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Three branches of federal government
Three branches of federal government
Importance of bureaucracy in america
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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...
Hall, Daniel E. Administrative Law: Bureaucracy in a Democracy. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2012. Print.
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
Modern Bureaucracy in the United States serves to administer, gather information, conduct investigations, regulate, and license. Once set up, a bureaucracy is inherently conservative. The reason the bureaucracy was initiated may not continue to exist as a need in the future. The need or reason may change with a change in the times and the culture needs. A bureaucracy tends to make decisions that protect it and further it’s own existence, possibly apart from the wishes of the populace. It may not consistently reflect what might be optimal in terms of the needs and wants of the people. Local governments employ most of the United States civil servants. The 14 cabinet departments in the U.S. are run day-to-day by career civil servants, which have a great deal of discretionary authority.
Public administration is the implementation of government policy. It is also an academic discipline that studies this implementation and prepares civil servants for public service. It was high in demand during the 1930’s and early 1940’s. It is known as the “high noon of orthodoxy”, marked by the publication of Luther H. Gulick and Lyndall Urwick’s Papers on the Science of Administration in 1937. Suggested by some administrationalists, it should be the center of government bureaucracy. A bureaucracy is a body of non-elective group officials who are in control of the government policy. As part of the academic aspect, it prepares the person to serve in the executive branch of local, state, and federal government. It entails the specific
A bureaucracy is the system of non-elected officials administering government policies and programs. Building roads, inspecting gas pumps, inspecting facilities for cleanliness, writing tickets, educating, operating transit systems and Game Warden are the many tasks of a bureaucracy. In the Federal Bureaucracy the president is the CEO. His job is to appoint all officials and being elected to lead this diverse group of organizations. However, Texas does not have a CEO, the power and blame is spread across the various bureau heads. This allows each bureau head to do as they wish in their department, unless the state runs out of money. The governor does not hold this responsibility, but the voters do. Unlike the Bureaucracy of Texas, the responsibility
By definition, bureaucratic organization may not seem to be a bad thing. However, in practice, bureaucracies are known to have a negative effect on all its participants. As defined by Samuel Kernell and Gary Jacobson, "The model bureaucracy is, in short, a purposive machine with interchangeable human parts." Bureaucracies are dehumanizing, they train for obedience, and stifle creative thought. The characteristics of bureaucratic organization that have the worst effect on its participants and most compromise efficiency are its hierarchical structure in which all the power resides at the top and the specialization of tasks.
This essay will discuss the mainstream and critical perspectives of bureaucracy and post-bureaucracy. It will begin by examining the characteristics of bureaucracy and then compare the mainstream and the critical views. Post-bureaucracy will then be discussed using the same structure.
The founders feared the threat of a unitary government and adopted a federal system of government. The Constitution is vague and uncertain on how the responsibilities and roles should be assigned among the levels of government (Stillman, 2009). As a result, the public administration field management process is somewhat generic and inadequate. The founders didn’t allow for the difference time would make and how it would affect political characters, ethical values, policies and laws, and organization design (Green, 2002).
Though the bureaucracy began simply, with George Washington’s creation of the Department of Foreign Affairs, over the last 226 years, its size and power have increased exponentially. From homeland security to the delivery of mail, this “fourth branch of government” possesses a wide scope of responsibilities. However, the necessity for such a structure often comes into question. According to Max Weber, who believed that “the bureaucracy was likely to acquire an ‘overpowering’ power position, the bureaucracy is an “inevitable consequence” of modern day life (“The Rise of the Bureaucratic State”, Wilson). A specialized bureaucracy provides valuable expertise, an asset which the Founders did not take for granted, as they had suffered a committee
The United States government braces its power among three powerful branches, legislative, executive and judicial. These branches interact with one another to establish authority that is strong, yet equal to have power over the country. Each branch pursues certain responsibilities and duties to operate in an efficient and effective manner in which society upholds. The executive, legislative and judicial branches all interact amid each other to validate accuracy of the nation’s most powerful law of the land, the Constitution. It is important to know how these branches interact with each other to learn how a bill becomes a law. Reflecting on how the three branches promote a balance of power that is constructive to include the agendas and electoral roles that also plays a vast part in the government’s operation.
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.
Organizations in today’s world need to adapt and overcome many obstacles that are predictable as well as unpredictable. Max Weber outlines the five basic principles of bureaucracy which are as follows: The Division of Labor, Hierarchy of Authority, Written Rules and Regulations, Impersonality Principal, and Technical Qualifications. These basic principals were designed to maximize productivity and assert authority over subordinates in the workforce. (Weber, 1968) In present day the basic principles of Weber’s bureaucratic design are still visible in just about every organization. The only variable is to what extent they are applied.
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.
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).
Politics-Administration Dichotomy essentially has a two part meaning; there are two functions of government for this idea, as the name implies politics, and administration. The argument about the dichotomy between politics and public administration has been around for several years with no overall consensus on why they should be distinct from one another. Looking critically at both sides of the idea, there are ways to demonstrate an accurate presentation of the administrative agencies working and there are also ways they have proved to be inaccurate. There are just as many downfalls to a politicized bureaucracy. There will be more benefits to the politics-administration dichotomy view with the concept put in place by Woodrow Wilson. He simply promotes a clear distinction between politics and administration and supports the idea that they are interdependent of one another, and they require one another for the appropriate balance between democracy and efficiency. The idea of Wilson’s concept will allow agencies to gain the most efficiency through interdependence of politics-administration.