Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
How is american government organized
Strategic planning models latest essay
United States of America government system
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: How is american government organized
Within the American system of government, there is an innate need for a structure or agency that develops strategy and maintains power. “Ecology” is a term used to describe living organisms and their interactions between their natural and developed environment and was first applied to the field of public administration by the late Professor John M. Guas of Harvard University (Stillman, 2010).
Using this view, the organization and its employees are like the structure of a living organism. The environment of the organization contributes to the establishment of the power that it will come to acquire or lose over its life. Organizations must define their existence and develop policy initiatives that set forth goals or missions that are obtainable so they can develop a foothold within the structure of the system. The sources of these footholds can be developed through the political structureand the social make up of society. There are three primary paths through which they may develop: falter, status quo, or growth.
Falter – Agencies who are unable to garner support or develop a real or perceived need for their existence are often either cut out of the structure or left to wither away with dwindling budgets and lack of political posturing.
Status Quo – Agencies who find enough support to maintain themselves as relatively docile elements of the bureaucracy that continue to exist under the protection of a friendly political ally. These agencies can neither develop a positive growth plan nor the political or social support to garner additional support beyond their present existence.
Growth – Agencies which develop either the political or social structure necessary for growth. Through either real or perceived needs, th...
... middle of paper ...
...vanced knowledge and ownership in the task as a reason to elevate the administrative power possessed by the agency. Those who fall out of favor can likewise find that the support that was once the seed of their successful organization has now become the source of great tension and faltering public and legislative support.
The concepts of ecology and power continue to go hand in hand in the field of public administration. The organizational environment across the political structure contributes to the ever flowing tide of life that makes up the administrative system of government. This system is continually breathing life into new entities while seeking to tend to the wounded agencies that it encompasses. The founding fathers may have best summarized the mandate for administrative power in the opening line of the preamble of the Consitution, "We the people..."
Hall, Daniel E. Administrative Law: Bureaucracy in a Democracy. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2012. Print.
An organization is a social unit of people that is designed and managed to meet a need or to pursue collective goals. All organizations have a management structure that determines relationships between the different activities and the members, and subdivisions and assigns roles, responsibilities, and authority to carry out different tasks. Organizations are open systems; they can affect and are affected by their environment (What is an organization? definition and meaning, 2013). Working in an organization individual’s deal with numerous issues. Drugs and alcohol abuse in organizations has become a main concern.
A defining attribute of America’s system of government is the participation of the citizens in decisions. Unlike many countries in the world today, one dictator does not decide the path for the whole nation. People from ordinary backgrounds have the opportunity to have an affect on laws passed in our country. While voting is the more common form of exhibiting this privilege of participation, citizens also have the ability to run for offices in our government. The structure of our government is unique in that there are numerous offices to be held within our government which are relatively equal in power. Officials within the federal government can be categorized as being part of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of government. Understanding the structure and function of these branches is important when considering the uniqueness of our nation, as well as knowing the qualifications one must posses to obtain these offices.
Bozeman, B., (1993). A theory of government “Red Tape”. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 3(3), pp. 273-303.
Public agencies are state, local, and federal government employers. Through this paper we will be discussing some of the tools and abilities of public agencies and how they influence our public organizations, such as their regulatory process and administrative hearings. Regulations are primary vehicles that are utilized by agencies to implement laws and general agency objectives. The ability to regulate and enforce these standards comes from laws passed by the legislature, which gains its authority through the constitutions of the federal government and the states. It is then the duty of the executive and judicial branches to administer and adjudicate the laws, respectively
I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe--"That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which the will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure.
A key feature of the unwritten constitution is ‘the Separation of Powers’. This exercises the idea of independence within ‘different functions of government’; it is represented by the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Separating the three prevents a dangerous occurrence where power is entirely centralized in one group. Cooperating with one...
To compete in a global economy, organizations of all types are focusing on improving productivity, quality, and service. In each of these areas it is important to tap the talents of the available human resources in these organizations. Effective leaders must understand and depend on the interrelationship among organizational structure such as power, authority, influence and leadership. In addition how it abides in organizations and how it move others to accomplish the organization goals.
Frank J. Goodnow’s “Politics and Administration,” infers that politics and administration cannot be divided and are in need of each other to function. However, politics are superior to administration. Goodnow’s further analyzes and identifies three forms of authorities that enforce and implements states will. The first responsibility of authority is to respect the right of the people when conflicts ascend between either private or public matters. The second is judicial authorities also referred to as executive authorities that ensure the needs and policies of the state are executed. The third authority also referred to as “administrative authorities,” focuses on the mechanical, scientific and business authorities pertaining to the government.
Rabin, J. (2003). Encyclopedia of public administration and public policy: K-Z. United States: CRC press.
Traditional public administration is traced back to the works of scholars like Max Weber, Woodrow Wilson and Fredrick Taylor. This form of administration was mostly influenced by Max Weber with his bureaucratic model and theory. Max Weber was a well-known sociologist born in Germany in the year 1864. He came up with his bureaucratic model as a way to try to improve management in organizations. ‘Weber emphasized on top-down control in the form of monocratic hierarchy that is a system of control in which policy is set at the top and carried out through a series of offices, whereby every manager and employee are to report to one person in top management and held accountable by that manager’ (Pfiffner, 2004, p. 1).
Power is defined in the course study notes as the “ability of individuals or groups to get what they want despite the opposition”. Power is derived from a variety of sources including knowledge, experience and environmental uncertainties (Denhardt et al, 2001). It is also important to recognize that power is specific to each situation. Individuals or groups that may be entirely powerful in one situation may find themselves with little or no power in another. The county Registrar of Voters, who is my boss, is a perfect example. In running the local elections office, she can exercise the ultimate power. However, in a situation where she attempted to get the county selected for a desirable, statewide pilot project, she was powerless, completely at the mercy of the Secretary of State. Power is difficult to measure and even to recognize, yet it plays a major role in explaining authority. In organizations, power is most likely exercised in situations where “the stakes are high, resources are limited, and goals and processes are unclear” (Denhardt et al, 2001). The absence of power in organizations forces us to rely on soley hierarchical authority.
Public administration as a field of study and as a practice has continually evolved with American society. The United States has survived and thrived through major cultural shifts, varying degrees of economic climates, and both civil and world wars. Through out all these changes in our country, one thing has always remained the same, the fact that we are an ever evolving and always changing nation. Theories and forms of practice of public administration have also evolved parallel with the history of the United States. There have been numerous events in American history have lead to changes in society and the practice of public administration has both led and followed in the adaptation process of such monumental changes.
Since the Regan era more and more people have taken the idealistic political stance that governments should act more like a business with President as both CEO and Commander in Chief and voters as costumers and shareholders. There are three main reasons that adopting this ideology and borrowing the principles and practices of business undermines the essence and core values of Public Administration. The first reason is the most obvious to the casual observer, businesses are based on profits and governments are based on people. Success in the business world means profit, therefore asking government to run more like a business is asking the government to start maki...
Organizations must operate within structures that allow them to perform at their best within their given environments. According to theorists T. Burns and G.M Stalker (1961), organizations require structures that will allow them to adapt and react to changes in the environment (Mechanistic vs Organic Structures, 2009). Toyota Company’s corporate structure is spelt out as one where the management team and employees conduct operations and make decisions through a system of checks and balances.