The Bureaucracy

What are some problems with performance management (in terms of the bureaucracy)?

-Agencies may select indicators where they know they'll do best -Risks perverting incentives towards what can be achieved rather than what would be most valuable to achieve

What are some reasons for the growth of the bureaucratic state/government in the 20th century?

-Increased complexity of society -Public's attitude towards business changed during end of 19th century -Attitudes about responsibilities of gov. in area of social welfare changed -Ambitious, entrepreneurial agency officials have expanded their organizations to take on added responsibilities

What makes the bureaucracy not as responsive as presidents might like?

-Pluralism pulls agencies in directions other than those favored by the president -Bureaucracies must follow the laws governing the programs that they are entrusted with

What are some of the constraints that agency policymakers must deal with?

-Policymakers have a difficult time defining precise goals and values -Goals may not be fully compatible -Policy selected may not be the most efficient means to the desired end -Policy making can never be based on truly comprehensive analysis

What are some things that occur when trying to reduce the size of government?

-Presidents and congress face opposition when trying to cut specific programs -National government reduces the amount of bureaucrats without reducing government programs

Why might a policy not always do what is was intended to do?

-The policy may not be clearly stated -The endeavor might be very complex

*What is deregulation? (In terms of bureaucracy)

A bureaucratic reform by which the government reduces its roll as a regulator of business. -Considerable deregulation took place in '70s and '80s

*What is a government corporation?

A government agency that performs services that might be provided by the private sector but that involve either insufficient financial incentive or are better provided when they are somehow linked with government

*What is Bureaucracy?

A large, complex organization in which employees have specific job responsibilities and work within a hierarchy of authority.

*What are regulations (in terms of administrative policymaking):

Administrative rules that guide the operation of a government program

*What is a regulatory commission?

An agency of the executive branch of government that controls or directs some aspect of the economy

*What is a bureaucrat?

An employee of a bureaucracy

*What is an independent agency? (In terms of a bureaucracy)

An executive agency that is not part of a cabinet department

What are norms (In terms of administrative policymaking)?

An organizations informal, unwritten rules that guide individual behavior.

Why do bureaucrats always go "by the book"?

Because the "book" is the law they administer; They wrote the book.

What are some basic approaches to bureaucratic reform?

Deregulation, competition and outsourcing, performance standards

Where is the broadest discretion granted to agencies by Congress?

Domestic and global security (CIA, FBI)

What are performance standards? (In terms of the bureaucracy)

Each agency is held accountable to reach quantifiable goals each year or budget cycle.

Ineffective bureaucratic norms can not be changed. Even if they are adversarial. T/F?

False. Ineffective bureaucratic norms can be changed.

Regulations do not have the effect of law. T/F?

False. Regulations have the effect of law.

How many employees of the executive branch is the president in charge of appointing?

Fewer than 1% of executive branch employees; About 7,000 people

Deregulation reflects the traditional dilema of choosing ________ vs. ____________

Freedom Vs. Order

*What is regulation? (In terms of bureaucracy)

Government intervention in the workings of a business market to promote some socially desired goal.

What makes deciding the appropriate level of deregulation particularly difficult at times?

Health and safety issues

What two issues have shaped the debate on how to contract the bureaucracy?

Ideology and the size of the debt

What are two ingredients necessary in successful policymaking?

Patience and continual analysis.

*What is incrementalism?

Policymaking characterized by a series of decisions, each instituting modest change

What is competition and outsourcing?

Procedures that allow private contractors to bid for jobs previously held exclusively by government employees.

*What is the Government Performance and Results Act?

Requires each government agency to identify specific goals, adopt a performance plan, and develop quantitative indicators of agency progress in meeting its goals

People want a ____ government that costs ____ and works _______

Smaller, less, better

What do the heads of the departments, or secretaries, form?

The President's Cabinet

*Define rule making (in terms of administrative policymaking):

The administrative process that results in the issuance of regulations by government agencies

*Define department (In terms of a bureaucracy):

The biggest unit of the executive branch, covering a broad range of responsibility

The Main Point (Chapter 10)

The federal bureaucracy; too big, too expensive, and too complex; only a national shift in attitude will bring about change; and that begins with us.

*What is administrative discretion?

The latitude that congress gives agencies to make policy in the spirit of their legislative mandate. - Congress frequently gives vague directs in its legislation. Bureaucrats work out the details.

*What is implementation?

The process of putting specific policies into operation.

*What is civil service?

The system by which most of the appointments to the federal bureaucracy are made, to ensure that government jobs are filled on the basis of merit and that employees are not fired for political reasons.

Bureaucracies develop explicit rules and standards to make operations more efficient and to guarantee fair treatment of clients. T/F?

True. Bureaucracies develop explicit rules and standards to make operations more efficient and to guarantee fair treatment of clients.

Congress can amend laws to override bureaucratic regulations. T/F?

True. Congress can amend laws to override bureaucratic regulations.

Implementation is an incremental process. T/F?

True. Implementation is an incremental process.

Regulations often require individuals and corporations to act against their own self interest. T/F?

True. Regulations often require individuals and corporations to act against their own self interest.

The way in which any bureaucracy is organized affects how well it can accomplish its goals. T/F?

True. The way in which any bureaucracy is organized affects how well it can accomplish its goals.