The two biggest reasons I see for irresponsibility and/or laziness among government employees where I work:
1) too much bureaucracy
For example, the Navy Supply Information Systems Activity has 4 levels of bureaucracy to which it's accountable: the Naval Supply Systems Command, the Department of the Navy, the Department of Defense, and lastly the federal government. The Navy Supply Information Systems Activity is therefore affected not just by its own organization, but also by the even more massive organizations above it. Many managers seem to spend a lot of time ensuring they comply with these other levels of bureaucracy.
2) no one ever seems to be disciplined or fired
I cannot state factually why this happens, but my opinion is that it seems like it takes too long to fire someone. Indeed, the numerous levels of bureaucracy create a complex process for firing someone as well as numerous avenues for employees to fight it. In my mind, if I supervised an employee that I thought should be fired, I wouldn't want to try to fire him/her only to have him/her continue working for me while I'm trying to fire him/her. It's likely the employee would be upset about this possibility, and it's also likely he/she would be miserable to work with from the day when he/she found out until the day he/she was fired.
Slashdot Mirror
The two biggest reasons I see for irresponsibility and/or laziness among government employees where I work:
1) too much bureaucracy
For example, the Navy Supply Information Systems Activity has 4 levels of bureaucracy to which it's accountable: the Naval Supply Systems Command, the Department of the Navy, the Department of Defense, and lastly the federal government. The Navy Supply Information Systems Activity is therefore affected not just by its own organization, but also by the even more massive organizations above it. Many managers seem to spend a lot of time ensuring they comply with these other levels of bureaucracy.
2) no one ever seems to be disciplined or fired
I cannot state factually why this happens, but my opinion is that it seems like it takes too long to fire someone. Indeed, the numerous levels of bureaucracy create a complex process for firing someone as well as numerous avenues for employees to fight it. In my mind, if I supervised an employee that I thought should be fired, I wouldn't want to try to fire him/her only to have him/her continue working for me while I'm trying to fire him/her. It's likely the employee would be upset about this possibility, and it's also likely he/she would be miserable to work with from the day when he/she found out until the day he/she was fired.