The Government Accountability Office ("GAO") found that the SEC's organizational culture "operates in a compartmentalized way" that involves minimal communication and collaboration between its divisions. The GAO Report (the "Report") evaluated the SEC's implementation of prior recommendations from a July 2013 GAO Report concerning personnel management.
The Report concluded that the SEC:
- adequately implemented mechanisms to monitor the use by supervisors of performance management systems to assess performance and provide feedback;
- adequately implemented an accountability system, which allowed the SEC to conduct regular assessments of personnel management regarding its human capital programs;
- developed a workforce and succession plan, but failed to include important factors of Office of Personnel Management guidance, such as a skills gap analysis, the structuring of the workforce, and links to the budgeting process;
- failed to examine the effectiveness of its performance management system before redesigning it in 2014; and
- "made little progress" in improving cross-divisional collaboration by, for example, setting expectations for staff collaboration, implementing best practices to break down current barriers and establishing a single official authority that can affect the daily operations of the entire agency.
The Report recommended that the SEC:
- grant authority to the chief operating officer ("COO") or another official to improve the collaboration between divisions;
- conduct a skills gap analysis for specialist training purposes; and
- respond to any remaining unaddressed GAO recommendations pertaining to workforce planning, performance management, and collaboration between agencies.
The Report noted that the SEC disagrees with the recommendation that enhancing the role of the COO would optimize cross-divisional collaboration.
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