Unit 5 - Chapter 14

Question 1

“A” bureaucracy

Answer 1

a hierarchal system or model of organization

Question 2

“The” bureaucracy

Answer 2

applying this model of organization to the executive branch to carry out laws

Question 3

standard operating procedere (SOPs)

Answer 3

procedures for everyday decision-making, enable bureaucrats to bring efficiency and uniformity to the running of complex organizations (makes employees interchangeable and makes things fair)

Question 4

“red tape”

Answer 4

negative term for SOPs, official routine or procedure marked by excessive complexity

Question 5

discretionary authority

Answer 5

the authority of administrative actors to select among various responses to a given problem (often when SOPs don’t fit a case, think cops)

Question 6

executive agreements

Answer 6

government that’s not the other things, perform day-to-day operations of the govt, typically appointed by presidents (NASA)

Question 7

government corporations

Answer 7

like private organizations, provides a service that could be delivered by the private sector and typically charges for its services (US Postal service)

Question 8

spoils system/patronage

Answer 8

a hiring and promotion system based on political factors rather than on merit or competence (happened more often in past to keep political allies loyal)

Question 9

Pendleton Act

Answer 9

an act that created a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than patronage

Question 10

Hatch Act

Answer 10

a federal law prohibiting government employees from active participation in partisan politics or running for office while on duty/working there

Question 11

Civil Service Reform Act

Answer 11

federal law that created office of personnel management (OPM)

Question 12

Iron Triangles/subgovernment

Answer 12

consist of interest groups, government agencies, and congressional committees that have a mutually dependent, mutually advantageous relationship

(modern times more complicated, more like venn diagrams)

Question 13

myths of bureacracy

Answer 13

Americans dislike bureaucrats (good individual experiences), it’s growing (only at state level), most bureaucrats work in DC, they’re inefficient

Question 14

tradeoffs of bureaucratic system

Answer 14

traded effectiveness for efficiency, traded being responsive for being fair, traded personal independence for accountability

Question 15

civil servants

Answer 15

Bureaucrats hired through a merit-based personnel system who have job protection

Question 16

civil service

Answer 16

a body of government employees that are hired through a system based on the merit system and to create a nonpartisan government service

Question 17

merit principle

Answer 17

using entrance exams and promotion ratings to reward qualified individuals

Question 18

Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

Answer 18

OPM administers and creates exams civil servant exams, in charge of hiring for most agencies in federal government

Question 19

GS (General Schedule) rating

Answer 19

a schedule for federal employees, by which salaries can be keyed to rating and experience

Question 20

Senior Executive Service

Answer 20

an elite group of about 9,000 federal government managers at the top of the civil service system

Question 21

policy implementation

Answer 21

the stage of policymaking between the establishment of a policy and the consequences of the policy for the people affected

Question 21

independent regulatory commission/independent executive agencies

Answer 21

responsibility for making and enforcing rules to protect the public interest in a particular sector of the economy (Federal communications commission, Federal Reserve Board)

quasi, or semi, legislative powers, make rules for the areas they regulate, quasi-judicial, can decide how to punish people

Question 22

street-level bureaucrats

Answer 22

a phrase referring to those bureaucrats who are in constant contact with the public and have considerable administrative discretion

Question 23

implementation of voting rights act of 1965

Answer 23

highly effective, all levels of bureaucracy implemented it despite protests from South

Question 24

characterization of bureaucracy

Answer 24

permitted organization by article 2 of constitution, highly fragmented and decentralized, federalism like structure

Question 25

command-and-control policy

Answer 25

typical system of regulation whereby government tells business how to reach certain goals, checks that these commands followed, and punishes offenders

Question 26

incentive system

Answer 26

an alternative to command and control with market like strategies such as rewards to manage public policy

Question 27

deregulation

Answer 27

the lifting of government regulations on business, industry, and professional activities

Question 28

executive orders

Answer 28

regulations originating with the executive branch, how president controls bureaucracy