Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Federal
Bureaucracy
• The Bureaucrats
• How Bureaucracies Are Organized
• Bureaucracies as Implementors
• Bureaucracies as Regulators
• Understanding Bureaucracies
• Summary

Chapter Outline and Learning
Objectives
• The Bureaucrats
• LO 13.1: Describe the federal bureaucrats
and the ways in which they obtain their
jobs.
• LO 13.2: Differentiate the four types of
agencies into which the federal
bureaucracy is organized.

Objectives
• LO 13.3: Identify the factors that influence
the effectiveness of bureaucratic
implementation of public policy.
• Bureaucracies as Regulators
• LO 13.4: Describe how bureaucracies
regulate, and assess deregulation and
alternative approaches to regulation.

Objectives
• LO 13.5: Assess means of controlling
unelected bureaucrats in American
democracy and the impact of the
bureaucracy on the scope of government.

The Bureaucrats
LO 13.1: Describe the federal bureaucrats
and the ways in which they obtain their
jobs.
• Bureaucracy (Max Weber)
• Has a hierarchical authority structure.
• Uses task specialization.
• Operates on the merit principle.
• Develops extensive rules.
• Behaves with impersonality.
To Learning ObjectivesCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman

The Bureaucrats
• Some Bureaucratic Myths and
Realities
• Civil Servants
• Political Appointees
LO 13.1
To Learning Objectives

The Bureaucrats
Realities
• Americans dislike bureaucrats.
• Americans are generally satisfied with
bureaucrats and the treatment they get
from them.
LO 13.1

The Bureaucrats
Realities (cont.)
• Bureaucracies are growing bigger each
year.
• All growth is state and local.
• Employees – 20 million state and local
and 2.8 million federal civilian (2% of
workforce) and 1.4 million federal military.
LO 13.1

The Bureaucrats
Realities (cont.)
• Most federal bureaucrats work in
Washington, D.C.
• About 12% of the 2.8 million federal civilian
employees work in Washington.
LO 13.1

LO 13.1

The Bureaucrats
Realities (cont.)
• Bureaucracies are ineffective, inefficient,
and always mired in red tape.
• Government bureaucracies are no more or
less inefficient, ineffective, or mired in red
tape than private bureaucracies.
LO 13.1

The Bureaucrats
• Civil Servants
• Patronage – Jobs and promotions
awarded for political reasons.
• Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883
created a federal civil service so hiring and
promotion would be based on merit.
• Civil Service – Hiring and promotion
based on the merit and nonpartisan
government service.
LO 13.1

The Bureaucrats
• Civil Servants (cont.)
• Merit Principle – Entrance exams and
promotion ratings to get people with talent
and skill.
• Hatch Act (1939) – Government
employees can not participate in partisan
politics while on duty.
• Office of Personnel Management created
in 1978 to hire for most federal agencies
using rules.
LO 13.1

The Bureaucrats
• Civil Servants (cont.)
• GS (General Schedule) rating – A
schedule for federal employees, ranging
from GS 1 to GS 18, by which salaries can
be keyed to rating and experience.
• Senior Executive Service – 9,000 federal
government managers that provide
leadership at the top of the civil service
system.
LO 13.1

The Bureaucrats
• Political Appointees
• Plum Book – A listing of the top federal
jobs available for direct presidential
appointment, often with Senate
confirmation.
• 500 top policymaking posts (mostly cabinet
secretaries, undersecretaries, assistant
secretaries, and bureau chiefs) and 2,500
lesser positions.
LO 13.1

The Bureaucrats
• Political Appointees (cont.)
• Incoming presidents seek people who
combine executive talent, political skills,
and policy positions similar to the
administration.
• Incoming presidents try to ensure diversity
and balance in terms of gender, ethnicity,
region, and party interests.
LO 13.1

How Bureaucracies Are Organized
LO 13.2: Differentiate the four types of
agencies into which the federal
bureaucracy is organized.
• Cabinet Departments
• Independent Regulatory
Commissions
• Government Corporations
• The Independent Executive Agencies

LO 13.2

• Cabinet Departments
• Each department manages specific policy
areas, and each has its own budget and its
own staff.
• Each department has a mission and is
organized differently.
• Bureaus (sometimes they are called an
administration, service, or office) divide the
work into more specialized areas.
LO 13.2

• Independent Regulatory
Commissions
• Government agency responsible for
making (legislative) and enforcing
(executive) rules to protect the public
interest in some sector of the economy and
for judging (judicial) disputes over these
rules.
• Example – Federal Reserve Board.
LO 13.2

• Government Corporations
• Government organization provides a
service that could be provided by private
sector and typically charges for its
services.
• You can not buy stock and you can not
collect dividends like with private
corporations.
• Example – U.S. Postal Service.
LO 13.2

• The Independent Executive Agencies
• The government agencies not accounted
for by cabinet departments, independent
regulatory commissions, and government
corporations.
• Example – Social Security
Administration.
LO 13.2

Bureaucracies as Implementors
LO 13.3: Identify the factors that influence
the effectiveness of bureaucratic
implementation of public policy.
• What Implementation Means
• Why the Best-Laid Plans Sometimes
Flunk the Implementation Test
• Privatization

• What Implementation Means
• 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.
LO 13.3

• 3 Elements of Implementation
• Create new agency or assign new
responsibility to an old agency.
• Translate policy goals into operational rules
and develop guidelines for the program.
• Coordination of resources and personnel to
achieve the goals.
LO 13.3

Flunk the Implementation Test
• Program Design – It’s impossible to
implement a policy or program well that is
defective in its basic theoretical
conception.
LO 13.3

Flunk the Implementation Test (cont.)
• Lack of Clarity – Bureaucracies are often
asked to implement unclear laws;
Congress can thus escape the messy
details.
• Example – Title IX of Education Act of
1972 was unclear, making implementation
very complex.
LO 13.3

LO 13.3

• Lack of Resources – Bureaucracy can
lack the staff, necessary training, funding,
supplies, equipment, and/or authority to
carry out the tasks it has been assigned to
do.
LO 13.3

• Administrative Routine – SOPs bring
efficiency and uniformity to everyday
decision making.
• Routines become frustrating “red tape” or
potentially dangerous obstacles to action
when not appropriate to a situation.
LO 13.3

• Administrators’ Dispositions – A
bureaucrat uses administrative discretion
to select from many responses to a given
problem.
• Street-level bureaucrats are in constant
contact with the public and have
considerable discretion.
LO 13.3

• Fragmentation – Responsibility for a
policy is dispersed among many units
within bureaucracy.
• Makes coordination of policies time
consuming and difficult.
• Produces contradictory signals among the
agencies involved.
LO 13.3

• Privatization
• Private contractors have become a 4th
branch of government.
• Contracting for services – The theory is
that private sector competition will result in
better service at lower costs, but no
evidence has proved this.
• Contracting leads to less public scrutiny as
programs are hidden.
LO 13.3

Bureaucracies as Regulators
LO 13.4: Describe how bureaucracies
regulate, and assess deregulation and
alternative approaches to regulation.
• Regulation
• Use of governmental authority to control or
change some practice in the private sector.
• Congress gives bureaucrats broad
mandates to regulate activities as diverse
as interest rates, the location of nuclear
power plants, and food additives.

LO 13.4

• Regulation in the Economy and in
Everyday Life
• Deregulation
LO 13.4

Everyday Life
• Munn v. Illinois (1877) – Right of
government to regulate the business
operations of a firm.
• Interstate Commerce Commission
(1887) was the 1st
regulatory agency and it
regulated the railroads, their prices, and
their services to farmers.
LO 13.4

Everyday Life (cont.)
• Command-and-control policy – The
government tells business how to reach
certain goals, checks that these commands
are followed, and punishes offenders.
• Incentive system – Market like strategies
such as rewards are used to manage
public policy.
LO 13.4

• 3 Elements of Regulation
• A grant of power and set of directions from
Congress.
• A set of rules and guidelines by the
regulatory agency itself.
• Some means of enforcing compliance with
congressional goals and agency
regulations.
LO 13.4

• Deregulation
• The lifting of government restrictions on
business, industry, and professional
activities.
• Regulation critics – Regulation distorts
market forces, raises prices, hurts
America’s competitive position abroad, and
fails to work well.
LO 13.4

• Deregulation (cont.)
• Deregulation critics – Point out that
deregulation does not protect the public
against severe environmental damage and
power shortages, failures in the savings
and loan industry, and bursts in real estate
market.
LO 13.4

Understanding Bureaucracies
LO 13.5: Assess means of controlling
unelected bureaucrats in American democracy
and the impact of the bureaucracy on the
scope of government.
• Bureaucracy and Democracy
• Bureaucracy and the Scope of
Government

• Bureaucracy and Democracy
• Popular control of government depends on
elections, but we do not elect the 4.2
million federal employees.
• The fact that voters do not elect civil
servants does not mean that bureaucracies
cannot respond to and represent the
public’s interests.
LO 13.5

• Bureaucracy and Democracy (cont.)
• Presidents – Methods to control the
bureaucracy are (1) appoint the right
people to head the agency; (2) issue
executive orders; (3) alter an agency’s
budget; and (4) reorganize an agency.
LO 13.5

• Congress – Methods to control the
bureaucracy are (1) influence the
appointment of agency heads; (2) alter an
agency’s budget; (3) hold hearings; and (4)
rewrite the legislation or make it more
detailed.
LO 13.5

• Iron Triangles – Subgovernments; a
mutually dependent and advantageous
relationship between bureaucratic
agencies, interest groups, and
congressional committees or
subcommittees.
• Iron triangles dominate some areas of
domestic policymaking.
LO 13.5

LO 13.5

• Issue Networks – Have led to more
widespread participation in bureaucratic
policymaking.
• They include many participants who have
technical policy expertise and are drawn to
issues because of intellectual or emotional
commitments rather than material
interests.
LO 13.5

• Bureaucracy and the Scope of
Government
• Size of federal bureaucracy has shrunk
compared to labor force.
• Agencies need more resources to do what
they are expected to do.
• Bureaucracies carry out policies, but
Congress and the president decide what
government does.
LO 13.5

LO 13.1
Summary
• The Bureaucrats
• Bureaucrats perform vital services the federal
government provides, although their number
has not grown, even as the population has
increased and the public has made additional
demands on government.
• Bureaucrats shape policy as administrators, as
implementors, and as regulators.

LO 13.1
Summary
• The Bureaucrats (cont.)
• Most federal bureaucrats get their jobs through
the civil service system; as a group, these civil
servants are broadly representative of the
American people.
• The top policymaking posts, however, are filled
through presidential appointments, often by
Senate confirmation.

The civil service system was
designed to
A. hire and promote bureaucrats on
the basis of merit.
B. produce an administration with
talent and skill.
C. protect workers from politically
motivated firings.
D. all of the above.
LO 13.1

LO 13.2
Summary
• The organization of the federal bureaucracy
categorizes agencies into four types: cabinet
departments, independent regulatory
commissions, government corporations, and
independent executive agencies.
• The 15 cabinet departments each manage a
specific policy area.

LO 13.2
Summary
(cont.)
• Independent regulatory commissions make
and enforce rules in a particular sector of the
economy.
• Government corporations provide services and
charge for services.
• Independent executive agencies account for
most of the rest of the federal bureaucracy.

Which of the following is NOT one of
the four types of agencies into which
the federal bureaucracy is organized?
A. Cabinet Departments
B. Independent Regulatory
Commissions
C. Government Corporations
D. Independent Legislative Agencies
LO 13.2

LO 13.3
Summary
• As policy implementors, bureaucrats translate
legislative policy goals into programs.
• The policy or program design and the clarity of
the legislation or regulations being
implemented influence the effectiveness of
policy implementation.

LO 13.3
Summary
• Bureaucracies as Implementors (cont.)
• The resources available for implementation;
the ability of administrators to depart from
SOPs when necessary; and the disposition of
administrators toward the policy they
implement influence the effectiveness of policy
implementation.

LO 13.3
Summary
• Bureaucracies as Implementors (cont.)
• The extent to which responsibility for policy
implementation is concentrated rather than
dispersed across agencies influence the
effectiveness of policy implementation.

Which of the following is NOT one
of the three main factors that make
policy implementation difficult?
A. faulty program design
B. unclear laws
C. lack of resources
D. clear goals
LO 13.3

LO 13.4
Summary
• Bureaucracies as Regulators (cont.)
• Congress increasingly delegates large
amounts of power to bureaucratic agencies to
develop rules regulating practices in the private
sector.
• Agencies apply and enforce their rules, in court
or through administrative procedures.

LO 13.4
Summary
• Bureaucracies as Regulators (cont.)
• Regulation affects most areas of American
society, and criticism that regulations are
overly complicated and burdensome has led to
a movement to deregulate.
• However, many regulations have proved
beneficial, and deregulation has itself resulted
in policy failures.

Government is the use
of governmental authority to control or
change some practice in the private sector.
A. regulation
B. command-and-control policy
C. incentive system
D. deregulation
LO 13.4

LO 13.5
Summary
• Bureaucrats are not elected, but they are
competent and reasonably representative of
Americans.
• The president and Congress try to control the
bureaucracies, but iron triangles challenge
their control.
• The role of government and hence the size of
the bureaucracy depends more on voters than
on bureaucrats.

The development of subgovernments
to include a system of issue networks
ensures more
A. presidents are now involved in all
policy areas.
B. subgovernments are virtually
impossible to dismantle.
C. policymaking is stable and
predictable.
D. widespread participation in the
policy process.
LO 13.5

Text Credits
• U.S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United
States, 2010 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office,
2010), Table 486.
• Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2011:
Analytical Perspectives (Washington, DC: U.S. Government
Printing Office, 2010), Tables 23-1 and 23-2.
• United States Office of Personnel Management, Profile of Federal
Civilian Non-Postal Employees, September 30, 2008.
• Federal Register. Office of the Federal Register, United States
Government Manual 2009-2010 (Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Office, 2010), 21.
• Office of the Federal Register, United States Government Manual
2009–2010 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office,
2010), 240.

Photo Credits
• 447: AP Photos
• 441: DOONESBURY c G. B. Trudeau. Reprinted with permission of
Universal Press Syndicate. All Rights Reserved
• 445: Chuck Nocke/The Image Works
• 447: Brian Pohorylol/Corbis
• 451: Jack Kurtz/The Image Works

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