Deck 13: The Bureaucracy

Question 1

What realization has led to a growth of government regulation of business in the United States?

A) A laissez-faire approach does not always result in competitive markets.
B) Business cannot be trusted to seek profits.
C) Members of the public deserve a say in everything that affects them.
D) American competitiveness requires a government role in business.
E) Government study of business practices will increase government efficiency.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Most members of the cabinet, who head departments and act as chief advisers to the president on the issues under their jurisdiction, have which of the following titles or positions?

A) Clerk
B) Secretary
C) White House staff
D) Commission appointee
E) Committee member

Answer 2

B

Question 3

What do the secretaries who head the departments in the executive branch also make up?

A) The majority whip
B) The president's cabinet
C) The standing committee
D) The Supreme Court
E) The stand-alone independent agencies

Answer 3

B

Question 4

What is the basis for hiring decisions made under the civil service system?

A) Patriotism
B) Political beliefs
C) Merit
D) Need
E) Patronage

Question 5

Following a lawsuit, a large corporation recently agreed to implement the merit system. What did it agree to do?

A) Base the selection, retention, and promotion of employees on examinations or performance
B) Implement a system of checks intended to prevent discrimination
C) Embrace a culture of complete transparency
D) Follow the system for hiring bureaucrats that was used by Andrew Jackson
E) Consider work experience in lieu of educational qualifications when filling positions

Question 6

What is the key set of a president's advisers who are responsible for the areas under their jurisdiction known as?

A) The administration
B) The board of directors
C) The cabinet
D) The commission
E) The committee

Question 7

As U.S. society becomes increasingly complex, what would you expect the government at all levels to do?

A) Step back
B) Contract
C) Expand
D) Increase privatization
E) Remain uninvolved

Question 8

What did the Pendleton Act do?

A) Extend federal civil service protections to the states
B) Reorganize the federal government and exempt a substantial number of government employees from civil service protections
C) Increase the number of government employees selected by the spoils system
D) Establish the principle of employment on the basis of open competitive examinations
E) Establish a merit system during the Civil War

Question 9

In what system of employment are employees chosen and promoted based on qualifications and performance?

A) Civil system
B) Merit system
C) Political appointment system
D) Career civil servants system
E) Bureaucratic system

Question 10

What can be said regarding the structure of a bureaucracy?

A) It is structured horizontally.
B) A bureaucracy is void of any structure.
C) Its design is general, rather than specific.
D) It fails to designate any reporting structure.
E) It is structured hierarchically.

Question 11

When we indicate that an employee's implementation decisions in a bureaucracy are reviewed at ascending levels within the organization, this is describing which of the following core components of bureaucracies?

A) Expertise of bureaucrats
B) Mission statement
C) Hierarchy of authority
D) Policy-making process
E) Appropriations

Question 12

The public is asking for reduction in the size of the bureaucracy. Based on past experience, what would you expect the government to do?

A) Increase the number of bureaucrats
B) Rename programs
C) Reorganize programs so as to conceal their strength and numbers
D) Turn over jobs to nonprofit organizations or private contractors
E) Look to big business for additional funding

Question 13

Which of the following statements best describes bureaucracy?

A) A bureaucracy is a large organization, structured hierarchically, that carries out specific functions.
B) The bureaucracies work in a cyclical fashion with Congress to create and implement laws.
C) Public bureaucracies serve the federal government.
D) All public bureaucracies report to the president and operate under direction from his office.
E) State bureaucracies provide financial assistance to the national bureaucracy.

Question 14

A large, complex organization in which employees have specific job responsibilities and work within a hierarchy of authority is called which of the following?

A) A cabinet
B) A business
C) A government
D) A bureaucracy
E) A commission

Question 15

The importance of organization is evident in the success of the British in defending their ships from U-boats. Which of the following best describes the basis of their organization?

A) Independent decision making and diffusion of authority
B) Decentralization
C) Centralization and communication
D) Decentralization and rigorous procedure
E) Flexibility and creativity

Question 16

Which of the following organizations was created by the Pendleton Act to administer entrance exams for the federal civil service and set standards for promotion based on merit?

A) The Foreign Service
B) The Federal Trade Commission
C) The Civil Service Commission
D) The U.S. Merit System
E) The Executive Service

Question 17

What legislation created the civil service system and placed limits on the spoils system?

A) Postal Service Act of 1792
B) Pendleton Act of 1883
C) Interstate Commerce Act of 1887
D) Political Activities Act of 1939
E) Civil Service Reform Act of 1978

Question 18

An employee of a government unit, who is quite knowledgeable within their narrow area, and works on specific responsibilities and within a hierarchy of authority is known as which of the following?

A) Leader
B) Laborer
C) Clinician
D) Man in black
E) Bureaucrat

Question 19

In response to the assassination of President Garfield, Congress passed which of the following acts that established a merit- and performance-based system for federal employment?

A) Merit System Act
B) Pendleton Act
C) Bryce Act
D) Dawes Act
E) Patriot Act

Question 20

What was the purpose of the Pendleton Act of 1883?

A) To provide public funding for presidential campaigns
B) To create the Central Intelligence Agency
C) To create government corporations
D) To establish the Justice Department
E) To reduce patronage by creating a civil service

Question 21

Consider a situation in which Congress is not pleased with the direction taken by a federal agency. How can Congress punish or otherwise exert control over that agency?

A) By cutting its budget
B) By deflecting interest to another issue
C) By confirming a nominee to a top agency post
D) By implementing one of the agency's programs
E) By asking for a pocket veto

Question 22

What are an organization's informal, unwritten rules that guide individual behavior called?

A) Norms
B) Values
C) Policies
D) Artifacts
E) Beliefs

Question 23

According to Charles Lindblom, policies and programs change bit by bit, step by step, meaning that policymaking tends to be characterized by which of the following?

A) Gridlock
B) Partisanship
C) Incrementalism
D) Mandates
E) Gerrymandering

Question 24

What is the relationship between the cabinet departments and the branches of the federal government?

A) They are created by the president and report directly to the president.
B) They are created by Congress but report directly to the president.
C) They are created by the president but report directly to Congress.
D) They are created by Congress and report directly to Congress.
E) They are created by Congress, approved by the Supreme Court, and report directly to the president.

Question 25

What is the central feature of the civil service system?

A) Merit-based, nonpolitical employment and promotion
B) The fitting of job openings to agencies' needs
C) The development of elaborate job classifications
D) The separation of political and nonpolitical positions
E) A nonpunitive, competitive promotion system

Question 26

Your friend works in the federal bureaucracy but is not a political appointee. You can therefore assume this individual is which of the following?

A) A legislative liaison
B) A cabinet member
C) A career civil servant
D) A foreign ambassador
E) An elected representative

Question 27

Congress has created an agency with a mandate involving domestic and global security. How much or what type of discretion would you expect Congress to give this agency?

A) The broadest range
B) Very little
C) None
D) Statutory, but not administrative
E) Administrative, but not statutory

Question 28

There are 15 major service organizations of the federal government which include Treasury, Agriculture, Education, and more. What kind of departments are these?

A) Cabinet
B) Agency
C) Legislative
D) Mandated
E) Constitutional

Question 29

Why are regulatory commissions usually run with an odd number of commissioners?

A) To facilitate rotation in office
B) To prevent tie votes
C) To maintain a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages
D) To prevent any area of the country from being overrepresented
E) To comply with the 1961 Bureaucratic Improvement Act

Question 30

Congress is currently establishing a new agency to regulate the use of certain technology in a specific industry. Because of the uncertainty involved with this emerging technology, Congress is giving the agency a great deal of latitude to make its own policy within the spirit of its legislative mandate. What is this called?

A) Administrative discretion
B) Administrative bloat
C) Inter-agency cooperation
D) Civil service
E) Congressional commission

Question 31

A federal employee who was hired through a merit-based system to implement federal programs is expected to be neutral in political affiliations. What would this individual be considered?

A) An AmeriCorps member
B) A political appointee
C) A career civil servant
D) An executive worker
E) A cabinet member

Question 32

You have identified what seems to be the theoretically correct, or rational, policy to deal with a situation. Even though your staff agrees, chances are this policy will not be enacted, or not in its entirety. Why?

A) Administrators lack the discretion to adopt rational policies.
B) Bureaucrats, as humans, behave irrationally.
C) Administrative rules hinder consideration of all options.
D) The policy will result in too much job loss.
E) The policy is politically unacceptable.

Question 33

A federal employee who was appointed by the president with the explicit task of carrying out the president's political and partisan agenda would be known as which of the following?

A) A political appointee
B) A merit system appointee
C) A Pendleton Act employee
D) A civil service employee
E) A career civil servant

Question 34

Which of the following best describes how the major cabinet departments of the federal government were created?

A) Through congressional legislation
B) When the Constitution was initially ratified
C) By constitutional amendments
D) By executive order
E) Through congressional legislation and by constitutional amendments

Question 35

What are the rules that guide the operation of government programs called?

A) Regulations
B) Mandates
C) Ordinances
D) Advisories
E) Referenda

Question 36

The civil service system was created to do which of the following?

A) Ensure equal partisanship in filling government jobs
B) Allow greater congressional control of the bureaucracy
C) Increase presidential control over the bureaucracy
D) Reduce the amount of politics in awarding government jobs
E) Discourage incompetent job applicants from seeking government employment

Question 37

Charles Lindblom considers the rational-comprehensive model of policymaking to be which of the following?

A) Inspirational
B) Comprehensive
C) Common
D) Unrealistic
E) Ideal

Question 38

The employees of bureaucratic agencies within the government, including the leadership, are not elected by the people. Yet these agencies are responsible for the majority of the regulations that impact the people and businesses in the United States. From where do they derive their legal powers?

A) A congressional grant of authority
B) Tradition
C) A constitutional mandate
D) Delegation from the president
E) Implied powers

Question 39

If it were necessary to create a new cabinet-level department today, which of the following has the authority to do that?

A) Congress
B) The president
C) The secretary of state
D) The Executive Office of the President
E) The Supreme Court

Question 40

Which of the following is accurate with respect to the ideal, rational decision-making process described by Charles Lindblom?

A) It reflects how decisions are made in the real world.
B) It does not allow for careful analysis of all possible solutions.
C) Administrators are expected to rank values and objectives.
D) It represents the typical behavior of government decision makers.
E) Administrators are limited in the alternatives from which they can choose.

Question 41

What are two of the main challenges to the implementation of effective policy?

A) Complexity of issues and government capacity
B) Complexity of issues and stubbornness of stakeholders in a policy arena
C) Government capacity and conflicting preferences of stakeholders in a policy arena
D) Lack of funds and lack of resources
E) Lack of funds and lack of motivation

Question 42

A city has decided to open a community health center. It has asked a number of for-profit companies to submit proposals in a bidding process through which one of these companies will be selected to run the center. What is this an example of?

A) Deregulation
B) Reregulation
C) Competition and outsourcing
D) Performance and results
E) Trial and error

Question 43

American catfish farmers asked Washington to regulate their industry to prevent their prices from being undercut by imports. This scenario describes what reason that agencies extend their regulatory reach?

A) To help American businesses operate in a global marketplace
B) To meet the needs of constituents
C) To protect the safety of U.S. residents
D) To help the incumbent president get reelected
E) To take advantage of the latest technology

Question 44

Which of the following acts held agencies accountable for their performance?

A) Government Performance and Results Act
B) Agency Accountability Reform Act
C) Agency Review Act
D) Government Analysis Reform Act
E) Bureaucratic Control Act

Question 45

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), you are trying to secure services for a student that you know. The administrators at the student's school are offering fewer services than the law actually calls for. Why would the administrators do that?

A) Incrementalism does not allow all of the services to be offered at one time.
B) Incrementalism does not allow all of the services to be offered to any one family.
C) Norms develop about how to allocate scarce resources.
D) Congressional requirements are so vague that administrators are worried about overstepping their authority.
E) Under the law, families are responsible for requesting services and often don't know what to do.

Question 46

You work in a bureaucratic organization. A citizen impacted by your agency's regulation has made a good case to you for bending the rules in a particular situation. You explain the circumstances to your superiors, who insist that you "go by the book," with no exceptions. Why?

A) "The book" consists of the laws they are obligated to enforce.
B) They are afraid of being rebuked by Congress if they depart from "the book."
C) They are unimaginative and "the book" provides ready-made answers.
D) They operate only within their narrow specialization.
E) They can hide behind "the book" if their actions are unpopular.

Question 47

To implement the regulations mandated by the Clean Air Act, a state legislature created an Air Quality Commission. That commission had to work with local governments in the state, as well as the EPA and several transportation and industry-related agencies. In this scenario, what factor will likely make policy implementation difficult?

A) There are competing agencies and jurisdictions.
B) The policy requirements are too narrowly defined.
C) The policy requirements are too vague.
D) This policy is not well-suited for a bureaucracy.
E) There is a lack of funds to follow through.

Question 48

Because they believe it will promote efficiency and a growing economy, which of the following have been champions of deregulation?

A) Liberals
B) Socialists
C) Conservatives
D) Bureaucrats
E) Progressives

Question 49

When the government sets limits on ingredients found in prescription medications or on factory emissions, this would be an example of which of the following?

A) A referendum
B) Deregulation
C) Gerrymandering
D) Regulation
E) An initiative

Question 50

Putting specific policies into operation is known as which of the following?

A) Policy development
B) The policy process
C) Incrementalism
D) Implementation
E) Bureaucratization

Question 51

To solve the problem of failing schools, the council in one city worked with the school board and outside consultants to devise and implement changes. What should they do to make sure parents, teachers, and school administrators will be on board with any new policies?

A) Make sure that it is adequately funded
B) Involve all stakeholders in the process
C) Offer tax incentives
D) Provide evidence of the schools' current failings
E) Demonstrate the likelihood of success

Question 52

Bureaucracies are often influenced in their policy options by the prevailing customs of the people working for them. For example, the Army Corps of Engineers tends to protect citizens from floods by doing which of the following?

A) Building dams
B) Building bridges
C) Updating decaying infrastructure
D) Moving endangered structures to higher ground
E) Fighting global warming

Question 53

The government wants to roll out a new program that will fight poverty and strengthen families with at-risk teens by nurturing and maintaining relationships. Which of the following best explains why this policy will not be successfully implemented?

A) Bureaucrats are only looking out for themselves and don't work to successfully implement programs.
B) Laws are usually written with the needs of political contributors, rather than the public, in mind.
C) So many people don't pay their taxes that the government doesn't have adequate funding for public programs.
D) Very few people really want to be helped by the government; they'd rather just work out their problems on their own.
E) The government sometimes attempts to implement programs that are not well-suited to bureaucracies.

Question 54

What is one reason implementation of policies is often difficult?

A) The policy to be carried out is usually clearly stated and narrowly defined.
B) Policy directives to bureaucrats often leave them with too little discretion.
C) Implementation involves many different agencies and layers of government.
D) Public policy problems can be extremely complex.
E) After policies are implemented, they must still undergo the development stage.

Question 55

Outsourcing is a challenge to policy implementation that arises when government agencies hire some other entity to do what?

A) Identify problems to solve
B) Devise programs
C) Fund programs
D) Oversee programs
E) Run programs

Question 56

When government implements deregulation, what does it do?

A) It increases its role in order to avoid an economic downturn.
B) It relies heavily on government intervention.
C) It reduces its role and lets natural market forces take over.
D) It implements more regulatory functions.
E) It ignores the forces of supply and demand.

Question 57

Which of the following statements best describes incrementalism?

A) It can significantly alter a program over time.
B) It is intrinsically conservative.
C) It is devoted to maintaining the status quo.
D) It requires making large changes quickly.
E) It is characterized by a "one and one" decision-making process.

Question 58

Consider a situation in which the president who makes the agency appointees is a Democrat. What would you expect of the bureaucracy in this scenario?

A) There is likely to be a more forceful stance toward regulation.
B) There is likely to be a more forceful withdrawal of regulation.
C) It is not possible to predict, as there is no link between political affiliation and stance on regulation.
D) There is likely to be an increase in regulations on health issues, while a Republican is more likely to issue regulations concerning food safety issues.
E) There is likely to be an increase in regulations on food safety issues, while a Republican is more likely to issue regulations concerning health issues.

Question 59

After policies are developed, what happens next?

A) Implementation
B) Appropriations
C) Regulation
D) Deregulation
E) Clarification

Question 60

A certain county wanted to require all residents to recycle. It provided recycling bins, but found that they were not being used. It then instructed trash collectors to check the garbage before taking it, and not collect garbage bins that contained recyclable materials. This took too long, and the trash collectors were not able to complete their routes. Next, the county sent out informative flyers about the benefits of recycling and explaining how to sort materials. This was followed up with an incentive program in which neighborhoods or municipalities within the county could get rewards based on their recycling efforts. What does this process illustrate regarding successful implementation?

A) It takes a lot of money.
B) It requires a great deal of trial and error.
C) It is rarely successful.
D) Policies need to be narrowly written.
E) Outside consultants are often needed.

Question 61

Explain the concept of bureaucracy and why bureaucracies are necessary.

Question 62

Discuss the reasons for the major growth of the bureaucracy. In your opinion, is it too big? Why or why not?

Question 63

Explain what incrementalism is and how it affects policymaking.

Question 64

Discuss the impact of deregulation in the telephone and food and drug industries.

Question 65

Describe the process through which executive agencies exercise their administrative policymaking authority.

Question 66

Discuss the reasons that government may have difficulties implementing public policy.

Question 67

Explain the costs and benefits of the privatization of federal services.

Question 68

Provide a detailed discussion of how the Pendleton Act changed the nature of civil service employees.

Question 69

Discuss the cabinet-level departments and the roles of the cabinet secretaries.

Question 70

Identify the different types of governmental organizations, and describe the features and functions of each.

Question 71

Explain why presidents find the bureaucracy is not always as responsive as they might like.

Question 72

Describe attempts to make the federal bureaucracy more open, efficient, and responsive to the needs of U.S. citizens.

Question 73

Describe the difference between a political appointee and a civil servant. Discuss how these two types of employees obtain their jobs.

Question 74

Explain why Congress is often vague about its intent when setting up a new agency or program.

Question 75

What does the text mean when it refers to bureaucratic culture? Provide some examples of how norms affect bureaucratic behavior.

Question 76

Discuss the challenges involved in implementing environmental regulations.

Question 77

Discuss the history of attempts to reform the process of how individuals get positions in the federal bureaucracy.

Question 78

Discuss some ways in which the size of the bureaucracy has changed over the history of the United States.

Question 79

One significant difficulty with assessing the effectiveness of government agencies is that government often allows them to set their own standards for what constitutes acceptable outcomes. Which of the following is one way in which this can be fixed?

A) Give initial grants to states where the problems are too big to motivate compliance
B) Give the federal government sufficient bureaucratic manpower to analyze the data it needs to make good decisions
C) Question the constitutionality of such agencies' agendas
D) Ensure evaluations are objective through evidence-based policymaking
E) Ensure evaluations are subjective through a focus on the biggest problem areas first