Government Unit 7, Chapter 10, Section 1: Background ofBureaucracy Notes

Name:Date:

Group #1: Definition of Bureaucracy

  • Definition #1: A professional corps of ______officials organized in a ______hierarchy, functioning under impersonal uniform ______and ______.
  • Definition #2: A ______organization in which offices have ______missions and employees are ______responsibility based on ______, knowledge, and experience.
  • Definition #3: An administrative system that divides work into ______categories carried out by ______departments of ______officials
  • Bureaucracy literally means ______.

Hierarchal Pyramid of Bureaucracy

  • What is the most important duty of the Federal Bureaucracy?

Group #2: What and Whom are “Bureaucrats?”

Definition of a Bureaucrat

  • Most bureaucrats are ______collar workers: secretaries, clerks, lawyers, inspectors and engineers.
  • A Bureaucrat is technically a ______servant, or a ______employee of the government.

Who are Bureaucrats?

  • What percent of bureaucrats are career government employees? ______
  • What percent of federal bureaucrats does the President actually appoint himself? ______
  • Only ______live in the D.C. area
  • How many bureaucrats work for the Department of Defense? ______
  • Of the ______million bureaucratic employees, ______million are civil servants.
  • There are ______cabinet level departments and over ______Independent agencies in the Federal Bureaucracy with three four being the biggest within the federal bureaucracy: (give me name and # of people)
  • Within the Bureaucracy itself, ______million people are in the military, ______million at the state level, and the most bureaucrats can be found at the local level where ______million people work.
  • Looking at the pie chart, what Race/Ethnicity makes up the most bureaucrats? ______
  • Also looking at the Pie Chart, do more men or women work for the bureaucracy? (also add the percent) ______
  • Looking at how Congress spends your money, give me the four departments, along with their FY09 totals, that spend the most money within our bureaucracy:

Group #3: Functions and Structures of the Federal Bureaucracy

Functions of the Federal Bureaucracy Defined / Examples of Federal Agencies/Departments
Implementation-
Administration-
Regulation-

Structure of the Federal Bureaucracy

  1. Cabinet Departments
  • There are ______(#) of cabinet departments
  • The Secretary of that department is appointed by the ______and approved by the ______.
  • Each department is a(n) ______in that specific policy area and has its own ______.
  1. Independent Executive Agencies
  • Established by ______, separate ______outside the executive branch, and usually have a more ______area of responsibility.
  • Given specific mandate and perform a ______for the executive branch, not a regulatory one.
  • List three Examples of Independent Agencies: ______, ______, ______
  1. Independent Regulatory Commissions
  • Administrative units that have responsibility for ______and ______specific ______activities
  • Operate ______from Congress and the President, even though the President appoints with Senate consent.
  • Each commission has between 5-11 commissioners and once appointed and seated, cannot be removed without ______.
  • List two Independent Regulatory Commissions:
  1. Government Corporations (found within Independent Agencies)
  • Government owned ______created by Congress, may or may not be ______but they will serve a public need.
  • Similar to private organizations in that they can ______for their services but differ in that they receive ______funding.
  • List two Government Corporations:

Group # 4: Characteristics and Criticisms

There are 8 Characteristics of Bureaucracy:

  1. Administration of government through ______
  2. Consists of ______, often highly trained ______
  3. ______specialization
  4. ______authority
  5. ______
  6. Inclined to follow ______or ______procedures
  7. May stifle ______or innovation
  8. ______tape

There are 6 Criticisms of Bureaucracy (probably a good essay question):

1) ______

  • too many rigid procedures > ex: all hiring must be done through OPM
  • too many policies with no flexibility for special circumstances
  • too many forms to fill out, lines to wait

2) ______

  • lack of incentive to be productive - no profit motive

3) ______

  • bureaucracy is so complicated
  • agencies are performing similar and sometimes the same functions
  • Dept. of Commerce overlaps with Dept. of Agriculture, GSA overlaps with Dept. of Interior, etc.
  • federalism makes this more complicated, many services are provided at the state and national level both

4) ______

  • regulations end up having the effect of law.

5) ______

  • privatization would be more effective

6) ______

  • ______- reveals the relationship between the Executive branch, Congress and private interest groups that can lead to decisions which benefit the private sector at the expense of the government.

Group # 5: Oversight of the Federal Bureaucracy

The President Can: / Congress Can: / The Federal Courts Can:

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