January 6, 1996, these separations included 20 SES and 60 Band III employees. As shown in figure 1, employment levels for both SES and Band IIIs from January 6, 1995, through January 6, 1996, have been reduced by more than 10 percent. We have, at the same time, focused on our job management practices to ensure that each Band III maintains a smaller workload to permit the in-depth management and contribution to assignments that will ensure timely completion of the work and products that meet our quality standards. We expect our assignments will be completed in less time as a result of these job process changes and the introduction of new technology in our work. Given the complexity of the issues we address and the need to respond quickly to congressional requests for information and analyses, it is important that we continue to have flexibility to staff and manage our work. ORGANIZATIONS LIKE GAO HAVE SIMILAR MANAGEMENT STRUCTURES Literature in administrative management shows that the ratio of managers to staff is smaller in organizations that carry out intellectual work, or that operate with complex technologies and in uncertain environments, as GAO does. Our ratios compare favorably to other public and private sector organizations whose staff is comprised of highly skilled professionals and whose work involves a high level of intellectual expertise, a wide scope of issues and responsibilities, and constantly changing work demands. For example, as shown in figure 2, the percentage of GAO's senior executives to staff is less than or about equal to senior executive to staff percentages found in other government agencies, such as the Office of Management and Budget or the Securities and Exchange Commission, that have governmentwide responsibilities or work on very complex issues. Source: Office of Personnel Management and GAO personnel data (1995). Similarly, figure 3 shows that GAO's percentage of senior executives to staff is less than equivalent proportions of partners to staff in major public accounting and consulting firms. Figure 3: Percentage of Partner/SES to Total Staff: GAO Compared to Six Major Source: Accounting Today, April 1995, and 1995 GAO personnel data. A further comparison with staffing patterns at innovative, problem-solving organizations serving the Department of Defense, such as RAND, MITRE, and The Logistics Management Institute, shows that the ratio of all officials at equivalent senior executive and Band III salary levels and responsibilities to other professional staff in those organizations was slightly over 1 to 4. for senior executive equivalents alone, the ratio was slightly over 1 to 7. The comparable ratio for GAO Band IIIs and senior executives combined is 1 to 4; for senior executives alone, it is 1 to 20. Page 5 ཐཱ Management experts in the early half of this century adopted simplistic approaches to the ratio of managers to workers, and unequivocally stated that the optimal ratio was one manager to five or six workers. Related research on group effectiveness generally showed that groups of five to seven performed best. Larger numbers led to group conflict, problems of coordination, and less effective group participation. More recent management experts have argued that a variety of factors must be considered in determining manager-to-worker ratios. Among those factors are the complexity and interdependence of the work, the rate of change in the work environment, and the significance and impact of the organization's products. Organizations that solve problems innovatively on behalf of others, like consulting firms, high technology corporations, and GAO, tend to need a larger number of managers relative to numbers of workers. However, these managers do not "manage" in the classical sense of giving direct orders to groups of subordinates. Rather, they spend considerable time coaching and mentoring highly educated, professional staff and coordinating work internally among independent, multidisciplinary teams addressing a wide range of research questions affecting similar areas. They often participate in and contribute to the work on complex issues, they represent their organization in meetings and negotiations with others outside the organization, and they can commit organizational resources. SENIOR EXECUTIVES DEMONSTRATE BROAD RESPONSIBILITIES AND IN-DEPTH EXPERTISE GAO senior executives provide expertise and leadership for work on the operations and policies of complex, constantly changing government programs and activities. The results of their work are frequently at the center of public debate. Further, from 1990 through 1995, GAO work has achieved about $135 billion in measurable financial benefits. In the past decade, responsibilities of GAO's senior executives have expanded dramatically, matching the expansion in the scope and complexity of GAO's work. Today, GAO executives-most of whom are issue area directors or associates-must demonstrate an in-depth expertise and conceptual understanding of the operations of one or more agencies, or of governmentwide functions, that is at a level equivalent to an agency's head or a program or functional expert's. They routinely meet with the highest level officials in federal, state and local government, the private sector, and international organizations and other national governments. Page 6 |