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Gov’t At Work:
The Bureaucracy
Mrs. Kosier
What is a Bureaucracy?
• Bureaucracy – a large complex administrative structure
that handles the everyday business of an organization;
federal gov’t is the largest organization in the country
• An efficient and an effective way to organize people to do
work
Section 1: The Federal
Bureaucracy
• (36) 1. Hierarchical authority
• Any organization that is built as a pyramid, with a chain
of command running from the top of the pyramid to the
bottom
• Few at top control over the mid level who then in turn direct
the bottom level
Three Features of a
Bureaucracy
• (36) 2. Job Specialization
• Each bureaucrat (person who works for the
organization) has certain defined duties and
responsibilities
• Division of labor
Three Features of a
Bureaucracy
• (36) 3. Formalized Rules
• Bureaucracy does its work according to a set of
established regulations and procedures
Three Features of a
Bureaucracy
• Hierarchy can speed action by reducing conflicts
• Promotes efficiency – each person has a specific job
• Rules are set – known standards, not someone’s likes or
dislikes, inclinations, etc.
The Benefits of a
Bureaucracy
• All of the agencies, people, and procedures through which the
Federal Gov’t operates
• All of the federal bureaucracy is located in the executive
branch
• Article II, Sect 3 – declares that the President shall take care
that the laws be faithfully executed
• Constitution Framers – knew that without an administration
the government’s many administrators & agencies – even the
best policies would amount to just words and phrases
• See Chart pg. 417
Major elements of the
Federal Bureaucracy
• Agency – any gov’t body
• EPA – Environmental Protection Agency
Administration - any gov’t body
• NASA – National Aeronautics & Space Administration
• Commission – given to agencies charged with the
regulation of business activities
• FCC – Federal Communications Commission
• Corporation or authority – title given to those agencies
that conduct businesslike activities
• FDIC – Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The Name Game
• Staff Agencies
• Serve in a support capacity; aid chief executive & other
administrators by offering advice & other assistance in the
management of the organization
• Line Agencies
• Perform tasks for which the organization exists
• Congress & the Pres. give the line agencies goals to meet, staff
agencies help line agencies meet goals through advising,
budgeting, purchasing, managing, and planning
• Some support Pres. (Executive Branch) – National Security
Council, Office of Management & Budget
• EPA – different mission – day to day enforcement of antipollution
laws – operates on the line where the action is
Staff and Line Agencies
• Typically a bureaucracy is the most (37) complex way of
handling a nation’s functions, but they are not (37)
elected by the people
• Center of today’s Executive Branch:
• Executive Office of the President & the President’s Cabinet
Section 2: The Executive
Office of the President
• President’s right arm (EOP)
• An umbrella agency; complex organization of several
separate agencies staffed by most of the President’s
closest advisors and assistants
• Established by Congress in 1939
• Been reorganized by every administration since
The Executive Office of
the President
• Nerve center of the Executive Office
• Houses the President’s key personal & political staff
• 2 wings on either side of White House hold mostly the
President’s staff; West Wing – Oval Office, Cabinet Room
• East Wing – public tours
• Old Executive Office Building – across from West Win
• Chief of Staff to the Pres. directs all of the operations of the
White House Office & is among the most influential of all the
presidential aides
• Press secretary; legal advisor to Pres. foreign policy advisor
The White House Office
• Consult heavily with the President
• Meets at President’s call, short notice, advises President
in all domestic, foreign, & military matters that relate the
nation’s security
• President chairs the council; VP, Secretaries of State;
Secretary of Defense, CIA Director, Chairman of Joints
Chief of Staff
• Staff agency advises the President;
• Reagan Admin
The National Security
Council (NSC)
• Newest major agency
• Created by Pres. Bush after 9/11
• Director keeps President fully aware of all ongoing
efforts to protect U.S. Against any and all acts of
terrorism
Office of Homeland
Security
• Office of Management and Budget
• Largest, 2nd most influential; Director appointed by Pres. & Senate
• Prepare federal budget (plan), Pres. has to submit to Congress
• Federal budget (fiscal year – 12 mo) used by gov’t & business for record
keeping, budgeting, & other financial management purposes (10/1-9/30)
• Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives
• Pres. Bush 2001 to combat drug abuse, homelessness, poverty, &
similar problems being done by private groups
• Office of National Drug Control Policy
• Est. 1989; concern over drugs;
• Director appointed by Pres. & Senate approval
• Council of Economic Advisers
• 3 Economists – Chosen by Pres. & confirmed by Senate
• Annual Econ. Report to Congress
Other EOP Agencies
Section 4: Independent
Agencies
• Independent agencies additional agencies outside the
executive (43) Cabinet departments
Independent Agencies
• B/c they do not fit well within any department
• (44) Given independent status to protect them from
the influence of both partisan and pressure politics
• Many influential groups want them to be outside of
Cabinet depts
• (44) b/c of the peculiar and sensitive nature of their
functions
• Label is a “catch all”
• Not independent of the Executive or Pres. just not located
within the Cabinet depts
Why Independent
Agencies?
• 3 main groups:
• 1. Independent Executive Agencies
• 2. Independent Regulatory Commissions
• 3. Government Corporations
Why Independent
Agencies?
• 1. Independent Executive Agencies
• Includes most of the independent agencies
• Some are large, thousands of employees, multimilliondollar/billion-dollar budgets, extremely important public tasks to
perform: General Services Administration (GSA), NASA, EPA
• No Cabinet status
• Not all are large even though they do very important work: Civil
Rights commission, Peace Corps, National Transportation Board
• Some have few employees & are not in limelight w/small budgets
Independent Executive
Agencies
• 2. Independent Regulatory Commissions
• Stand out b/c they are beyond the reach of presidential direction &
control
• Created to regulate, or police, (45) important aspects of the
nation’s economy
• Headed by a board or commission made up of 5-7 mbrs appointed
by Pres w/Senate consent
• No more than a bare majority of the mbrs of each board or
commission may belong to the same political party – several must
belong to the party out of power
• Terms are staggered – only one mbr’s term expires per year
• Congress gives them the power to administer programs
Independent Regulatory
Commissions
• Quasi legislative powers
• IRCs exercise these powers when they make rules &
regulations; have the force of the law; implement, spell out
the details of, the laws that Congress has directed these
regulatory bodies to enforce
• Quasi judicial powers
• IRCs exercise these powers when they decide disputes in
those fields in which Congress has given them authority
Independent Regulatory
Commissions (IRCs)
• (46) Located within the executive branch & subject to
the President’s direction & control
• (46)Set up by Congress to carry out certain businesslike activities
• FDIC, US Postal Service
• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
• From these sections, you should have learned that the
federal government’s bureaucracy is extremely (47)
LARGE (size)
The Government
Corporations
• Andrew Jackson is called the “father” of the (48) spoils
system – the practice of giving offices & other favors of
gov’t to political supporters & friends
• The Pendleton Act – began reforms seeking to base civil
service on (48) merit (the quality of one’s work) – the
basis for hiring, promotion, & other personnel actions in
the federal work force.
Section 5: The Civil
Service