Public Administration Final Exam

Question 1

The Spoils System

Answer 1

Practice of awarding government jobs to one’s political supporters, as opposed to awarding them on the basis of merit

Question 2

Veteran’s Preference

Answer 2

Special merit earned by a service man or woman who had honorable military service… Extended to wives and widows of veterans….. Variant of patronage when veterans were given first preference for jobs after the civil war

Question 3

Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972

Answer 3

Amendment to title 12 of the civil rights act that strengthened the authority of the equal employment commission and extended antidiscrimination provisions to state and local governments and labor organizations with 15 or more employees, and to public and private employee agencies

Question 4

Equal Employment Opportunity

Answer 4

Refers to employment procedures and practices that are intentionally or unintentionally discriminatory in the areas of race, color, gender, religion, and national origin… Now includes age, pregnancy and disabilities.

Question 5

Title XII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Answer 5

Federal law that prohibits employees from discriminating against employees based on sex, race, color, national origin, and religion….. banned pregnancy discrimination

Question 6

Transformational Theory of Leadership

Answer 6

Leadership that strives to change organizational culture and directions. It reflects the ability of a leader to develop a values-based vision for the organization, to convert the vision into reality, and to maintain it over time.

Question 7

Transactional Theory of Leadership

Answer 7

Leadership is a series of transactions between a leader and follower and other environmental stakeholders. Occurs when the leaders rewards or disciplines the follower based on the adequacy of the follower’s performance. Better than trait because it explains why leaders are more successful at some times and not others.

Question 8

Contingency Theory of Leadership

Answer 8

Approach defines leaders who take their cues and develop their leadership styles based on the situation, rather than following “the one best way” factors that matter are structure of organization, external environment, orientation of values, expert or professional knowledge.

Question 9

Micromanagement

Answer 9

Can lead employees to extreme stress and even violence. It does not make an incompetent employee more competent, it only damages interpersonal relationships and distracts manager from overall long-term strategy for the unit and for the organization

Question 10

Over Management

Answer 10

Variation of Micromanagement, situation where there are too many managers for the task… Turf building by expanding your role and inserting into as many situations as possible

Question 11

French and Raven’s 5 Kinds of Leadership Power

Answer 11

Expert Power, Referent Power, Reward Power, Legitimate Power, Coercive Power

Question 12

Expert Power

Answer 12

Comes from knowledge, ability and education

Question 13

Reward Power

Answer 13

Comes from rewarding capabilities of leadership

Question 14

Referent Power

Answer 14

Comes from the degree to which a leader is liked

Question 15

Coercive Power

Answer 15

Comes from punitive/coercive leadership ability

Question 16

Pendleton Act of 1883

Answer 16

In a time of corruption, the act created the US civil service commission and mandated open competitive examinations, probationary periods, protection from political pressures, and examinations that were “practical in character” (Tests were meant to measure the person for the job, not the job for the person).

Question 17

Social Equity

Answer 17

Fairness, egalitarianism, protection or rights, and equal treatment in the delivery of services

Question 18

Line-Item Budget

Answer 18

Classification of budgetary accounts according to narrow, detailed objects of expenditure used within a particular agency of government, generally without reference to the ultimate purpose or objective served by the expenditure.

Question 19

Audit

Answer 19

Process of classifying, measuring, and interpreting financial transactions to provide management with information upon which to base economic decisions.. Now include independent assessments of such things as environmental, social, and infrastructural issues

Question 20

Government Accountability Office

Answer 20

Auditing the federal government is the responsibility of the GAO. Serves as a support agency to audit federal government expenditures and assist the congress in its legislative oversight responsibilities. A GAO audit should include Financial and Compliance Audits, Economy and Efficiency Audits, Program Results

Question 21

Compliance Audit

Answer 21

Traditional form of auditing where the auditor is looking for the extent to which an organization’s funds have been managed in compliance with the law, and that accepted standards and conventions for the treatment of account information have been used. Also looks at regulations that may have a material effect on financial statements

Question 22

Performance Audit

Answer 22

An audit that compares the activities of an organization with the objectives that have been assigned to it…..

Question 23

Performance Audit Chain

Answer 23

Measuring for efficiency and effectiveness…. Efficiency measures the activities of an organization compared to the objectives that have been assigned to it…. Effectiveness measures the extent to which politically set objectives have been achieved to the broader question of whether objectives were right in the first place

Question 24

Financial Audit

Answer 24

Determines whether the financial statements of an audited entity present fairly the financial position and the results of financial operations in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Question 25

Comprehensive Audit

Answer 25

Measures of efficiency and effectiveness, Must Include
• Financial and compliance that determines whether funds are properly spent
• Economy and efficiency that determines whether resources have been used appropriately
Program results that determine whether the desired results have been achieved

Question 26

Entrepreneurialism

Answer 26

Managers must be transformational leaders who strive to change organizational culture…. Must be able to account and plan for the future.

Question 27

Three Standards against which a program can be evaluated

Answer 27

• Compliance- Are government transactions being conducted in accordance to law.
• Efficiency- Are government Agencies getting optimum productivity out of the resources they expend
• Effectiveness- Is the Expenditure of government resources for a specific purpose contributing sufficiently to the achievement of that purpose

Question 28

Organization Responsible for oversight of Federal Labor Management Relations

Answer 28

The National Labor Relations Board was created in 1935 by the National Labor Relations Act to oversee private-sector relations…… The Federal Labor Relations Authority- Created by the Civil Service Reform Act. This agency includes the Federal Labor impasses panel which solves negotiation impasses.

Question 29

Workplace Intolerance Toward Those Who Are Different

Answer 29

Discrimination- Bigotry in Practice; Intolerance toward those who are of different races of have different religious beliefs

Question 30

Representative Bureaucracy

Answer 30

Ultimate goal of equal employment opportunity and affirmative action programs… Donald Kingsley stated that all social groups have a right to participate in their governing institutions

Question 31

Types of Discrimination

Answer 31

• Sexual Discrimination- Disparate or unfavorable treatment of a person in an employment situation because of his or her gender
• Pregnancy Discrimination- Discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions
• Age Discrimination- Discrimination based on age
• Disabilities Discrimination- A person who has physical or mental impairment…. A person who has a record of such impairment…. A person who is regarded as having such an impairment…
• Sexual Orientation Discrimination- Based on sexual identity and preference.

Question 32

Internal Audit

Answer 32

Audits conducted from within an organization. The Inspector General act created 12 IGS to do internal audits and review agency operations and processes.

Question 33

Program Evaluation

Answer 33

Systematic examination of any activity or group of activities undertaken by government to make a determination about their effects both short and long range.

Question 34

Policy Analysis

Answer 34

Set of techniques that seeks to answer the question of what the probable effects of a policy will be before they actually occur….. Policy analysis is before and Program Evaluation is during of after.

Question 35

Chester Barnards Essential Functions of Leaders

Answer 35

1. Provide a System of Communication
2. Promote the Securing of Essential Efforts
3. Formulate and define the purposes and goals of an organization

Question 36

Transactional Approaches to Leadership

Answer 36

Authoritarian (Controlling) Democratic (Participative) Laissez Faire (Hands-off)

Question 37

Stogdill’s Assessment of Contingency Theory

Answer 37

Situation depends on Structure, External Environment, Orientation, Expert or Professional Knowledge

Question 38

Moral Leadership

Answer 38

Leaders are not only Satisfied with good outcomes but are also focused upon an operation’s ethics and values as a way to accomplish productivity

Question 39

Bully Pulpit

Answer 39

Great Presidents have traditionally used their Bully pulpit and ability to use speechmaking to exhort the public to support policies to move public opinion

Question 40

Execucrats

Answer 40

Career executives who are neither elected nor appointed to office… Greater Expertise and High Moral Authority

Question 41

Management Development

Answer 41

Undertaken in Organizations as an investment in human capital to develop leadership for the organization

Question 42

Assessment Programs

Answer 42

Geared Toward distinguishing which individuals have the potential to move to a management program, typically observe individuals in simulations of problem-solving, often within stressful situations

Question 43

Social Darwinism

Answer 43

Inhibited the growth of Social Equity, through its concepts of survival of the fittest and natural selection the concept justified child labor and many other abuses of US citizens.

Question 44

Affirmative Action

Answer 44

Meant the removal of artificial barrier to employment for minorities and women in the federal service.

Question 45

Meritor v. Vinson

Answer 45

Sexual Harassment defined by Quid Quo Pro and Hostile Environment

Question 46

Evaluation Metrics

Answer 46

Is the organization doing the right thing…. Is the organization doing things right….. Have the outputs made a difference…… Have the outcomes had impact

Question 47

GRPA Modernization Act

Answer 47

Requires federal agencies to produce a new strategic plan by the first monday in Februrary following the year in which the term of the president commences

Question 48

Forecasting

Answer 48

The attempts to determine the supply and demand for various types of human resources to predict areas within the organization where there will be labor shortages or surpluses