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CHAPTER SEVEN: Organizational Problems

Review

1. The text quotes Jack Knott and Gary Miller saying that even choosing an organizational structure for government to follow is in itself "inherently political; we must ask 'who gets what?' from any institutional arrangement". Can you think of examples of organizational structure choices driven by politics? Do you think such behavior is "inherent" in a democracy? Why do you think this is the case?


2. Discuss Herbert Kaufman's three organizational values of neutral competence, executive leadership, and representativeness. What are they and why are they necessary? Do you think one value is more important than the other two? If so, which one and why? Do any of these organizational values seem out of place in a democracy or do they reinforce democratic values?


3. Examine the checklist that was developed by an interagency task force for choosing an organizational structure and select the criteria that you find to be the best in terms of their relevancy and in terms of the way they are able to keep administrative agencies accountable to the public for results and transparency. Which ones do you think are the most often in conflict with each other?
     - public acceptance
     - adaptability
     - professional competence
     - participation, representativeness, and diversity
     - effective database
     - cost and timeliness
     - promotion of private efficiency
     - accountability to the President
     - accountability to Congress
     - compatibility with state regulation


4. Why do you think interagency conflict happens and do you think it is a good thing or a bad thing? Why?


5. Why do you think consensus is so difficult to reach among agencies yet so vital to achieve if we agree with the text that "coordination is the core of government"? Use the textual example of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or another of your own to prove whether such consensus is possible, desirable, or worth the difficult efforts of administrators to achieve?


6. Discuss the power dynamics that can occur within organizations between staff members and organization heads. What do you think of staff assistants being told to "just handle it" by their top officials? Do you think it is necessary for unaccountable and unelected staff to have so much power for our government to function, or do you think top officials should have more oversight of their staff, even if it means government slows down? Further, what do you think about the solutions offered by the text to the power dynamics presented by staffing roles?


7. Does reorganization offer a viable solution to the problems of organization within government? Why or why not?


8. Why does "stability not fluidity characterize the executive branch's organization"? What do you think about the turf wars? Do you think these "natural" occurrences provide stability that is good for the government, or would the reorganization based on improving government efficiency (that is routinely promised by politicians) be the better course?