POL 261 Midterm

What does it mean to centralize or decentralize government services? What are the advantages of each? Disadvantages?

Centralize means to concentrate authority into 1 unit. Benefits: coordination, expertise, more accountability, broader knowledge and perspective, less duplication, economies of scale in purchasing, and it rewards strong managers. Weaknesses: distance from consumers, slower decision making, less responsive, limits innovation, less flexible policies and procedures, more difficult to measure performance

**According to Emerson, et al (Understanding the Context for Public Administration), what are the consequences of the federal system of government? In other words, what are some consequences of the way our government is set up with different levels: local, state, and federal? Aka the possible negative affects of federalism in the U.S?

Consequences of federal system include an emphasis on state and local government that encourages public participation; it promotes accountability to public; enables policies that meet local needs and preferences. But, it creates friction between state and federal gov and overlapping jurisdiction makes accountability more difficult.

What is contracting? What is government's role in this form of service provision?

Contracting is paying people not employed by the government to do a job for them. The gov. Plays a major role due to the amount of people they contract. They set the standards for the contracts and negotiate bids for effective programs and oversee the service.

What is Dillon's rule, and how does it affect the role of local governments?

Dillon's rule states that local governments are creatures of the state (in 39 states). It decreases power of local governments.

**What are direct tools of government? indirect tools? What is the difference?

Direct tools are the provisions of goods and services such as social security and fire and police protection. This directly affects the local levels. Indirect tools are things the government provides to other people such as contracts, grants, and loans that support private companies for public goals. Helps the people through a third party service- not through the government directly.

humanist approach

Emphasis on the individual employee and interpersonal relationships, values informal leadership and empowerment of employments, views scientific management of organizations dehumanizing, happy workers = more productive. Challenges are that research is value laden; assumes all workers have the same motivations, happiness not always related to performance, oversimplified and overgeneralized, resource intensive

Office of Management and budget (OMB)

Established in 1921 in the treasury department; became part of EOP in 1939 it is in charge of budget control, review of legislation passed by congress, review of regulations proposed by agencies, audit agencies/management review, intelligence about executive branch operations, source of "institutional memory"

How would you characterize the division of labor between national, state, and local governments? Is there a difference in the nature of services each provides? How do special-purpose governments affect services?

Federal- policy areas for national scope, writes the checks State- plays a "banking" role Local- delivers the services

**What are the three forms of accountability? List the three and describe one of these, and the goal it promotes.

Fiscal- how is the money being spent Process- is it done fair and efficiently Program- is it doing what it set out to do

cabinets

Formal Group which provides advice and expertise on policy issues. Department secretaries and the president.

Issues with managing Executive Branch

Government has vast scope-vast span of control, elements usually product of legislative decisions, executives not always chosen for managerial ability, executives don't always control appointments, cabinet members are short-term, have mixed loyalties, ineffective, interdepartmental friction, white house staff now large, multi-tiered and hard to coordinate

The role of public administrators in direct and indirect service provision

Government provides some services which they carry out themselves. Direct they are hands on with implementing and indirect they take more of a role of oversight and contract others to do it.

What is hierarchy and the four major approaches that challenge hierarchy (describe each approach)?

Hierarchy is the top down chain of command in organizations. The four major approaches that challenge this are humanist approach, the pluralist approach, the government-by-proxy approach, and the formal approach.

**What determines whether a good or service should be provided by the public or private sectors?

If it is not feasible to exclude some people from it and also by determining how many people can benefit from it without reducing benefits to others.

Government work and services are now also performed by private and non-profit sectors. How does this complicate accountability in public administration?

It becomes hard to decide what is public v private and how to hold these private sectors accountable.

**According to the reading, when is it desirable to delegate authority to local government? What are some basic functions of local government?

It is desirable to delegate authority if it is less costly and more efficient and if it fosters community involvement and participation.

Why is administrative discretion the "inevitable result of any administrative act?"

It is the inevitable result because transparency is not always feasible. There is a certain amount of privateness that is required and also if they PA were to explain every law and rule and part of policy, then nothing would ever get done.

**What does it mean to say public administrators "may have multiple controllers?" How does this complicate accountability in public administration?

It means that people do not usually only report to one person. There are often multiple people telling them what to do and how to do it and interdisciplinary policies require interdisciplinary control. This complicates accountability by having multiple agency heads who want different things. It becomes a problem when you are told to do different things by different people.

What are the four local government models and their primary distinctions?

Mayor/council, manager-council, town meetings, commission

What level of government are most public administrators located? List three examples of the different types of professions (besides the stereotypical bureaucrat) that are also considered public administrators at this level?

Most are local level. Police, fire, teachers are all located at this level.

Pluralist approach

Pluralist approach: Emphasis on central role of interest groups. Challenges: administration is battleground of conflicts carried over from policymaking, admin fragmented, agencies are products of conflict and accommodation of interests

**How do "evolving policy problems" complicate holding public administrators accountable?

Policy is increasingly complex, and with the scope of government increasing governance is also more complex. Hierarchy is not so black and white. Multiple agencies mean multiple organizational cultures.

What are private goods? Public goods? What is the difference?

Private goods are those that can be bought or consumed by an individual, like a television. Not everyone needs a television or can buy a television and not everyone can share the same television so therefore it is a private good. A public good is a good that can be enjoyed by the people, or is given to everyone because it benefits the community.

What role does public administration play in our daily lives? List and briefly describe at least three ways public administration affects your daily life.

Public health, safety, transportation, education

**What are regulations and what do they accomplish? From government's perspective, what advantage do they have over other tools? (e.g., contracts, grants etc.)

Regulations are rules and laws that compel compliance. They increase government's power while spending little money.

Why is structure considered the basic building block of organizations?

Structure is the building block of organizations because of the focus on positions rather than people, and shapes fundamental behavioral patterns.

According to Kettl, what distinguishes the public sector from the private sector?

The biggest difference is what rules they must follow. Private much more free to do what they want than are public sectors. Private→ go until someone says stop. Public→ stop until someone says go for specific thing.

**According to the chapter, what are the three themes in public administration? Why are there trade-offs between these three themes?

The three themes are politics, accountability, and performance

**What role does an administrator's internal compass play in deciding what to do when controllers give conflicting directions? What are the two responses an administrator can choose under these circumstances?

There internal compass must guide them through training, morals, ethics, devotion, and respect. An administrator can either voice their opinion and fight for their people or they can leave office.

What is the "tragedy of the commons" and "rule-of-law"?

Tragedy of the commons is when people use public goods as if they were private goods and then someone else can't benefit from them. Rule of law is only being able to do what the law specifically allows you to do.

What is the free rider problem in provision of public goods? Why is the government well suited to solve this free-rider problem?

When people benefit from a good without paying fully into it, wide taxation helps this problem.

What are the six basic propositions about the role of authority in public administration? List them and explain Principals and Agents and a second of your choosing.

1. Principles and agents 2. Narrowed, defined specialization 3. Internal specialized structure- division of responsibility 4. "Rules of the game" for agencies' units and officeholder 5. Staff of experts 6. Outside definition of rules and games

What are the four concepts discussed by classical management theory? How do checks and balances challenge application of these principles in the public sector?

1. Responsibility should come with adequate authority 2. Subordinates should only have 1 supervisors 3. Supervisors should have limited number of subordinates 4. Line personnel should have primary authority, staff as an advisory role ------------ Checks and balances challenge this because of federalism and separation of powers, accountability structure and multiple oversights

**According to Kettl, what are the five myths of "big government?" List the five and very briefly describe two, and explain why Kettl thinks it's a myth.

1. Washington is the center of our big government problem 2. Let's take government back to the small government days 3. Let's cut back government by cutting back number of federal employees. 4. Let's cut waste, fraud, and abuse 5. Abolishing agencies will shrink the government

3 models of legitimate authority

1. charismatic: authority gained through charm and trust of people 2. traditional: authority gained through putting in the time and experience 3. rational-legal: authority established by formal legality of command

What are the six principles for structuring organizations

1. four strategies for structuring orgs 2. organizational strategies mutually exclusive 3. focus on purpose at top 4. appropriate span of control 5. single head for agencies 6. line and staff separate

In systems theory, what is a "closed system?" An open system? What is the difference?

A closed system theorist views an organization as a machine, which translates inputs into outputs but whose operation is substantially unaffected by its environment. An open systems theorists see an organization as something akin to a biological organism, such as a plant or animal. The main difference is that in a closed-system, the task performed by itself without any intervention and in an open-system there are outside factors acting upon the system.

Field office

A place away from headquarters to run and operate business since so much of government is not in DC.

What is "systems theory," and how does it approach organizations?

A systems theory defines organizations as a set of parts and views organizations as "organisms" with different amounts of interaction with the environment.

What is accountability in public administration and what is the primary way accountability is enforced?

Accountability is a relationship between who and what. Who is supposed to be doing it, and what are they supposed to be doing. The primary way it is enforced is through rule of law.

National Security Council

An office created in 1947 to coordinate the president's foreign and military policy advisers. Its formal members are the president, vice president, secretary of state, and secretary of defense, and it is managed by the president's national security assistant.

**Define the term bureaucracy and explain why Kettl believe the term is used in a contradictory way. According to Kettl, what is the real source of frustration with bureaucracy?

Bureaucracy is a broad term to describe any sort of organization and complex structure of organizations and private sectors. The frustration is that people want to shrink bureaucracy but they also have very high expectations and that requires a bureaucracy to carry out their demands.

independent agencies

agencies in the executive branch of the federal government formed by Congress to help enforce laws and regulations not covered by the executive departments

Bureaucratic Model (Max Weber)

also top down chain of command, focuses more on the legitimacy of system of authority than formal structure (authority is influential on motivation)

government-by-proxy approach

an approach to organizations that notes that government delegates authority to other governments, to private organizations, and to mixed public-private enterprises as well as within its own organizational structure

four strategies for structuring orgs

purpose, process, place, clientele

formal approach

returns to a structural perspective but adds a very different theoretical approach.

Bureaus

term to cover a smaller agency within a large one. The make up our bureaucracy- which is why they are so important

E-government

the use of electronic commerce to deliver information and public services to citizens, business partners, and suppliers of government entities, and those working in the public sector

classical model

top down chain of command, defines clear jurisdiction of authority and responsibility then subdivides, focuses on specialization and coordination, rely on legitimacy & power & rationality, primary value is efficiency

government by proxy

when state and local govs are hired to staff and administer federal programs OR when private companies are hired out to perform tasks --> waste management