Cambridge Business Association
Banishing Bureaucracy
Book

Banishing Bureaucracy

The Five Strategies for Reinventing Government

David Osborne and Peter Plastrik
Perseus Books, 2006
First Edition: 1997
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging

Recommendation

In this sequel to his bestseller, Reinventing Government, David Osborne teams with Peter Plastrik to further explore the process of making public and governmental organizations more entrepreneurial by introducing businesslike practices. The authors focus on five strategies for fundamentally changing the way government works on local, state, regional and national levels, and give plenty of real-life global success stories. This organizational, economic and political tour de force is wonderfully written, and is never dry, academic or reliant on dense government gabble. In fact, it’s a page-turner. getAbstract recommends it to all concerned citizens.

Summary

“Reinventing Government”

The following “revolutionary 10-point program” for using entrepreneurial approaches to improve government, making it more efficient and cost-effective, was first outlined nearly 15 years ago. Governments around the world have put these ideas into practice at local, state and national levels, resulting in lower taxes, improved services, enhanced performance and productivity, less red tape and increased accountability. Governments have made improvements in nearly every area of their operations.

However, “reinventing government” has become such a popular phrase that it is now used to describe activities that these ideas never intended to imply. It does not mean:

  • Changing the political system, including “campaign finance reform, legislative or parliamentary reform, term limits” or any other political components.
  • Reorganizing by simply “moving boxes on an organizational chart” without changing the positions’ goals, responsibilities and allocation of power.
  • Creating one-off programs to cut “waste, fraud and abuse” instead of implementing new systems that continually seek ways to increase efficiency.
  • Downsizing government...

About the Authors

David Osborne is the co-author of Reinventing Government and Laboratories of Democracy. He has written for the Washington Post and the New York Times Magazine, and served as an adviser to former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Peter Plastrik was acting chief deputy of the Michigan Department of Commerce, and is now a consultant to public organizations and foundations.

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