Unit 4 Paper: The Bureaucracy
The bureaucracy is a part of the federal government that most people know very little about. When most people hear the word bureaucracy, they immediately think of the word inefficient. They aren’t wrong. Due to many complicated government issues, the bureaucracy often uses excessive resources and takes a long time to get things done. The bureaucracy is a part of the executive branch. It is made up of many different agencies, each with its own unique function. These agencies primary job is to enforce laws passed by congress. Congress is way too small to enforce all of the laws that it passes, so it gives that responsibility to the bureaucracy. There are 4 types of bureaucratic agencies. The first, cabinet departments, have to report directly to the president in a process known as line organization. The second, independent executive agencies are agencies that report through line organization, but don’t fall under a specific cabinet department. The third, independent regulatory agencies, fall outside of presidential control. These agencies regulate things isolated from politics. The final type, government corporations, function similarly to regular corporations, except they are monitored by the government. The bureaucracy is an important part of our government that plays a key role in enforcing laws.
The bureaucracy is only briefly mentioned in the constitution. When it was originally created, it only included 3 departments and only a handful of employees. The war department was made up of only 2 people. Now, the bureaucracy employs almost 3 million people. The bureaucracy contains 2 different types of staff members. Civil servants have heavy job security, and are hired based purely on qualifications. Pr...
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...ercentage of the money won in a lawsuit that was created by their complaints. A positive to these laws is that it protects people that have information about malice within the government. However, others feel like these laws can lead to the protection of people that reveal confidential bureaucratic information that could be used to hurt the government.
Ever since 1883, congress has worked tirelessly to reform the bureaucracy. Many different laws and bills have been passed in order to make the bureaucracy more efficient. For the most part, the reforms have worked. The laws seem to be motivating the bureaucracy to be more competent, reveal more information to the public, and work more efficiently. The reforms have, so far, helped the bureaucracy distance itself from Andrew Jackson’s spoil system. pThat’s how congress has reformed the bureaucracy over the years.
Often, when the discussion of American bureaucracy is broached in conversation, those holding these conversations often think of the many men and women who operate behind the scenes within the government. This same cross section of Americans is looked upon as the real power within the federal government and unlike the other branches of government, has little to no oversight. A search of EBSCO resulted in the following definition, an organization “structure with a rigid hierarchy of personnel, regulated by set rules and procedures” (Bureaucracy, 2007). Max Weber believed that a bureaucracy was technically the most efficient form of organization, one structured around official functions that are bound by rules, each function having its own specified competence (2007). This wide ranging group of Americans has operated within the gaps, behind the scenes, all under the three core branches of government: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The division of government into three branches and separate powers gives each branch both exclusive powers and some additional power...
The Watergate Scandal and the resignation of President Nixon was the beginning of American’s mistrust of politicians. This can be viewed as a positive effect. As a result three important open record reforms created. The first of the reforms is the Sunshine Act in 1976. This requires government agencies to conduct meetings that are open to public, with a few exceptions. In 1978, the Ethics in Government Act requires public officials to disclose financial and employment records. The Presidential Records Act, also initiated in 1978, required preservati...
The bureaucracy consists primarily of the executive branch of government, and its components. These include cabinet departments, independent agencies, regulatory commissions, and government corporations. Through the constitution, Congress is tasked with the responsibility of organizing and funding the bureaucracy. This gives Congress the inherent rights, among others, to enact statutes to establish or abolish executive agencies or departments, call for reorganization of
The Federal Bureaucracy is comprised of nearly every department, committee, and agency that makes up the Federal Government. The function of the bureaucracy is to implement laws and policies, define the rules and regulations of how a law works, and institute examinations, permits and licenses. Congress makes the laws and policies in a broad manner and the bureaucrats flesh out the details and minutia of the intent of that law’s maker. The bureaucrats of the specific department etc. may be appointed officials, civil service employees or other federal employees. The persons are typically specialized in a specific field that relates to the committee’s duties and responsibilities and possess more knowledge than the lawmakers, which allows policies
Whereas the six functions of government, as articulated in the Preamble remain the same, the functions have extended to govern issues not a factor during the 18th century. However, the primary function of the government to maintain order has remained unchanged. Demonstrated through various avenues, these functions are open to interpretation. Throughout time, the government continuously adapted itself to provide various services and regulations to the public that it views as beneficial for the public good. Such services have grown to include food standards, consumer protection, health, and education among others. Examples of governmental function expansion since ratification of the constitution can be seen in the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, FEMA, and much more. Through FEMA, the federal government provides disaster relief funding to help communities struck by floods and tornadoes and other natural disasters. The Department of Agriculture put out the food pyramid, which helped people develop a healthy diet. The Department of Energy provides funding for research on wind energy. Clearly, food pyramids and wind energies were ...
It is an organization that creates, enforce, and applies laws. In political institution there are three main categories that are fit into the three branches of government. The three main categories are: State, Rule of Law, and Accountability (Decay). Political institution in the United States have been decaying over the years. The government has been decaying in the quality of American Government. It goes directly with the liking of states having courts and parties in the United States. In American politics there are three key characteristics it has (Decay). The first key structure is that the judiciary and legislative branch play outsized roles. Having the judiciary and legislature act in different roles it is an expensive and non efficient way to handle administrative requirements. The second key structure is that the interest groups and the lobbyist has changed the ability of government to work correctly (Decay). The third key structure the United States has is that ideological polarization is a federal governance structure. The checks and balances in the government is designed to prevent a strong executive authority (Decay). Political Institution is designed to create, enforce and apply a law to the United
These are the words of Jesselyn Radack, a whistleblower who promoted transparency by exposing the truth to Americans. From the birth of this country, Americans have valued transparency in the government. Still, there are instances where the government is allowed to keep secrets from the American people. There has been ongoing debate on whether the American Federal government should be allowed to keep secrets from the American people. Whistleblowers are important is this debate because of their fail-safe method of creating transparency. There are three central reasons to prevent government secrecy. First, Secrecy goes against our American values. Second, Americans should have a transparent government. Third, Secrecy can harm the government and American people. To summarize, Governmental secrecy must be stopped because it is unconstitutional and undemocratic, transparency is a necessary check of the government, and governmental secrecy can lead to corruption.
Weber believed that bureaucracy created stable, and predictable actions and outcomes because it allowed organizations to work in a rational manner, like a machine, and helped account for the fact that humans had only limited intelligence. Though Weber discussed the perfect model of an organization, bureaucracy allows for even imperfect organizations to function in a more reliable and predictable way because it’s structure controls how individuals behave.
Weber’s uses his theory of Bureaucracy to point out that it is what society is becoming and how it creates social older in society. This theory is
When people know exactly what they have to do, it makes it easier for them to do it. Ambiguity leads to uncertainty, miscommunication and misunderstanding which defeats the whole purpose of bureaucracy: efficiency. If no one knows what they are doing, they are like chickens with their heads cut off, squaking and ultimately accomplishing nothing. The written rules and regulations of a bureaucracy assure that such a scenario does not occur.
Bureaucracy is an organizational design based on the concept of standardization. “It is characterized by highly routine operating tasks achieved through specialization, very formalized rules and regulations, tasks that are grouped into functional departments, centralized authority, narrow spans of control, and decision making that follows the chain of command” (Judge & Robbins, 2007, p.
(knowledge) and the election or rightful succession gave government it right to rule (authority). Bureaucracy can influence social relations’ interms of people being ruled from the top and taking to their policies and orders, which can change their entire life like tax, increase. Capitalist bureaucrats also possess this to dominate and control their employees, since the employee obeys and take to their employers orders to shape and fix their labor activity, then this total submission of labor activity to the employer will influence and change their normal social relation e.g. if you are formally self employed and your relationship then is dependent but getting employed by a capitalist then bureaucracy in capitalism will change your social relations to inter-dependence because you now work as a subject to a capitalist.
Another large debate in the issues and impacts of obesity is the responsibility of employer’s. Especially for those whose obesity comes from a sedentary lifestyle. Or perhaps need the preventative measures of keeping obesity at bay. A hot topic on the rise is whether or not employers should be mandated to give employees a work-out period in their schedule. The employers could offer employee’s incentives for utilizing resources (a company gym, discounted memberships, and dietician, walking a company track) and by using the resources keep costs low. Though initially it could be costly to take on the responsibility to offer extra incentives to employee’s it could offer long term potential savings. (Villareal, Apovian, Kushner, and Klein 2005) Those whose companies offer various programs and actively engage in them express more happiness, productivity, a greater quality of life, and overall better health. Better health allows for employee’s to serve their employers better. They use less sick pay, keep insurance premiums low, and are more likely to be in tune with their daily job. So while the initial cost may be high, the long term financial gain of a happy, healthy, productive team is hard not to invest in!
According to Sapru R.K. (2008) p370-371 the traditional ideal of public administration which inclined to be firm and bureaucratic was based on processes instead of outcomes and on setting procedures to follow instead of focusing on results. This paradigm can be regarded as an administration under formal control of the political control, constructed on a firmly ranked model of bureaucracy, run by permanent and neutral public servants, driven only by public concern. In emerging nations the administration was true bureaucracy meaning government by officers. In this perspective Smith (1996) p235-6 perceived that“the bureaucracy controls and manages the means of production through the government. It increases chances for bureaucratic careers by the creation of public figures,demanding public managers, marketing boards.
Today in the present world, most countries have the core object of governance in the “public good provisioning ” leitmotif. According to the main principles ; accountability, participation and transparency, from the governance ecology interaction between the State, Civil Society and Market –place, within the global-village environment, (Higgot and Ougaard 2002; Stiglitz 2003; Woods 2006) “Governance Deteriorate the Economical Progress of the Developing Countries”(Box 15.4 Kaufmann, Kray, and Mastruzzi, 2008 p 291 Governance Matter Vll: some leading findings). In my opinion governance on itself without parametric recognition is doomed to fail, instead of reflecting to new mechanisms of responsibility to steer and guide the social and economical issues, which I will try to clarify in the upcoming body breakdown. Governance is supported as structure through institutions, as process through instruments and as agenda through elements of good governance, generating the capacity to improve significant development and positive impact of economic growth and to cut back destitution. Despite of the fact that developing countries can come in line with the quality of governance by accepting it as a crucial determinant of developmental performance, it didn’t came into effect. The underlying fact of weak and poor governance was identified as a result, for not effectuating the measureme...