Government in America: Chapter 13: The Bureaucracy
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16 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Bureaucracies | large, complex organizations in which employees have very specific job responsibilities and work within a hierarchy of authority. |
| The ways the government grew during the 20th Century | 1. Science and technology 2. Business regulation 3. Social welfare 4. Ambitious administrators |
| Basic types of government organizations | 1. Departments 2. Independent Agencies 3. Government corporations |
| Departments | the biggest unit of the executive branch, covering a broad area of government responsibility. The heads of the departments, or secretaries, form the president's cabinet. |
| Independent agencies | executive agencies that are not part of a cabinet department. (CIA) |
| Regulatory commissions | agencies of the executive branch of government that control or direct some aspect of the economy. |
| Government corporations | government agencies that perform services that might be provided by the private sector but that either involve insufficient financial incentive or are better provided when they are somehow linked with government. (postal service) |
| Civil Service | the system by which most 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. |
| Administrative discretion | the latitude that Congress gives agencies to make policy in the spirit of their legislative mandate. |
| Rule making | the administrative process that results in the issuance of regulations by government agencies. |
| Agency policymakers encounter these constraints | 1. it is difficult to define values and goals. 2. they cannot always select the most effective means to the desired end. 3. problems are often too pressing to wait for a complete study. 4. policymaking tends to be characterized as incrementalism, with policies and programs changing bit by bit and not dramatically. |
| Four basic approaches to reforming the bureaucracy that have attracted the most attention: | 1. Deregulation 2. Competition and outsourcing 3. Total quality management 4. Performance standards |
| Deregulation | the government reduces it's role and lets the natural market forces of supply and demand take over. |
| Competition and outsourcing | procedures that allow private contractors to bid for jobs previously held exclusively by government employees. |
| Total Quality Management (TQM) | a management philosophy emphasizing listening closely to customers, breaking down barriers between parts of an organization, and continually improving quality. Adopted by Clinton. |
| Government Performance and Results Act | requires each agency to create plans that detail their goals and objectives and to measure their performance. |
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