Decoding Bureaucracy: A Comprehensive Guide to Administrative Systems

1. BureaucrazyThe Epitome of Stupidity Aubrey Allen Greg Evans Logan Shively Scott Fentress Colorado Haberkorn Alex Lee Baporis

2. What Is a Bureaucracy? • bureaucracy • -a nation of politicans making and enforcing so many rules and laws that you can't do anything w/o breaking one (Urban Dictionary) • But really, • hierarchical authority structure • task specialization • merit principle • impersonality

3. Myths • Americans dislike bureaucrats. • Bureaucracies are growing bigger. • Most work in Washington, DC. • They are ineffective, inefficient, and mined in red tape. • Bureaucracies are like referees. • Who you gonna call? Mythbusters!

4. The Truth • There is no better substitute for bureaucracies. • They are a necessary evil. Imagine life without people to deliver mail, test milk or issue Social Security payments. • Bureaucracies employ all types of citizens.

5. From Patronage to Civil Service • Pendleton Civil Service Act- created civil service • Hatch Act • Office of Personal Management • General Schedule rating • The Plum Book

6. Bureaucracies as Implementors • What is implementation? • Stage of policymaking between the establishment of a policy and the consequences of a policy • 3 elements of implementation • Creation of a new agency or modification of an old agency • Translation of policy goals into guidelines and rules • Coordination of resources to achieve policy goals

7. Reasons that Implementation Fails • Faulty program design • Lack of clarity (goals too broad) • Lack of resources • Administrative routines (SOPs = red tape) • Administrators’ dispositions (discretion) • Fragmentation (too many agencies doing the same thing)

8. Bureaucracies as Regulators • Regulation - use of government authority to control or change some practice in the private sector • Examples of regulatory bureaucratic agencies • SEC, NLRB, EPA, DoT, FTC

9. History of Regulation • The federal government did not regulate the private sector very much until the 1880s • Munn v. Illinois (1877) • Upheld the right of government to regulate the business practices of a firm • Regulation grew rapidly during the New Deal of the Great Depression, and has increased ever since

10. Theory of Deregulation • Deregulation - lifting of restrictions on business, industry, and professional activities • Critics of regulation believe that regulation: • raises prices • Hurts America’s competitiveness in the global economy • Regulatory policies are often inefficient • Command-and-Control Policy - typical system of regulation whereby government makes and enforces policies and punishes offenders • Incentive System - more effective regulatory policy system that uses marketlike strategies to manage public policy

11. Organization of Bureaucracies • The Cabinet Departments • Independent Regulatory Commission • Government Corporations • Independent Executive Agencies

12. Cabinet Department • 15 Cabinet Departments • Heads of cabinets are assigned by the President • Examples are Department of Defense and Department of Health and Human Services

13. Independent Regulatory Commission • Responsible for some sector of the economy and making and enforcing rules to protect public interest • These agencies are independent to avoid corruption and partisan influence. • Examples are the Federal Reserve Board, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

14. Government Corporations / Independent Executive Agencies • Government Corporations • Government organizations that provide services • Example is Post office • Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) – provide power to support farmers • Independent Executive Agencies • Any other bureaucratic agency • Appointed and serve at president pleasure • NASA is an example

15. Understanding Bureaucracies • Bureaucrats, one of two unelected policymaking institutions, are generally more representative than elected officials • Presidents exert control over bureaucracies by: • Appointing the right people to head the agency • Issuing orders • Altering an agency’s budget • Reorganizing an agency • Congress exerts control over bureaucracies by: • Influencing the appointment of agency heads • Altering an agency’s budget • Holding hearings • Rewriting the legislation or making it more detailed

16. Iron Triangles and Issue Networks • Iron Triangles: Mutually dependent relationship between bureaucratic agencies, interest groups, and congressional committees or subcommmittees. They dominate some areas of domestic policymaking. • Example: Subcommittee on aging, senior citizen’s interest groups and Social Security Administration agree on the need for more Social Security benefits. • Make each policy independently of the others, sometimes even in contradiction to other policies.

17. Issue networks - More widespread participation in bureaucratic policymaking. - Many of the participants have technical policy expertise and are drawn to issues because of intellectual or emotional commitments.

18. Bureaucracy and the Scope of Government • Bureaucracy is constantly seeking to expand its size, budgets, and authority. • It has the role of promoting the economy, defending the country, managing foreign affairs, providing services to farmers, businesses, and workers. • We expect bureaucracies to play an active role in dealing with social and economic problems.

19. Bureaucracy… • Is gay • And Sarah Palin is a dick