May 2, 2000
Still more bureaucracy
For the fourth year running, this letter tracks the Laboratory trends on number of managers vs. workers. After holding steady last year the numbers got dramatically worse this year, with the "bureaucracy index" on TSMs worse by 10 percent. The numbers are the worst reported since I began tracking them in 1993. While the "security" flap may explain some growth overall it does not explain why the management always grows more proportionally. Also, it does not explain why the Laboratory numbers are much worse than Lawrence Livermore and Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories.
Figures drawn from the Affirmative Action Program reports (available at the Lab's Community Relations Office) show the problem. The number of employees is 7,263; 6,468; 6,173; 6,026: 6,352, 6,659; and 6,859 for fiscal years 1993 through 1999, while the number of officials and managers (O&M) shows, respectively, 1,212; 1,170; 1,204; 1,301; 1,367; 1,414; and 1,508. The ratio of O&M to total employees shows 1:6; 1:5.52; 1:5.13; 1:4.63; 1:4.64; 1:4.7 and 1:4.55 for FY '93 through FY '99. The ratio of technical staff member (TSM) officials and managers to TSMs shows 1:3.25; 1:2.7; 1:2.53; 1:2.22; 1:2.10; 1:2.10; and 1:1.99 for FY '93 through FY '99. That's one TSM in management for every 1.99 TSM worker bees. Even these numbers don't reflect staff positions such as "chief of staff" (15) and "chief scientist," as these titles are not listed as O&M. The continuing trend is that the Lab is creating more and more TSM management slots, mostly at the team leader, section leader and project leader levels. This in spite of re-engineering, re-structuring and the "overhead reducing" 1995 reduction in force. From FY '93 to FY '99, the number of TSMs has declined (2,443 vs. 2,211) while O&M has grown (1,212 vs. 1,508). Another continuing "growth area" is administrative professionals (specialist staff members/SSMs) where the number grew from 838 in FY '96 to 1,110 in FY '99. Even more than in years past, it seems that the Laboratory's "business" is bureaucracy.
--Chris Mechels