Chapter 14: The Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy

A hierarchical authority structure that uses task specialization, operates on the merit principle, and behaves with impersonality.

Patronage

A system in which jobs and promotions are awarded for political reasons rather than for merit or competence

Pendleton Civil Service Act

Passed in 1883, an act that created a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than patronage

Civil Service

A system of hiring and promotion based on the merit principle and the desire to create a nonpartisan government service

Merit principle

The idea that hiring should be based on entrance exams and promotion ratings to produce administration by people with talent and skill.

Hatch Act

A federal law prohibiting government employees from active participation in partisan politics while on duty or for employees in sensitive positions at any time.

Office of Personnel Management

The office in charge of hiring for most agencies of the federal government, using elaborate rules in the process

GS (General Schedule) rating

A schedule for federal employees ranging from GS1 to GS18, by which salaries can be keyed to rating and experience

Senior Executive Service

An elite cadre of about 9,000 federal government managers at the top of the civil service system

Independent Regulatory Commission

A government agency with responsibility for making and enforcing rules to protect the public interest in some sector of the economy and for judging disputes over these rules.

Government corporation

A government organization that, like business corporations, provides a service that could be delivered by the private sector and typically charges for its service. US Postal Service is an example

Independent executive agency

The government agencies not accounted for by cabinet departments, independent regulatory commissions, and government corporations. Administrators are typically appointed by the president and serve at the president's pleasure. NASA is an example.

Policy implementation

The stage of policymaking between the establishment of a policy and the consequences of the policy for the people affected. Implementation involves translating the goals and objectives of a policy into an operating, ongoing program. AKA rulemaking

Standard operating procedure

Better known as SOPs, these procedures for everyday decision making enable bureaucrats to bring efficiency and uniformity to the running of complex organizations. Uniformity promotes fairness and makes personnel interchangeable.

Administrative discretion

The authority of administrative actors to select among various responses to a given problem. Discretion is greatest when routines, or standard operating procedures, do not fit a case.

Street-level bureaucrats

A phrase referring to the bureaucrats who are in constant contact with the public and/or who have considerable administrative discretion.

Regulation

The use of governmental authority to control or change some practice in the private sector.

Deregulation

The lifting of government restrictions on business, industry, and professional activities.

Command-and-control policy

They typical system of regulation whereby government tells business how to reach certain goals, checks that these commands are followed, and punishes offenders.

Incentive system

An alternative to command-and-control, with marketlike strategies such as rewards used to manage public policy.

Executive orders

Regulations originating within the executive branch. Executive orders are one method presidents can use to control the bureaucracy.

Iron triangles

Also known as subgovernments, a mutually dependent, mutually advantageous relationship between bureaucratic agencies, interest groups, and congressional committees/subcommittees. They dominate some areas of policymaking.