My husband is on a government board, not only are they hamstrung by the whims of those higher up but the employees are expected to do twice what they could possible do. Then they add in more stupidity than you can imagine and so no real work gets accomplished.
One recent example, things weren’t getting done to their satisfaction so all local offices were required to call in every 15 minutes and outline what they had done for the last 15 minutes! Insane!!!
This adds credibility to claims of being understaffed, which means more people are needed which means the department will become 'more important', because the 'importance' of governement departments is based on size, not task.
Of course, that translates to a resume builder for the higher ups, and increases in grade (pay).
It is an inherent flaw in the system and a counterproductive one.