Exam 2 Ch 10 Flashcards
Bureaucracy
Public agencies and programs and services they implement and manage
Bureaucrats
employees of public agencies
Policy Implementer
-First job of bureaucracy is to do whatever government wants
def - process of translating express wishes of government into action
What are the largest form of bureaucracies?
Public schools
What is the 2nd fundamental role of bureaucracy and how do they do it?
-Implement and make policy
Street-level bureaucrats
Rule making
Taking active role in politics
Street-level Bureaucrat
Lower-level public agency employee who actually takes the actions outlined in law or policy
Have the decision to make choices about what actions they do or don’t make
Rulemaking
Translating laws into written instructions on what public agencies will or won’t do
Rules are necessary because most laws passed by legislatures express intention, but don’t specify the details of how to make that intention a reality
Bureaucracy as Policymaker
At the state and local levels, the heads of many public agencies are elected
What is “enough” Bureaucracy
First, across localities, citizens make different kinds of
demands on state and local government agencies” (297).
- “Second, there is no universally agreed-on yardstick for
measuring what constitutes a ‘reasonably-sized’ bureaucracy”
(298). - Alaska leads the country in both the amount of state and local
employees (per 10,000 citizens) as well as state and local
expenditures (dollars per capita).
Contracting Out
Government hiring of private or nonprofit organizations to deliver public goods or services
Measuring Bureaucratic Effectiveness
“The assumption is that the private sector is more efficient and more
effective than the public sector, but numerous studies have found that this
assumption is based more on stereotypes than on facts” (300).
- “Problems often associated with contracting out include a loss of
accountability and transparency, difficulty in specifying contracts to cover
all possible contingencies, and a clash of public service versus make-a-profit
value systems
Professionalization
Rewarding of jobs in a bureaucratic agency based on applicants’ specific qualifications and merit
Spoils System
Electoral winner has right to decide who works for public agencies
Andrew Jackson
Patronage
Process of giving government jobs to partisan loyalists
Neutral Competence
Idea that public agencies should be the impartial implementers of democratic decisions
Merit System
System used in public agencies in which employment and promotions are based on qualifications and demonstrated ability
Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act; when was merit system required?
Shifted from spoil systems to merit system in 1883
In 1935, the federal Social Security Act
made merit systems a requirement for
related state agencies if they wished to
receive federal grants” (304)
“Merit systems did not eliminate the political role
of the bureaucracy; they merely changed it”
1/3 employees belong to a…
Union
Collective Bargaining
Process in which representatives of labor and management meet to negotiate pay and benefits, job responsibilities, and working conditions`
Janus vs. American Federation of State,
County, and Municipal Employees (2018)
“employees cannot be forced to make financial
contributions to unions” (305).
- “Rather than membership declines,
however, some unions actually saw
membership increases” (306)
Affirmative Action
Set of Policies designed to help organizations recruit and promote employees who are members of disadvantaged groups
Representative Bureaucracy
Idea that public agencies that reflect the diversity of the communities they serve will be more effective
