CHAPTER 15 – THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY11201 - Ozaki

980617 - Ozaki

Period 1

SECTION 1 – THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY

Bureaucracy – a large, complex administrative structure that handles the everyday business of an organization

Bureaucrat – a person who works for the organization

Administration – the government’s many administrators and agencies

SECTION 1 – THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY

Staff agencies – serve in a support capacity Line agencies – perform the tasks for which

the organization exists Features of a Bureaucracy

Hierarchical authority Job specialization Formalized rules

SECTION 1 – THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY

The federal bureaucracy is all of the agencies, people, and procedures through which the Federal Government operates

The names given to agencies may indicate an agency’s nature

SECTION 1 – THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY

Department – reserved for agencies in Cabinet

Agency and Administration – any governmental body

Commission – agencies charged with the regulation of business activities

Corporation and Authority – agencies that conduct business-like activities

SECTION 2 – THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Executive Office of the President – a complex organization of several separate agencies staffed by most of the Presidents closest advisors and assistants

Federal budget – a very detailed estimate of receipts and expenditures

SECTION 2 – THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Fiscal year – the 12 month period used by government and business for record keeping, budgeting, and other financial management purposes

Domestic affairs – all matters not directly connected to the realm of foreign affairs

SECTION 2 – THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

The White House office is the “nerve center” of the Executive Office of the President

Other units of the Executive Office advise the President on domestic affairs and foreign policy

The President’s major steps in foreign affairs are taken in close consultation with the National Security Council

SECTION 3 – THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS

Executive departments – the traditional units of federal administration, and each of them is built around some broad field of activity

Secretary – head of each department except for the Department of Justice

Attorney general – director of work for the Department of Justice

SECTION 3 – THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS

Each department is made up of a number of subunits

Each executive department varies a great deal in terms of visibility, size, and importance

The Cabinet is an informal advisory body brought together by the President to serve his needs

The President appoints the head of each of the 15 executive departments

SECTION 3 – THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS

Each of the 15 executive departments manages federal policy in a broad field of activity, such as education, labor, or defense

The heads of the departments meet with the President and other advisors in the Cabinet

The President decides how often the Cabinet meets

SECTION 4 – INDEPENDENT AGENCIES

Independent agencies – agencies located outside the departments

Independent executive agencies – large, with thousands of employees, multimillion-dollar budgets, and extremely important public tasks to perform

Independent regulatory commissions – are largely beyond the reach of presidential direction and control

SECTION 4 – INDEPENDENT AGENCIES

Quasi-legislative – Congress has given them certain legislative-like powers

Quasi-judicial – Congress has given them certain judicial-like powers

Government corporations – within the executive branch and subject to the President’s direction and control, but were set up by Congress to carry out certain business-like activities

SECTION 4 – INDEPENDENT AGENCIES

Independent agencies are not part of any of the executive departments

Independence gives these agencies some freedom from political pressure

SECTION 5 – THE CIVIL SERVICE

Civil service – those civilian employees who perform the administrative work of government

Spoils system – the practice of giving offices and other favors of government to political supporters and friends

Patronage – the practice of giving jobs to supporters and friends

SECTION 5 – THE CIVIL SERVICE

Registers – lists of those applicants who pass its tests and are qualified for employment

Bipartisan – it includes members from both parties

The Pendleton Act laid the foundation of the present federal civil service system

SECTION 5 – THE CIVIL SERVICE

The people who work in the federal bureaucracy make up the civil service

Early on, the spoils system infected the civil service

Corruption was a serious problem until reformers began to reshape the civil service in the 1880s

Today, the vast majority of federal employees are hired and promoted on the basis of merit, not party membership