Transcript The Bureaucracy

The Bureaucracy
An Overview
Introduction
 Tends to have a negative
connotation
 Why?
 Waste, mindless rules, rigidity
 Bureaucracy: a system of
organization and control that is
based on hierarchal authority, job
specialization, and formalized rules
 Ex: GM, the Catholic Church, public
education
 Which bureaucratic
agency do you think
this is?
 Would you want to
work here?
An introduction
 Constitutional basis found in Article
II, reference to Exec. Departments
 Has developed b/c of custom,
tradition, and precedent
 Bureau: desk of worker, cracy: form
of govt.
 6 primary functions:
1. division of labor w/specialization
An Introduction
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2. Allocation of function
3. Allocation of responsibility
4. Direct and indirect supervision
5. Control on employment
6. Careers are made within
4 million federal employees?
1/3 involved in defense agencies
Numbers are actually shrinking?
In our daily lives…
 Delivers mail, maintains forests and
parks, admin. Social security, builds
dams, develops defense, school
lunch programs, regulates markets
 They may be investigative, advisory,
or reporting bodies
Thank
goodness for
federal and
state
agencies.
Cabinet Departments
 15 major administrative units
 Top official is secretary
 Vary in size and importance:
 Dept. of state- smallest but most
prestigious, D of D- largest work
force, Dept of Treasury: no longer
largest budget!
 number of semiautonomous units:
agencies or divisions
Why might the Dept. of
Defense be so large?
Three-step Interview “What changes
would you make to both budget and
personnel numbers of the departments
(based on the four graphs)?”
The First Cabinet
Independent Executive
Agencies
 Resemble the cabinet, but have
narrower resp.
 Heads are appointed and report to the
Prez
 Agencies are divided into smaller units
 Exist apart from cabinet as to not pose
problems (symbolically and practically)
Exec. Agency Examples
 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
 NASA
 General Services Administration
(GSA)
Regulatory Agencies
 Created because Congress wanted
close and continuous regulation of
an economic activity
 More time and expertise than
Congress can provide
 Beyond executive functions, have
certain legislative & judicial functions
 Older ones are “independent”…
Regulatory Agencies
 Freedom from ongoing political
control
 Appointed by President, but not
subject to removal
 Heads are commissioners
 Ex: ICC, FTC, FDA, FCC, SEC,
OSHA, EPA (name them)
Government Corporations
 Similar to private corporations b/c
they charge for services and are
governed by a board of directors
 However, receive federal funding
 Directors are appointed by the
President w/ Senate approval
Govt. Corporations
 Examples: TVA, FDIC, Amtrak, and
largest: United States Postal Service
 People often complain
about how
dysfunctional and
bloated the
bureaucracy is, but do
people really want to
follow through making
changes to it?