Study Guide for Test 2

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION SECOND EXAM STUDY GUIDE Spring 2009 Chapter 5 What were the characteristics of bureaucracy as described by Max Weber? What were the advantages of this organizational form? Max Weber: described Bureaucracy Arguably the most important social scientist of all time ? lived in the 1800s in Prussia Large middle class ? what does bureaucracy do? Expertise and dependability Definition of bureaucracy: any large organization, public or private, characterized by a clearly defined hierarchy of impersonal offices and employment of qualified people who are subject to strict discipline and control Described the components of it: Hierarchy Division of labor ? or specialization Impersonality ? meaning you follow the rules Career ? tenure Paid The modern world could not exist without bureaucracy Advantages: job definition, dependability, expertise, no politics What is scientific management? Designed by Frederick W. Taylor Scientific Management - an approach based on carefully defined ?laws, rules, and principles? ? Taylor focused first on the individual worker, designing detailed measurements of time and motion to discover how the worker might become more efficient Argued that there is one best way to do something Time-motion studies to improve efficiency Very influential for a while, but it kind of died out Describe POSDCORB as defined by Gulick and Fayol. Why was this significant for management? Luther Gulick ? came up with the principles of management called POSCORB Every manager has to do the following: Planning Organizing Staffing Coordinating Reporting Budgeting Dominate social belief about who could become a manager [social Darwinism] ? rich then you automatically knew BUT Gulick said management could be taught, it?s not something that you?re born with What are the central components of the structuralists? approach to management? What criticisms are there against using solely this approach? Structural Approach Focuses on: Hierarchy Goals Job descriptions Rules Etc. Think in terms of the military or a factory where people have clear job descriptions and hierarchy Criticisms: doesn?t change quickly, assumes people will do their job description What is the difference between life and staff? (textbook) Line offices representing the direct flow of authority Staff offices available to advise the chief executive, but not exercising direct authority over line offices To what extent did early public administration follow the lead of management in determining organizational structure? (textbook Business Management ? yes they followed the lead of management Describe the significance of Elton Mayo?s experiments. What is the Hawthorne effect? What did Chris Argyris argue? Early ? you should be nice to people because it will make them more efficient 1930s and 40s Elton Mayo conducted the Hawthorne Experiments Hawthorne Experiments: focusing on structure, and they wanted to know what impact lighting has on employee productivity Hawthorne Effect: the experimental group responded not to the conditions around them but to the fact that they had been singled out for special attention Chris Argyris ? focused on the interactions of the individual and the organization. He argued that formal organizational structures and traditional management practices were inconsistent with natural human striving for growth and development. He suggests that a healthier approach would be to understand the basic tendencies of the human personality for growth and development, then to ?fuse? these tendencies with the objectives of the organization. What is the difference between ?Theory X and Theory Y.? Make an argument for each approach. Douglas McGregor: Theory x/theory y --- Theory X are managers that think that people don?t want to work, treat people like children Theory Y assumes that people want to work so you give them more freedom What are the central components of the human relations (HR) approach to management? What criticisms can be made against the human relations approach to management? Communication Understanding people Assume that motivation is important Criticisms: focus on worker and not efficiency Herbert Simon argued that good managers wouldn?t need to give many orders. Why? (Hint: He said that people had an ?area of acceptance and practiced ?bounded rationality? and leaders needed to set decisional premises: explain this). Herbert Simon in the 1940s Argued that: People are rational ? meaning that people choose the things that benefit them but have bounded rationality ? you consider the information that is relative and that is available Bosses should structure things so that people make the decision they want ? Economic Man: becomes administrative man ? meaning your workers make the choices that you want Bounded Rationality ? an individual?s search for the best possible solution, but not necessarily the most rational from an economic standpoint What is satisficing? When managers are making due with the most information possible at the time and attempting to balance between competing demands How did the study of the early TVA contribute to Organizational systems theory? Organizations are actually open systems ? they exist within an institutional framework, which includes political parties, pressure groups, and special interests. Cooptation ? ?the process of absorbing new elements into the leadership of policy-determining structure of the organization as a means of averting threats to its stability of existence? According to Ostrom, what type of organizational form works best? Ostrom?s public choice approach beings with examining how individuals might make choices if they were free to act rationally and in their own self-interest. Ostrom sees public organizations as ?a means for allocating decision-making capabilities in order to provide public goods and services responsive to the preferences of individuals in different social contexts.? Ostrom argues that the best structures for satisfying individual preferences are not centralized bureaucratic agencies, but rather more fragmented, multiorganizational arrangements. The ?New Public Administration? did not emphasize efficiency, but what values? The key words were ?equity? and ?involvement? What is organizational development? (see textbook) Organizational development is a process-oriented approach to planned change Organization development represents a particular philosophy of management that is considerably at odds with traditional top-down tendencies and values the following: Mutual accessibility and open communications A willingness to experiment with new behaviors and to choose those that seem most effective A collaborative concept of authority that emphasizes cooperation and willingness to examine conflicts openly Helping relationships involving a sense of community and acceptance of responsibility for others Authenticity in interpersonal relationships Describe organizational culture. Organizational Culture ? is the way an organization does things ? encompasses things like: resistance to change, employee participation, etc. Organizational Culture [book definition] ? the basic pattern of attitudes, beliefs, and values that underlie the organization?s operations. An organization?s culture consists of shared assumptions that members of the organization hold. Identify some ways in which organizational culture can be manifested (pp. 178-79 of your textbook). Can be manifested in many ways, including the following: Observed behavioral regularities when people interact Group norms Espoused values Formal philosophy Rules of the game Climate Embedded skills Habits of thinking, mental models, and/or linguistic paradigms Shared meanings ?Root metaphors? or integrating symbols What is the difference between single loop and double loop organizational learning? Single-loop learning ? surface-level change ? for example: an immediate response may be to alter the group?s behavior to reduce the infighting and improve the quality of work life Double-loop learning ? change in the underlying system of beliefs ? for example: resolving the deeper problem that produced the infighting to begin with Chapter 6 What is strategic planning? Make an argument for and an argument against an organizational strategic plan (in your textbook) Strategic planning helps an organization match its objectives and capabilities to the anticipated demands of the environment to produce a plan of action that will ensure achievement of objectives. Strategic planning implies that a series of action steps will be developed as a part of the planning process and that these steps will guide the organization?s activities in the immediate future.. Why is so much policy evaluation done? (Answer: it is mandated by legislation) It is mandated by legislation Describe the difficulties in conducting policy evaluation. Obstacles: The goals of the policy are unclear Goals are clear but they can?t be reached [i.e. FEMA] Side effects from other policies affect what you?re studying The necessary data is not available Resistance to evaluation Sufficient resources to do evaluation [do you have the money, time, expertise?] Validity problems Internal validity: asks the question, does the evaluation measure what it intends to measure? Are you measuring what you say you?re measuring? External validity: can the findings be generalized? Who does the evaluation often determines the results What are Wilson?s two laws of program evaluation? Not on test What is qualitative versus quantitative data? Qualitative data ? reading about the program, from interviewing important actors, and sometimes actually participating in work Quantitative data ? experimental data that can be quantified You should be able to describe the difference between a cross sectional, quasi experimental, and experimental design. Research Designs Cross-Sectional: Takes place at one point in time Best Example: Survey Quasi-Experimental: Trying to determine the impact of something without controlling anything Measure something before and then measure it afterwards in order to see if something had an impact Experimental: Most difficult and less common Ethical concerns People have to agree Hawthorne effect ? people change their behavior when they know they are being observed You should be able to recognize the steps in policy analysis (p. 202) Policy Analysis Steps: List policy alternatives What can government do to change cell phone behavior? Fines Cameras Education Evaluate Criteria: Are these good ideas? Ethics, feasibility, etc. Left with education and fines Assess which is likely to work Consider others experiences Draw conclusions What is benchmarking? Features the targeting of specific goals based on previous performance levels, standards set by similar organizations, objectives created through a strategic planning process, or any combinations of these. (This is used to identify performance standards, used by public and nonprofit organizations). What are problems associated with cost/benefit analysis? ((p. 206 of your textbook). Several factors make it difficult to assess the costs and benefits of a particular program: Applying it to policy proposals that involve large expenditures and produce difficult-to-measure results can be quite complicated. Measuring outputs and translating them into dollars are exceedingly difficult tasks, omitting these factors because they are hard to measure biases the analysis. What does ?organizational design? refer to? What does ?span of control? mean? (p. 211) Refers to some of the classic approaches to implementation that focused on the structure and design of new organizations and their work processes or flows. Traditional chart expresses both the division of labor within an organization and the structure of command or control. Luther Gulick is associated with this process. Span of control: signifies the number of people that one individual supervises; although there are significant variations, depending on the type of work, it is generally considered difficult to supervise more than 6-10 people. What are performance indicators in performance measurement? (in textbook) Specific, quantifiable goals that the agency strives for in pursuit of its objectives. These indicators reflect each agency?s outputs and outcomes. What is the difference between an input, output, and outcome in performance evaluation? (in book and mentioned in class). input: resources?financial, human, and otherwise?available to the organization; output: actual goods or services produced by an organization; outcomes: long-term objectives that the organization wants to achieve What is the difference between a measure of effectiveness and efficiency? Measure of Effectiveness: concerned with the extent to which a program is achieving or failing to achieve its stated objectives. Effectiveness measures are outcome-oriented; they focus on the real changes the program produces. Measure of Efficiency: concerned with the relationship between inputs and outputs, usually expressed in a ratio per unit of input. What is the difference between a process, output, and outcome based evaluation (in textbook)? Process based on Evaluation: seeking ways to improve program implementation so as to better meet program objectives. Outcome based Evaluations: evaluations that focus on the results of program activity, the extent to which a program meets its objectives in terms of impact on the environment. Chapter 7 What is an earmark in legislation? Has the number of earmarks dropped this year with the budget crisis? Pork-barrel policy, a goody for a district. ---- No Incrementalism has defined the budget process for decades. This is no longer the case. What is fiscal policy and what is monetary policy? Fiscal Policy: concerned with the impact of government taxation and spending on the economy generally. Monetary Policy: the regulation of the money supply and interest rates by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve board, in order to control inflation and stabilize the currency. Briefly explain the difference between Keynesian, classical, and supply side economics. Keynesian Economics: Government can control economy through taxing and spending (what we?re trying to do now). Key to this analysis was the relationship between inflation and unemployment. Classical Economics: Capitalism works best with no government role. Supply-Side Economics: approach holds that decreased taxes and spending will stimulate capital investment and in turn economic growth. Cut taxes, especially for wealthy, to improve the economy. How is the federal budget spent? Give %s for the various items. Spending of the Federal Budget: Non-discretionary (can?t be changed without legislative change) social security 21% Medicare 14% Medicaid 10% Means tested 8% Federal retirees 10% Interest on debt 8%. Discretionary (could be cut easier) Defense 19% Non-defense (environmental, education, etc.) 10% What percentage of the federal budget is an entitlement? What does this term meant? 60% of the federal budget is an entitlement. Entitlements: programs that provide specified benefits to those who meet certain eligibility requirements. For example, legislation might provide benefits to people above a certain age of below a certain income level. Most social welfare spending at the federal level goes to what group of people? (Answer: older people through SS and Medicare) Older people through Social Security and Medicare Why is it so difficult to reduce the federal budget? (Answer, what would you cut and/or who would get higher taxes?) What would you cut and/or who would get higher taxes Where are the sources of federal revenue? Give percentages for each. a. Income tax 45% b. Social security/Medicare 37% c. Corporate/Other 11% Give statistics on what income groups pay for the income tax. The top 10% of wage-earners pay 2/3 of income tax The top 1% of wage-earners pay 1/3 of income tax What is the earned income tax credit? (Answer: an income tax rebate for low income people). An income tax rebate for low income people Describe the income and payroll tax (which is medicare and SS) in terms of progressive, regressive and proportional. Income Tax is progressive: meaning it taxes those with higher income at a higher effective tax rate. Payroll Tax is regressive: meaning it taxes those with lower incomes at a proportionally higher effective rate than those with higher incomes (social security/Medicare). Proportional tax is if everyone is taxed at the same effective tax rate. How are state budgets similar and how are they different from the federal budget? Similar: both executive and annual Different: states are not allowed to run a deficit Where do states get their money? What is this problematic? Federal money 32% Sales tax 24% Income tax 16% Cuts at the federal level affect the states significantly How do states spend their money? (Answer: education, health, criminal justice) Education 36% Medicaid 24% Highways 7% Corrections 4% How do local governments spend their money? (the biggest item is education) Education Where do they get revenue? State aid 33% Property tax 26% User fees 21% We argued that legalized gambling and sports stadiums don?t usually bring in much government revenue. Why? Because the money is simply being circulated from one person to another, it is not going into the economy. What is risk management? (in book) Concerned with how public organizations anticipate and cope with risks. First step is to identify potential areas of loss and then to attempt to reduce the probability of losses occurring. Local governments have found that centralizing purchasing in one agency, rather than having each agency buy what it needs, results in considerable savings. (True) What is a performance or outcome budget? Performance Budget: budget format organized around programs or activities, including various performance measurements that indicate the relationship between work actually done and its cost. Outcome-based budgeting: a budgeting system that takes into account long-term effects or outcomes. What is a capital budget? Spending for items that will be used over a period of several years. What is the difference between appropriation and authorization (in book)? Appropriation: legislative action to set aside funds and create budget authority for their expenditures. Authorization: legislative action that permits establishment or continuation of a particular program or agency. What is the job of the OMB in the budget process? Central office at the federal level, OMB collects information on projected revenues for the coming fiscal year, as well as information on the outlook for the economy. In addition, OMB develops information on the progress of the current year?s budget, as well as the budget being considered by Congress. Why do we say that budgets in the US are executive budgets? Made by the executive branch