Public Administration Exam 2 Flashcards
Strategic management
Management of resources to attain the goal in its entirety.
Benchmarking
Hard Measurable Outputs. Objective Baselines…. In accordance to other organizations
Management Scorecards
Act as report cards for entire organizations regarding their ability to fulfill their functions.
Brainstorming
Solution to groupthink. Unearth creative alternatives via the brainstorming process.
Groupthink
Strict adherence to group norms lead to over-conformity and rigidity.
Organizational Development
Planned Organizational Change. All organizations need constant change. OD is a strategy for increasing organizational effectiveness. Large scale and is not art or science.
Bureaucratic Impersonality
Bureaucracy and its dehumanization. Elimination of emotion from official business. Increases efficiency and the ability to do the right thing under moral controversy.
E-Government
Embrace emerging technologies in order to interact electronically with citizens. Benefits- cost reduction, quality, improvement of services, and speed in delivery
Performance Management
Feature of managing for performance that strategically integrates all aspects of the enterprise with a view to performance outcomes
Management Control
Kind of performance management. Control systems monitor how well the organization is responding to or deviating from its goals. Find out what is going on in an organization and to respond to the need of external groups
Learning Organizations
Peter Senge’s theory is that organizations adapt and learn from their environments and survive as organic entities by making better adjustments.
Cybernetics
Organizations strive for conditions of dynamic equilibrium. Leadership is instrumental in keeping the organization in that state. Norbert Weiner’s basic idea was to self-identify problems and receive feedback on how to fix them.
Reengineering
Radical and sophisticated change. Employs greater use of technological and behavioral sciences to achieve its objectives… Steps Include Process mapping, customer assessments, process visioning
Process Mapping
Flowcharting of how and organization delivers its services and products as a process
Customer Assessments
Evaluation of the organizations customers’ needs both presently and in the future by focus groups and surveys
Process Visioning
Total rethinking of how the work processes ought to function, keeping in mind the latest available technology.
Organic Systems
Less rigidity, more participation, more reliance on workers to define and redefine their positions and relationships. . Need environment that is supportive of innovation
Mechanistic Systems
Traditional pattern of hierarchy, reliance on formal rules, vertical communications, structured decision making. Supervisors believe it gives more security
New Public Management
Bolder supports large scale use of market like mechanisms for parts of public sector that could not be transferred to private ownership. Intensified decentralization of management. Constant emphasis on improving service. Greater attention to individual.
Bureaucratic Dysfunction
Stresses de-personalized relationships and power gained by position not innovation. Trained incapacities to deal with certain situations because of past training and tasks. Too rule based.
Bureaucratic Bashing
Government was blamed for poor performance and waste during the Reagan years. Support for hurting public administrators even more through policies.
Butterfly Effect
A metaphor for this system is the butterfly effect and how one butterfly can cause ripple effects in a system if it does the right thing.
Government Regulations
Local Zoning- Local government can designate the types of structures and activities for a particular area. Building Codes- What insides and outsides must look like. Sin Taxes State- Occupational Licensing
Organizational Dynamics
How group behavior unearthed a subfield showing how groups interact within organizations. How norms and values can create group cohesion and stability. Grouped by specialized functions or to accomplish a task(formal groups). Informal- Spontaneously developed relationships.
Max Weber
Bureaucrats must be free as individuals and can only be bossed around at their jobs. Supported hierarchies. Functions of office are clearly specified. Accept and maintain appointments without duress. Merit based exams. Salaries and pensions. Major Occupation. Career System. No property or resource rights based on office. Bureaucrats conduct must be subject to systematic control and strict discipline.
Luther Gulick
Supported One Best Way. PODSCORB
Planning- What needs to be done and the methods for doing them. Organizing- Establishment of the formal structure of authority through which work subdivisions are arranged and defined. Directing- Making decisions, providing specific and general orders and instructions and serving as the leader. Coordinating- Interrelating the various parts of the work. Reporting- Keeping the executive informed as to what’s going on. Budgeting- Fiscal Planning
Chris Argyris
Inherent conflict between the mature adult personality and the needs of modern organizations. Most organizations treated adults like children. This led to job dissatisfaction and ineffectiveness. Supported giving workers as much responsibility as they could handle.
Maslow
Hierarchy of needs- Physiological- Food, Water, Shelter. Safety- Clothes. Love- Affiliation and friends. Esteem- Self Worth. Only after fulfilling these can they reach Self-actualization and become everything they are supposed to be.
Systems Theory
Systems theory shows that the world is made up of interrelated organic and dynamic systems. It shows that organizations are constantly reacting with their environment. Any change in this system from the external or internal environment will affect change regarding the rest of the system. A metaphor for this system is the butterfly effect and how one butterfly can cause ripple effects in a system if it does the right thing. Peter Senge (Learning Organization) believed that organizations adapt from these changing environments by making adjustments to account for these changes. While Norbert Weiner argued that organizations strive for conditions of dynamic equilibrium, and that leadership is instrumental in keeping the organization in that state.
Zone of indifference
Communicating with an individual to get you to do something, not to force someone to do something
Self-directed Teams
work group that will accept responsibility for its processes and products and accept responsibility for other group members coordinate your own schedules independently.
Best Practices
Industry Standards. Copy other organizations to use what practice is best for your industry.
Bureaucratic Structure
Max Weber and his ideals… Bureaucracy is inherently conservative and slow to change. Lack of responsiveness. Slow because of legislative checks and balances.
Reinvention
Creating entrepreneurial organizations and cutting red tape. Puts customers first empower employees to get results and produce better government for less.
Productivity Improvement
Productivity is the measure of the work efficiency of an individual, unit, or organization. Improvement is focused on increasing productivity
Productivity Measurement
Measuring productivity can be difficult because of the problems with defining output and qualifying measures of efficiency
Work Measurement Standards
Numerical value applied to the units of work and employee or group can be expected to produce in a given period of time
Social Indicators
Statistical measures that aid in the description of conditions in the social environment.
Empowerment
Must be able to give more power to individuals and workgroups. Be able to delegate and trust your workgroups with more responsibility.
Managerialism
Entrepreneurial Management
Management by Objectives
measurable goals have to be established and accomplished by both membership and leadership of the organization to be realized over a period of time.
The Public-Private Paradox
Work of government has the mandate of political legitimacy. Must be legitimate because it is owned by all and has support of the law
Importance of being close to center
Steering rather than rowing – Governments should direct their attention more to shaping and ensuring outcomes than delivery.
Organizational Language and Culture
The special language of strategic management does not always fit with the culture of public organizations.
Organizational Place
The closer an organization is to the center of national decision-making, the less likely strategic management is to be adopted.
Theory x and Theory Y
McGregor’s Theory X and Y of organizational and leadership styles shows that managers holding a Theory X vision tend to be authoritarian, believing that people are lazy and irresponsible. Theory Y managers believe in the goodness of human beings and that it is natural for people to work hard and creatively, if there is meaning in work.
Hawthorne Studies
The results of these experiments work showed that workplaces are social situations: workers are motivated by peer pressure, attention by leaders, and other complex factors unrelated to remuneration.
