Week 15 Chapter 14 Bell Ringer

Why do the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of the Treasury have large budgets relative to more prestigious departments, like State and Justice?

They oversee large federal payments.

Bureaucrats can often act as representatives of the American public.

True

By dividing authority over the federal bureaucracy among different branches, federal agencies and bureaus are often required to answer to more than one overseer.

True

Cabinet departments vary in size and budget.

True

Decisions by the federal judiciary can significantly impact bureaucratic behavior.

True

Federal and local officials were presented with data that predicted the path and potential of Hurricane Katrina with remarkable certainty.

True

From 1947 to 2004, per-capita federal expenditures continued to rise.

True

Hierarchal structure consists of super- and subordination in which there is a supervision of the lower offices by higher ones.

True

Images of bureaucrats who mindlessly follow rules and operating procedures whether or not they actually get things done have historically been given the term "red tape."

True

In forming his first cabinet, George Washington tried to assure members of the new nation that his government would be competent and representative of all of the 13 states.

True

James Q. Wilson's model of bureaucracy focused on outputs and outcomes.

True

Private corporations and companies are considered bureaucracies.

True

The CIA is an example of an independent executive agency.

True

The agency responsible for planning and operating the New Orleans levee and pump system was the ______.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

An organization designed to carry out specific tasks according to a prescribed set of rules and procedures is referred to as a(n) ______.

bureaucracy

An official employed within a government bureaucracy is called a(n) ______.

bureaucrat

The secretaries of the different department along with the vice president and the other heads of some major agencies that meet frequently are called the president's ______.

cabinet

Cabinet departments are headed by ______.

cabinet secretaries

Those federal employees whose ranks are clearly defined according to the General Service levels of government bureaucracy are referred to as ______.

career civil servants

Besides the president (chief executive), at the top of the federal hierarchy of labor are ______.

executive political appointees

The merit system produced the ______, as the permanent professional government employees concerned with administrative functions.

federal civil service

Political scientist Theda Skocpol explained America's lack of developing a comprehensive social welfare system in comparison to that of Europe by describing the ______ as hostile to large-scale government intervention and American ______ as defending the benefits of political patronage.

federal courts; political parties

Postwar economic prosperity allowed the nation to ______.

fund a large growth in national bureaucracy in defense and social services

The FDIC is an example a __________.

government corporation

Unlike Congress, the president, and the Supreme Court, the federal bureaucracy differs in that it ______.

has a more direct impact on American lives

For Chester Barnard, the essence of a bureaucracy is that it involves ______ in pursuit of a joint objective.

conscious coordination of activities

Following the election of Ronald Reagan, the federal bureaucracy began to ______.

decline (retrench) in size and scope

Under Bill Clinton (1993-2001), the one area in which the federal bureaucracy began to see a significant reduction was ______.

defense policy

Problems that arise when bureaucracies stray from their established goals and devote their energies and efforts to nonessential tasks are commonly referred to as bureaucratic ______.

drift

In 1913, the Department of Labor was broken in two with Commerce focusing on ______ and Labor focusing on ______.

economic growth; employee-employer relations and workplace conditions

If outputs and outcomes are unknown by management, ______.

effective management is impossible

In choosing men to serve as his cabinet secretaries, George Washington focused on their ______.

integrity and geographic origins

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention distrusted the administrative power of the Crown but also knew that legislative bodies could be inefficient and slow in carrying out administrative tasks, so they let the ______ nominate executive branch officials.

president

The challenge that arises when one actor tasks another to carry out their wishes in the presence of uncertainty and unequal information is called the ______ problem.

principal-agent

In the early years of its history, the American bureaucracy was ______ in comparison to what it turned into.

tiny

In order to influence the process of overseeing executive agencies, Congress has established the ______.

General Accountability Office

President Roosevelt's efforts to combat the crisis of the ______, called the ______, resulted in an unprecedented expansion of the size of the bureaucracy in the federal government.

Great Depression; New Deal

The 1939 piece of legislation commonly known as the ______ restricted the actions of federal workers in the political realm with exceptions for the highest-level political appointees.

Hatch Act

Inducements that leaders of a bureaucracy can offer to their employees to spur successful performance are known as ______.

incentives

In the months that followed the landfall of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the American federal bureaucracy ______.

increased in national prominence

The CIA is an example of a(n) ______ in which agencies otherwise similar to cabinet departments exist outside the cabinet structure and usually have a narrower focus of mission.

independent executive agency

During post-Civil War expansion, large corporations and railroads outgrew the ability of individual states to control and regulate them. This led to an increased federal role through the creation of ______.

independent federal agencies

The period from 1890 to 1920 in which the role of the federal bureaucracy in the nation's life expanded along with attempts to take politics out of the bureaucracy itself is described as the ______.

Progressive Era

Both the Skocpol and Skowronek studies highlight the question of American ______.

exceptionalism

The bureaucracy's role in putting into action the laws that Congress has passed is known as ______.

implementation

In reforming bureaucracy, deregulation aims to aid, privatization seeks to provision functions for, and reinvention seeks to emulate ______.

private industry

The Interstate Commerce Commission was created in 1887 to monitor price setting and other practices in by the ______.

railroads

Of the roughly 6,500 political appointees in the executive branch, about ______ require Senate confirmation.

1,500

The ______ created the first U.S. Civil Service Commission to draw up and enforce rules on hiring, promotion, and tenure of office within the civil service.

Pendleton Act

Which of the following was a problem with placing the bureaucracy in the hands of the legislature?

undue delay

In order to effectively manage a bureaucracy, James Q. Wilson argues both outputs and outcomes must be ______.

visible

The American bureaucracy has grown to nearly ______ civilian employees.

3 million

Much of the constitutional basis for the bureaucracy lies in ______.

Article II

In which of the following scenarios is the federal employee acting illegally under the Hatch Act of 1939, as amended by the Federal Employees Political Activities Act of 1993?

An IRS agent encourages a person under audit to vote for a particular candidate.

Beverly is a fervent believer in working hard for an election campaign and when that campaign's candidate wins office, being rewarded for her service with a cushy, well-paying federal job. Based solely on this fact about her, Beverly most likely has a portrait of which president hanging in her office?

Andrew Jackson

______, like the Department of Agriculture, developed to serve the needs and interests of their clients, such as farmers.

Clientele agencies

As a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, one area of the federal bureaucracy that continued to grow was defense.

False

Congress formally controls most of the federal bureaucracy.

False

Government corporations act as administrative links within the federal government.

False

More than 75% of the people who died in Hurricane Katrina were elderly.

False

The First Civil Service Commission was created under the Hatch Act.

False

The organization of authority within the federal bureaucracy and the tasks they undertake have little impact on how well a bureaucracy functions.

False

The primary administrative units of the federal bureaucracy are the three branches of government.

False

The threat of firing an employee would be considered an incentive in Barnard's people-centered model of bureaucracy.

False

When bureaucrats in regulatory agencies undermine effective regulation in order to promote their own interests at the expense of the agency's mission, it can be described as bureaucratic drift.

False

In the days, weeks, and months that followed Hurricane Katrina, residents of the Gulf Coast were looking to the ______ to step in and lead the recovery effort.

Federal Emergency and Management Agency

In 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed into law the ______, which created the National Security Council as well as the Central Intelligence Agency.

National Security Act

The German sociologist who attempted to define the boundaries and characteristics of bureaucratic organization was ______.

Max Weber

In the 1926 case of Myers v. United States, which of the following was the most important outcome?

Presidents retained the authority to remove officials in the executive branch.

The focus of reform under the Progressive Era targeted ______.

a corrupt, inefficient, and too-political bureaucracy

When voters elect their members of Congress and those representatives do NOT carry out their constituents' wishes once they are in Congress, ______ is present.

a principal-agent problem

In his inaugural address in 1829, President Jackson railed against ______.

a sense of "ownership" of important administrative positions

Political scientist James Q. Wilson thought people mattered in bureaucracies, as did rules and procedures, but also ______.

actual tasks

A primary reason for the size of early American bureaucracy was its ______ society.

autonomous and mostly agrarian

Organizations that act to serve and promote the interests of their clients are known as ______.

clientele agencies

For Chester Barnard, ______ was central to the success of a bureaucracy and overcoming its challenges.

leadership

Of all of the concerns in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina, perhaps most worrisome was the ______ system.

levee and pump

When the American people feel that the federal bureaucracy has failed, the president acts as a ______ for public outrage.

lightning rod

The system of hiring and promotion based on the results of competitive tests, education, and other qualifications rather than politics and personal consideration was called the ______.

merit system

For political scientist Stephen Skowronek, the federal bureaucracy was ______.

more fragmented and decentralized than European counterparts

An initial consequence to the patronage system was to make the American bureaucracy ______.

more impartial, neutral, and driven by standard operating procedures and technical expertise

Of special concern in James Q. Wilson's analysis was the ability or inability to observe ______.

outputs and outcomes

As a part of his reforms, Andrew Jackson employed political ______, filling administrative positions as rewards for support rather than solely based on merit.

patronage

Which of the following best describes the pattern of growth for American bureaucracy?

periods of little growth followed by periods of rapid growth

Driving much of the bureaucracy's direct involvement in American lives are the demands of ______.

the people themselves

Isabella went to city hall to submit a variance request for a deck on the second story of her home. She wants this deck because her neighbor, Yousef, just built a wall between their properties for privacy but this wall has obstructed the Isabella's view of the valley below. Upon entering the permits office, Isabella sees Yousef working behind the counter. She worries he may drag his feet in approving the variance for her deck or even deny it for his own aims, i.e., that he wants to maintain his personal privacy. This situation exemplifies the ______.

principal-agent problem

XYZ Road Construction Company, a for-profit company, has been hired by the U.S. Department of Transportation to assist in construction a portion of a new federal interstate highway system. This is an example of a ______.

private contractor

In settling on how executive branch officers were selected, the most contentious question facing the delegates in Philadelphia in 1787 was how these people would be ______.

removed

When two or more agencies are charged with a similar mandate, particularly in times of budget cuts and scarce or dwindling appropriations, the condition is often described as interagency ______.

rivalry

For political scientist James Q. Wilson, ______ matter as much as individuals.

rules and procedures

According to Barnard, the job of the leader was to ______.

secure the cooperation of those within the organization

Federal employees with higher-level supervisory and administrative responsibilities who are paid and treated more like vice presidents of businesses than political figures are ______.

senior executive service members

Following a successful election, the opportunity to clean house of one's opponents and install supporters in their place is referred to as the ______ system.

spoils

Because individuals were changing with each new presidential administration, the need for ______ became important; otherwise little would get done.

standard operating procedures

The sets of rules governing the behavior of bureaucrats are commonly referred to as ______.

standard operating procedures

In addition to the federal bureaucracy, an additional category of public bureaucracies exists through ______.

state and local bureaucracies

The authority to remove a bureaucratic official from office lies with ______.

the president

The primary administrative units in the federal bureaucracy are ______.

the 15 cabinet departments

Which of the following would be considered an example of an independent executive agency?

the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

As the head of the executive branch, the president is tasked to ensure that ______.

the apparatus of the executive bureaucracy faithfully executes the laws of the nation