Donald F. Kettl's Politics Of The Administrative Process

The birth of the Head Start Program was a direct result of President Johnson’s War on Poverty Act. The Office of Economic Opportunities was originally in charge of the program until its transfer to the Office of Child Development in the Department of Health and Human Services. This department is the cabinet department of the United States charged with the goal of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. The Head Start Act passed in 1981. Today it is a program within the Administration of Children and Family. The Administration of Children and Families is a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, (H.H.S.). The Assistant Secretary heads it for Children and Families; it also has a $47 billion budget for 65 programs that targets children, youth, and families.

Head Start is a federally funded, education development program that was created in 1965. The program provides education and services for eligible children from low-income families. Head Start 's philosophy focuses on the development of social-emotional, physical and mental health, nutrition, and working with families and the community and stated “low-income people should help plan and run their own programs” (p. 41-42). Head Start has truly expanded their resources over the years by providing a full school year for ages 3-6 years old and offering services such as health screenings, referrals, and social services (p. 42). Most importantly, each and every Head Start program must follow the federal Head Start Program Performace Standards that address all areas of development (p. 42). The program is truly committed to support low-income families and creating an education system that supports all aspects of the child.

"Classical Organizational Theory deals with the 'systematic processes necessary to make bureaucracy more efficient and effective.' Name three scholars that are credited with the development of classical organization thought that most correctly fit into this definition of Classical Organizational Theory. What were the basic arguments articulated by each in their contributions to the development of Classical Organizational Theory?"

Head Start was created in 1965, during Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidential administration, as part of the Great Society plan and the War on Poverty (Currie , 2001). After observing the quality discrepancies between low income and high income educational settings, Johnson realized that “Five and six year old children are inheritors of poverty 's curse…(Johnson, 1965)” As a result, he called for the creation of a program that would allow “…preschool children of poverty [to] get a Head Start on their future (Johnson, 1965).” Soon, Head Start was established, with the goal of “enhance[ing] children’s physical, social, emotional and cognitive development (Mississippi Head Start Association, 2012).”

Healy, C. (2015). Who benefits most from head start programs? Chicago Policy Review (Online), Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.durhamtech.idm.oclc.org/

Head Start- in 1964 President Johnson created Head start to benefit low income pre-school age children. Not only were you eligible solely based on your income (low income and below the poverty line) but also parents had to participate the in the educational development of the child by showing supportive home learning environment along with parent learning skills to become better parents for their developing child.

Currie supports her arguments by addressing that Head Start is of good quality. She explains her pathos and acknowledges that the program “depends on federal grants and are held to high standards” (Currie,682). With dependence of the government funding it is crucial that the program meets all mandates and standards in which they are responsible for. Currie clarifies that the program is of value, even though the common perception of Head Start is of low quality. (682) She addresses “Audits have consistently shown that Head Start is of high quality relative to other child care centers available to low income children” (682). However, she is trying to prove that Head Start is of high quality, with that,

The purpose of this essay is to offer a concise description of the Head Start program, discuss the historical background of the policy, and analyze the economic and political forces that have influenced the development of the program. The essay also seeks to evaluate both the manifest and latent functions of the policy, consider the current debate around Head Start, describe the ideologies and values that have framed the debate around Head Start, and offer recommendations regarding the program.

Bureaucrat is a dirty word to some people in modern society, so how can a bureaucracy be a good thing? Many Public Administration theorist, argue that bureaucracy is essential to the growth and expansion of the United States. Most of the criticism of the bureaucracy within the government is based on myth versus reality. Federal agencies play a critical and a valuable role within society and are indispensable to the operations of the federal government. Bureaucracy can be simply defined as the system in which decision are made by Public Administrators rather than elected officials (legislator) within the government. However, when the average citizen of just says the single word bureaucracy thoughts and images of evoked over how negative

The rational decision-making model describes a series of steps that decision makers should consider if their goal is to maximize the quality of their outcome. In other words, if you want to make sure that you make the best choice, going through the formal steps of the rational decision-making model may make sense. The following are the steps taken to come to a rational decision: 1. Identify the problem, 2. Establish decision criteria, 3. Weigh decision criteria, 4. Generate alternatives, 5. Evaluate the alternative, 6. Choose the best alternative, 7. Implement the decision, 8. Evaluate the decision.

To become a public administrator, you must have the ability to work with different people from different background, different age groups, and various economy classes. A Public administrator cannot be biased towards one group of people and turn around and be favorable towards the other. As an administrator, you have to be transparent to everybody that you encounter, even people that you will be working with, and people that you are working for. According to the publication, “Ethical Dilemmas in the Public Service,” by the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management, describes that the ethical issue that government officials face in any organization is nepotism and bias. The reason why this event occurs is that some of the individuals in the public administrative positions are not transparent in the workplace and are also influenced by personal gain.

Government policy can be described as the declaration that defines the objective of the priorities and goals of the government. Since these policies outline the rules, role, and procedures, they develop a framework in which the government and its citizens can carry out their specific duties. The public policies are created by all governmental levels and target the entire population or particular groups. The process of developing these policies involves the engagement of governmental officials and citizens. On the other hand, politics of government provide the platform for the development, establishment, and implementation of public policy. Therefore, the politics of government are the platform with which public policies are adopted and implemented.

The focus of my term paper is the decision making process used by today's top-level managers. Top-level managers, such as Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Operations Officers (COOs), and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), must make critical decisions on a daily basis. Their choices and the resulting outcomes affect the company, the employees, and the stakeholders. Due to the high importance of their decisions, the process they use to reach them merits a close examination.

Decision-making is very vital in the study of administration. Decision-making is the act of deciding the best choice or alternative that brings success or advantage to a situation that will ensure maximum benefits and least risk. Probability can be applied to decision-making in public administration because it is possible to estimate the probability of occurrence of specific events. A part of decision-making in relationship to public administration has to do with goals. The probability of you meeting those goals depends on decision-making. For example a restaurant owner has received more revenue on Thursdays than on any other day And less Revenue on Saturdays than any other day. The owner has looked at everything that could have influenced his sales. The owner realized that the only things that were different on Thursdays than any other day was the chief special and the drink special. According to the receipts of the last four Thursdays the probability that a customer orders a drink special is 60%. The probability that a customer orders the chief special is 50%. The probability of them ordering both is 42%. This shows the restaurant owner that Thursdays drink special should be considered on both Thursdays and Saturdays.