1. Government at Work: The Bureaucracy
Chapter 15

2. The Federal Bureaucracy
Section 1
Bureaucracy – a large, complex administrative structure that handles the everyday business of an organization
Federal gov’t is largest organization in country
B is an efficient and effective way to organize people to do work
Found in both public & private sectors
The Federal Bureaucracy

3. 3 Principles Built on: Need all the help the “B” run efficiently
Hierarchical authority – organized like a pyramid
Job specialization – person w/certain duties and responsibilities
Formalized rules – a bureaucracy works according to a set of established regulations and procedures
Need all the help the “B” run efficiently
3 Principles

4. Of Federal Bureaucracy
Executive Office of the President
15 Cabinet departments
Independent Agencies
Major elements

5. Executive Office of the President
Section 2
Means: complex organization of several separate agencies staffed by Pres. Closest advisors and assistants
White House Office is “nerve center” of Executive Branch of Federal Gov’t
Executive Office of the President

7. Staff of White House Office National Security Council
Staff agency – advise Pres. In all matters affecting nation’s security
Major Agencies

8. Office of Management and Budget
Largest and 2nd most influential unit
Major task in the preparation of federal budget
Budget is a plan for conduct of gov’t
Annual statement of public policies of US, expressed in dollar terms
OMB also monitors the spending of the funds Congress appropriates
Oversees execution of budget
OMB is a sort of presidential “handy-man” agency

9. The Executive Department
Section 3
15 executive departments
Cabinet
Each department is headed by a secretary
Appointed by Pres. – confirmed by Senate
Subunits upon smaller subunits where work is broken up
The Executive Department

10. Importance Depts vary by visibility, size, and importance
Dept of State
Oldest and most prestigious but also the smallest
Dept of Defense is largest
Dept of Health and Human Services has largest budget
Dept of Homeland Security is the newest
Importance

11. Cabinet roles Administrative head of one of the executive dept
Advisors to the Pres
Some presidents have given great weight to the Cabinet and to its advice; others have given it only a secondary role
Cabinet roles

12. Independent Agencies Agencies outside of cabinet departments
Section 4
Agencies outside of cabinet departments
Social Security Administration – largest of independent agencies
Why do we have them?
They simply don’t work well within any department
Because of peculiar and sensitive nature of their functions
Independent Agencies

13. Independent agencies divided into 3 main groups

14. The Independent Executive Agencies
Includes most of independent agencies
Large, lots of employees, lots of money, extremely important public tasks to perform
Organized like Cabinet dept
Most independent executive agencies have few employees, small budge, and rarely attract any attention
The Independent Executive Agencies

15. Independent Regulatory Commission
Beyond reach of presidential direction and control
Why?
Term lengths
Bare majority of commissioners be of same political party
Powers: quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial
Each created to regulate important aspects of the nations economy
Head by board or commission
Appointed by Pres confirmed by Senate
Independent Regulatory Commission

16. The Government Corporations
In executive branch and subject to the President’s direction and control
Set up by Congress to carry out certain business-like activities
Examples: US Postal Service, FDIC, Amtrak
The Government Corporations