Trump should be a better boss

President Trump clearly has put together a chaotic and unpredictable organization, or perhaps his administrations suffers for the lack of any organization whatsoever. His managerial style seems to be impromptu, and his approach to staff is apparently mercurial. These are not good ways to handle the principal–agent problem he necessarily faces. Such an approach leads to low morale and lackluster oversight of staff, which by all accounts is what we have seen, time and again — from the Anonymous op-ed, to the new Bob Woodward book (not just its contents, but the fact that so many officials willingly participated in it), even to Omarosa’s recording conversations in the West Wing, including in the Situation Room. These are all symptoms of an executive branch that is suffering from a lack of sufficient management.

And look: If Trump does not have a good handle on what his agents are up to, then his power necessarily is going to decline, as the principal–agent problem grows. We can bemoan the fact that his political appointees are undermining democratic accountability by ignoring or circumventing Trump’s dictates, but that misses the point. The principal–agent problem exists just about everywhere. It is a consequence of human nature, whereby people are prone to put their own judgments and interests first. That’s why principals must monitor their agents.