Bureaucracy

Which of the following statements does not apply to Senior Executive Service (SES) bureaucrats?

SES employees cannot be moved from job to job.

The head of each federal department is appointed by the president and confirmed by the

Senate.

Which select group of career federal public administrators who make up the top managerial, supervisory, and policy positions in the federal bureaucracy was created by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978?

Senior Executive Service

What happens once governmental policies are in place?

The government assesses their impact and determines effectiveness.

Which of the following best explains why more shadow bureaucrats provide services to Americans today than in the past?

There has been more contracting-out in recent years.

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency reporting to the president is an example of what element of bureaucratic structure?

a hierarchical chain of command

Which of the following best describes a bureaucrat?

a person employed in the executive branch to implement public policy

The process by which agencies resolve disputes over the implementation of their administrative rules is called

administrative adjudication.

When the Department of Labor investigates a complaint filed under the Fair Labor and Standards Act, the department is exercising

administrative adjudication.

Which of the following transfers control over public policy from elected officials to unelected bureaucrats?

administrative discretion

When elected officials delegate to bureaucrats the authority to decide the best way to implement a policy, this authority is called

administrative discretion.

When the attorneys general of 18 states sued the EPA, charging that the agency had not regulated carbon dioxide, they were contesting the EPA's

administrative rule making.

Although elected officials have the power to create public policy, ______ have the power to implement that policy.

agencies bureaucrats commissions

Rank these steps of the public policy cycle in the order in which they usually occur, from first to last.

agenda setting policy formulation policy approval appropriation approval policy implementation ' policy evaluation

the U.S. State Department

almost no union membership

Courts can only act as a check on bureaucratic power if

an aggrieved party files a lawsuit against an administrative agency.

A law that gives government entities the legal authority to spend money is called a(n) ______ law.

appropriation

Well-performing bureaucracies require

effective leadership to develop and maintain support from the public and government leaders.

Although anyone can formulate a public policy, only ______ can officially introduce policy proposals into the lawmaking process.

elected officials

By the 1970s, Congress had shifted the focus of independent regulatory commissions to the ways in which business practices affect the

environment. health and safety of consumers. health and safety of workers.

Bureaucratic agencies can be sued in the court system if they are accused of violating due process or--------- protection of the laws.

equal

All of the following are parameters by which applicants for jobs covered by the merit-based civil service system are analyzed and ranked, except

ethnicity.

A whistleblower in the federal bureaucracy is a person who

exposes governmental problems such as waste, corruption, and fraud.

What does the 1966 Freedom of Information Act require national agencies to do?

give citizens access to government documents upon request for a reasonable fee

Citizens' satisfaction with the government is highly correlated to which of the following?

government accountability government transparency

With regard to agenda setting, bureaucrats

have a firsthand view of societal problems and ideas of how to address them.

Federal civil servants are ______ to belong to a labor union than private sector employees.

more likely

Which of the following are elements of Max Weber's bureaucratic structure?

hierarchical structure a hiring system based on competency standard operating procedures a division of labor specialized tasks

When the government contracts out bureaucratic responsibilities to nongovernmental institutions, it assumes that the cost of providing services will be decreased because

of lower overhead costs.

How many heads of independent administrative agencies serve at the pleasure of the president?

some

Do authorization laws mandate the spending of federal money to achieve a law's goal?

sometimes

Political scientists distinguish between categories of executive branch organizations based on which two features?

type of work they perform structure

Which of the following is not a term for the methods by which government bureaucracies contract with private organizations to perform governmental tasks?

whistle-blowing

Titles VI, VII, and IX of which act have been used to prevent government discrimination in hiring based on race, age, ethnicity, sex, and religion?

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Which of the following groups monitor the federal bureaucracy's actions?

Congress and the president the American people the court system

Which of the following are reasons why bureaucrats are accountable to Congress?

Congress funds bureaucracies. Congress regulates bureaucracies. Congress creates bureaucracies.

1. merit-based civil service 2. Senior Executive Service

1. a personnel system in which bureaucrats are hired on the basis of the principles of competence, equal opportunity (open competition), and political neutrality 2. personnel system for top managerial, supervisory, and policy positions offering less job security but higher pay correct toggle button unavailable a unique personnel system for top managerial, supervisory, and policy positions offering less job security but higher pay

Public sector jobs account for ______ percent of the total employment in the United States.

15

the U.S. Postal Service

90 percent union membership

One of the first national sunshine laws was the ______ Act of 1946.

Administrative Procedure

Independent administrative agencies differ from executive branch departments in which of the following ways?

Agencies have a narrower function than departments. The decision-making functions of agencies, but not departments, are intended to be protected from partisan politics.

True or false: Because of the independence of the bureaucracy, there is very little check on bureaucratic power.

False

True or false: Civil servants hired under the merit system can be fired merely because someone with different political beliefs has been appointed to supervise them.

False

True or false: Most Americans, even our elected leaders, are quick to praise public servants and slow to criticize them for perceived inefficiency.

False

True or false: There is a clear line dividing those who make government policy from those who implement it.

False

Today the Executive Office of the President has evolved to have which function?

It assists the president in managing and overseeing the bureaucracy.

Which three of the following statements about the Administrative Procedure Act are accurate?

It mandates that federal agencies must invite public comment on agency proposals. It requires bureaucracies to publicize their proposed rules. It was created to respond to concerns about the fast growth of federal agencies and their lack of transparency.

Why are bureaucrats brought into the policy-formulation process?

They are often consulted because of their expertise in dealing with societal problems. They will have to decide how to fill in the program details of a bill that contains vague or ambiguous language.

True or false: Elected officials risk the loss of control over the content of public policy when they delegate administrative discretion to bureaucrats.

True

True or false: Merit-based civil service jobs are open and accessible to all who wish to compete for a position.

True

True or false: The authorization legislation for the best-performing bureaucracies clearly states the purpose of the agency but also grants high levels of administrative discretion to the agency's bureaucrats.

True

The best-known government corporation is the

U.S. Postal Service

A(n) ______ law provides the plan of action for addressing a given societal concern and identifies which executive branch unit will put the plan into effect.

authorization

Congress and the president decide during the ______ process how much money each bureaucracy will be authorized to spend.

budget

Which of the following may the president perform in order to hold bureaucratic agencies responsible for their actions?

budget funds for them pick leaders for them authorize them

Any large organization with a division of labor, specialization of job tasks, vertical chain of command, and standard operating procedures is called a(n)

bureaucracy.

The collection of all national executive branch organizations is known as the

bureaucracy.

The government officials whose decisions are most likely to influence citizens' lives on a daily basis are

bureaucrats.

How do presidents use the power of appointment to exercise control over bureaucratic agencies?

by choosing political appointees who will follow their policy wishes

The bottom-line goal for government bureaucracy is

citizen satisfaction.

In 1789, the work of public servants was mostly ______ in nature.

clerical

Which of the following are not among the types of executive branch organizations?

congressional committees

The 15 major administrative organizations within the federal bureaucracy that are responsible for major governmental functions are the

departments.

Independent regulatory commissions are created to do which of the following?

impose sanctions on those organizations that violate their standards monitor the compliance of targeted organizations develop standards of behavior for specific industries and businesses

Which of the following types of organizations have been added to the bureaucracy since the administration of George Washington?

independent regulatory agencies agencies in the Executive Office of the President

Recognizing the need to regulate the economy, Congress created numerous ______ to develop standards of behavior for specific industries and businesses, including the Interstate Commerce Commission.

independent regulatory commissions

Government watchdogs who are appointed by the president and embedded in government agencies to monitor policy implementation and investigate alleged misconduct are called

inspector general

All of the following are categories of federal bureaucrats, except

inspectors general.

As evidenced by the passage of the False Claims Act, which of the following is among the biggest concerns about the contracting-out of government services?

lack

According to Gormley and Balla, which three of the following characteristics correlate with the better-performing bureaucracies?

legislative language that clearly states the goal of the legislation high levels of support from elected officials and the media goals that are easily measured

Bureaucrats help to set the agendas of elected officials by

lobbying for the best way to set or implement policies. creating iron triangles. creating issue networks.

Since 1789, the federal bureaucracy has changed a great deal in terms of all of the following except

location.

iron triangle

long-term collaborative efforts among bureaucrats in an agency, an interest group, and a legislative committee to set an agenda and formulate policy

Unlike other categories of bureaucracies, government corporations are expected to

make enough money to cover their costs.

Members of the Executive Office of the President

make up the presidential bureaucracy.

The hiring principles of the ----------based civil service system are open competition, competence, and political neutrality.

merit

When civil servants are hired on the basis of competence alone, the ______ system is being applied.

merit

Even if all other factors are in place, the bureaucracy will fail without the ______ of the people it serves.

participation compliance

Political appointments can best be characterized as which of the following?

patronage

Prior to the 1880s, bureaucrats were hired under the------- system.

patronage

Which of the following guide the ethics of bureaucratic behavior?

personal discretion applicable professional codes of behavior OGE ethical standards

The 1978 Ethics in Government Act applies to which of the following?

political appointees civil servants SES bureaucrats

Public-policy scholar Charles Goodsell found that about two-thirds of Americans

report their encounters with bureaucrats as at least satisfactory.

Bureaucrats play a policy making role, as they fill in the details necessary to implement legislation, through the process of

rule making.

The first stage in the public policy cycle is

setting the agenda.

The difference between shadow bureaucrats and traditional bureaucrats is that

shadow bureaucrats perform governmental jobs without being actual employees of the government.

A(n) ______ clause in legislation sets an expiration date for the authorized policy or program unless Congress reauthorizes it.

sunset

issue network

temporary collaboration of bureaucrats, elected officials, and interest groups who lobby to set an agenda and to influence policy formulation

What federal office oversees the evaluation and hiring of candidates for the civil service?

the Office of Personnel Management

All of the following are examples of outsourcing except

the U.S. Postal Service delivering packages for Fed Ex.

Paul Light argues that contracting-out may be more expensive than allocating a task to civil servants because

the cost of contracting-out increases administrative costs.

People assess government success in terms of

the effectiveness and efficiency of public services

Outsourcing bureaucratic responsibilities to the private sector generally keeps down the cost of providing services because

the government can get the benefit of experts when needed without permanently keeping them on the payroll.

Which of the following helps explain the growth of the American bureaucracy?

the increasing scope of the services the government provides the increasing complexity of American society

What factors do political scientists use to categorize federal bureaucrats?

the process by which they are hired the procedures by which they can be fired the grounds for which they can be fired

Most people take jobs as bureaucrats because

they want to be of service to the public.