To Lawyers Who Become Government Managers: Do it the French Way David S. Reed Copyright © 2011 by David S. Reed

Central Thesis Common law is an inadequate model for public administration. Managers should model more on civil law. Important because: – Many government managers are trained as lawyers, rather than public administrators. – In most English-speaking countries, lawyers are trained in common law.

Romance language countries What each party in a relationship should do (rights and obligations) Deductive and planned (codified law) English language countries Remedies for particular disputes (solution of a concrete case) Inductive and evolutionary (precedent, custom) Civil LawCommon Law

Common Law Approach: Output/Outcome Goals Manager as judge specifies improved outputs/ outcomes as remedy for inadequate performance. Assumption: Goals→Accountability→Results – Output/outcome measures are lagging indicator, so blame former personnel, procedure, etc. – Subordinates may not have skills or resources. – Manager may have little recourse against failure.

Common Law Approach: Manage by Allocating Resources & Authority Manager takes role of resolving disputes among subordinates. If subordinates make do with customary resources & authority, then manager does not intrude into work processes. Result: Silos (Duplicative & uncoordinated work processes.)

Civil Law Approach: ISO 9000 International Organization for Standardization (ISO) – NGO for industrial standards (screw threads, toy safety, etc.) ISO Family of standards for Quality Management. Management assures that work is performed in accordance with documented procedures. Policies ↓ Procedures ↓ Work Instructions ↓ Work Records ↓ Audit

Civil Law Approach: ISO 9000 Enables management to see & control how work is done. Cf. common law approaches: - Leading vs. lagging indicator - Highlight missing capabilities - Visibility across silos But objectives are exogenous. Assumption: Management will improve procedures to cure poor performance. Policies ↓ Procedures ↓ Work Instructions ↓ Work Records ↓ Audit

Other Civil Law Approaches Compared to ISO 9000 Enterprise Architecture – Expressed in terms of structure, rather than process – Focus on enterprise as a whole; less adaptable to subsets Checklists – Examples from aviation & medicine. – Looks simpler because checklist (work instruction) is only visible artifact. – But still requires management to design procedures, monitor compliance, etc.

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