Strategic Management Approach

Question 1

Strategic Management Approach Step 1: Identify Objectives

Answer 1

Strategic management focuses more on objectives than functions. Rather than “what do you do” it is “what do you achieve”.
Objective statements should be Succinct, Directional, Time limited, and Measurable.

Question 2

Strategic Management Approach Step 2: Establish planning horizon

Answer 2

Strategic planning is inherently long term in nature, but public administration is tied to politics which is short term in nature.
Major difference between public and private orgs is that public sector is connected to politics which limits how much long term planning can be done.
Government example of rational planning =Government Performance Results Act of 1993. Lead to federal agencies preparing strategic plans for review by the Office of Management and Budget and Congress.

Question 3

Strategic Management Approach Step 3: Review Organizational capabilities

Answer 3

Matching the strategy, capability, and environment. As environments move from stable to turbulent, the capabilities of workers must move from custodial to entrepreneurial.
SWOT analysis can be used to test organizational capabilities. SWOT=Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

Question 4

Game Theory

Answer 4

Gaining popularity in public administration (Kettl article)
Cooperation and conflict in the context of decision making.
Identify goals of the players in the game.

Question 5

Strategic management decision levels

Answer 5

Decisions levels are ranked from highest to lowest as grand strategic (national policy), strategic (highest org level), operational (planning and administrative level) and tactical (service delivery).
Specificity increases as the level gets lower (ideas go from grand to fine-tuned).

Question 6

Strategic management tool: Best practices

Answer 6

Look at what competitors are doing ( this comes from war and management).

Question 7

Strategic management tool: Benchmarking

Answer 7

Is the organization efficient by industry standards? Technique developed by the private sector

Question 8

Strategic management tool: Benchmarking

Answer 8

Is the organization efficient by industry standards? Technique developed by the private sector

Question 9

strategic management tool: Management scorecards

Answer 9

Tallied performance of individual units or functions of a large org. Started in the 90s in the private sector. Introduced in government in 2002-departments were rated red, yellow, or green. Office of Management & Budget (OMB) issued new grades every six months throughout the Bush administration. Obama changed up the format in 2009. Obama created scorecards for energy efficiency. Relates to game theory as well.

Question 10

How does regulation relate to strategic management?

Answer 10

Regulation acts as a tool for governments to achieve strategic management objectives. “It does not exist for its own sake, it is always part of a larger strategic goal.” (Shafritz 375)

Question 11

Administrative Procedure Act (APA)

Answer 11

distinguishes rulemaking that requires a hearing and rulemaking that requires only notice and opportunity for public comment. New rules are listed in the Federal Register.

Question 12

State government regulation examples

Answer 12

State governments are responsible for the public’s welfare. Example of occupational licenses. Sometimes unexpected occupations are regulated such as massage therapist or athletic trainer.

Question 13

Local Government Regulation

Answer 13

Zoning: government saying what land can be used for.
Building codes: adopted to protect health and property. In aftermath of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (1911) government increased efforts for safe building standards.
Public health: Threats to health range from food that contains e. coli to illness, and obesity. Example of regulating obesity is requiring restaurants to display nutrition info.

Question 14

Agency Capture

Answer 14

Regulators become hesitant to challenge the people they are supposed to be regulating. Because regulation has also been supported by industries seeking economic benefits, especially in keeping new entrants out of the market. It is possible for industries to “capture” regulatory commissions.

Question 15

Regulatory administration can be categorized by the following objectives:

Answer 15

surrogate markets, market functioning, environment, employment, and product and process safety.

Question 16

Politics of regulatory administration involve 4 groups

Answer 16

political parties, interest groups, clientele groups, and political entrepreneurs. Each type of regulatory politics tends to be associated with a different type of regulatory objective.

Question 17

Main problems of regulatory administration

Answer 17

(1) expense, (2) dampening of economic performance, (3) red tape and delay, (4) incompetence and impropriety of some regulatory officials, (5) overinclusiveness of regulation, and (6) determining the success of regulatory activities.

Question 18

NPM regulatory enforcement stresses…

Answer 18

stresses the substitution of discretion for rules. It is a results-oriented approach; compliance with rules is considered to be of lesser importance. The NPM approach also advocates the formation of partnerships between the regulators and the regulated.

Question 19

The political approach of regulatory administration stresses what?

Answer 19

stresses representation and accountability in regulatory administration. Three key values have emerged in response to interest group scrutiny of regulatory activities and the movement toward regulatory reform: (1) greater attention has been paid to constituencies affected by regulatory programs, (2) greater emphasis has been given to forward-looking assessments of regulatory impacts. The requirement of “environmental impact statements” under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 is a prime example of just such a forward-looking assessment. (3) At the federal level, agency rules are subject to substantive congressional review.

Question 20

The legal approach of regulatory administration

Answer 20

relies heavily on adjudication in regulatory administration. It emphasizes adversary relationships, the legal obligations and rights of the parties, procedural fairness, and reasonableness in terms of the content of regulatory administrative decisions.

Question 21

Which approach dominates?

Answer 21

Analysis of the approaches to regulatory administration suggests the following synthesis: where there is a broad public interest involved, as in environmental regulation, the political approach will tend to dominate because it promotes representativeness; where the rights of private parties are the chief concern, the legal approach will dominate; when protection against disaster is the main objective, the managerial approaches will tend to be dominant.

Question 22

Regulatory Administration converges what 3 aspects?

Answer 22

convergence of management, politics, and law in public administration.

Question 23

What helps the federal regulatory commission keep politics out of regulation?

Answer 23

The federal regulatory commission is a special form of administrative agency. It is typically headed by a number of commissioners from different political parties who hold fixed and staggered terms of office.