Posted by denised in 
FEMA, the agency that famously mismanaged Katrina under Michael Brown, is apparently (no surprise to the rest of us) plagued with management problems.
FEMA’s interim director, Nancy Ward, was due back in the agency’s New Orleans office last Thursday to continue reviewing the allegations. Employees say the way the office is being managed is a disaster. Ward’s visits began after a CBS Evening News report claimed that there were 30 complaints, in February alone, against Transitional Recovery Office chief of staff, Douglas Whitmer. While the allegations are under investigation, Whitmer is on temporary assignment in Texas. To help assess the situation, FEMA created an on-line survey that can be completed confidentially by the New Orleans staff. The larger story here is how the mismanagement is impacting the post-Katrina rebuilding efforts. Nearly $4 billion of the $6 billion FEMA designated to rebuild after Katrina is still unspent, due in large part, many say, to the mismanagement in the New Orleans office.
Serious management issues are definitely not news to government workers. Government agencies are notoriously plagued by bad management and low morale. It would be great if these confidential surveys could be implemented throughout several government agencies and if when the results were released, real changes in management would actually take place.
