Sustaining top leadership commitment to improvement is particularly challenging in the federal government because of the frequent turnover of senior agency political officials. success. The U.S. improvement initiatives into programmatic decisions, planning to chart the direction the improvements will take, employee involvement in the change efforts, organizational realignment to streamline operations and clarify accountability, and congressional involvement and oversight. Experience has shown that when these elements are in place, lasting management reforms are more likely to be implemented that ultimately lead to improvements in the performance and cost-efficiency of government.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed efforts to improve the management and performance of the federal government.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) serious and disciplined efforts are needed to attack the management problems confronting some of the federal government's largest agencies; (2) successful management improvement efforts often contain a number of common critical elements, including top leadership commitment and accountability, the integration of management improvement initiatives into programmatic decisions, planning to chart the direction the improvements will take, employee involvement in the change efforts, organizational realignment to streamline operations and clarify accountability, and congressional involvement and oversight; and (3) experience has shown that when these elements are in place, lasting management reforms are more likely to be implemented that ultimately lead to improvements in the performance and cost-efficiency of government.