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  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?