The problem is that "something that is easy to mock" can be fruit fly research or volcano monitoring. So basically any time you do your job, it could have negative political consequences. The only solution is to not do your job....

  4. The Federal Government in a Nutshell by MetalliQaZ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In a system where your rewards are based on the look of powerpoint presentations that are delivered to directors, you end up spending all your time optimizing the data on the slides. The same principle is applied all over the place, in almost every human endeavor. Using the wrong measure of progress means we waste time and effort. It also has a side effect of making everyone miserable, like the guy in this story. See health care, prison system, etc.

    By the way, this isn't a problem unique to the government. His gripes sound very similar to my reality. I work in a large aerospace company.

    --
    "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
  5. Feynman by scottnix · · Score: 5, Informative

    This reminds me of what Richard Feynman went through while investigating the Shuttle Discovery disaster.
    They made a movie about it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt24...

  6. I wonder how many forms he had to fill out to quit by JoeyRox · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oh the irony.