President-elect Barack Obama has promised to thin the ranks of management, especially in the Washington area, and shift more employees to “front-line” positions in field offices.

But the plan isn’t sitting well with groups like the Senior Executives Association and Federal Managers Association. A coalition of managers groups sent a letter (pdf) to John Podesta, the co-chair of Obama’s transition team, urging the president-elect to reconsider:

An arbitrary cut of managers based upon an across the board ratio for all of federal service is not the answer. Instead, we encourage you to think about the long-term impact that qualified managers have on the ability of an agency to meet mission critical goals.

The coalition wants the Government Accountability Office to study President Clinton’s National Performance Review, which eliminated thousands of management jobs, before Obama makes his own cuts.

What do you think — does the federal government have too many managers? How should Obama reorganize the federal workforce?