Technology Has Changed Bureaucracy Reform

Paul C. Light’s (2006) article, “The Tides of Reform Revisited: Patterns in Making Government Work, 1945-2002”, has revealed to the readers how the current landscape of administrative reorganization is and how the sphere is gradually being dominated by four major competing ideas, viz. scientific management, the war on waste, the watchful eye, and liberation management. Light (2006), has explained how at the very heart of the American reform policies lays the four tides of reform ingrained with four philosophies. Light (2006) has stated that “the Constitution contains harbingers of all four “tides,” or philosophies, of administrative reform that populate the federal statute books today. It spoke to the logical of scientific management by creating a single executive with tight day-to-day control over the officers and departments of government. It laid basis for future wars on waste by requiring an annual accounting of expenditures and revenue while reserving the appropriation power for Congress.” Light (2006) has also stated that, the Constitution also “emphasized the need for a watchful eye on government excess through an elegant system of checks and balances. And it invented future efforts to liberate government from excessive regulation by vesting all executive powers in the president.” It is noteworthy that, Light (2006) has tried to make the readers understand how in the recent decades, all the four tides have accelerated in pace and intensity and how such acceleration

Throughout the rigmarole of political history of the United States of America, the growth of the “fourth branch of government”, the Bureaucracy, has been a prominent, controversial topic. Peter Woll, in his article “Constitutional Democracy and Bureaucratic Power”, and James Q. Wilson, in his article “The Rise of the Bureaucratic State”, discuss this developing administrative branch. The Constitution has no written mention of an “administrative branch”, and today’s Bureaucracy is often tedious, corrupt, and even undemocratic. But such a branch’s development and expansion is necessary in order to keep par with an evolving and changing society.

In his book, Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies do and why they do it, James Q. Wilson’s main objective is to better define the behavior of governmental bureaucracy, believing traditional organizational and economic theory does not adequately explain their actions. Wilson believes that government agencies are doomed to be perceived as inefficient entities by the public. He gives examples of commonly held perceptions of bureaucracies and reveals how these are mostly misconceptions. He points to the environment of bureaucracy, where rules and procedures, dictate goals, along with context, constraints, values, and norms.

“The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy.” This quote by Woodrow Wilson fits perfectly with the topics that will be discussed. The major theme of this paper is bureaucracy. Bureaucracy refers to an administrative system in which agencies staffed largely by non elected officials perform specific tasks in accordance with standard procedures. The work of the bureaucracy involves implementing laws and procedures. Does this sound familiar? That is because most bureaucrats work for the executive branch of the government. The executive branch is the one that enforces the laws. Some of these law enforcing jobs include mail clerk, police officer, fireman, and first responder. These jobs are essential to our lives as Americans and are greatly appreciated. This paper will expound on the history, usage, and the Cabinet

Clinton took office with the idea of lowering bureaucracy. This idea was readily approved by the public. This helped Clinton prove he would take steps to improve the life of Americans like

The early 1990’s were a period of change for America. America was fresh off the ending of the Cold War and had newly elected President Bill Clinton. This was the first Democratic president since Jimmy Carter, who led from 1977-81. Americans voted for change and Bill Clinton brought forth that message in his 1993 inaugural address. Bill Clinton strongly and confidently addressed the world on January 20, 1993. He called for a renewal of America through positive change and increased responsibility amongst American citizens.

"To the extent that US bureaucracy succeeds, it is due not just to the competent work inside individual organization but the competent interactions among them.” (Goodsell 2008) This quote from Goodsell’s book sums up the book perfectly for me when it comes to the tasks that society puts on bureaucrats. Before reading Charles Goodsell’s, The Case for Bureaucracy: A Public Administration Polemic, I did not appreciate the United States Government and what is accomplishes on a daily basis. Goodsell’s book examines how essential the United States’ public service institutions are, even when though they are often heavily criticized. Goodsell showcases the research he’s conducted and survey evidence that shows how that bureaucracy is effective in accomplishing tasks that are free of corruption and staffed with employees who are passionate about their work. He discusses criticism and misconceptions of the United States system of government and argues against that. Overall, Goodsell’s book has reinforced and fully convinced me that bureaucracy at all levels in the government is both effective and efficient. The thesis of the book is to describe the larger difference between bureaucracy’s reputation and its actual record. Goodsell discusses issues of bureaucracy, over expectations of bureaucracy, and why bureaucracy is so important. Common misconceptions

Goodsell’s book “The Case for Bureaucracy: A Public Administration Polemic” is composed on the contrary. Goodsell makes several arguments in favor of the fundamental soundness of American bureaucracy. His thoughts are derived from a core belief: the quality of public service in the United States is vastly underrated (p. xi). His polemic is such that the flaws and the faults of bureaucracy in America are far fewer on a proportionate basis than is generally thought. The argument of this book is that a wide gap exists between bureaucracy’s repopulation and its record. Despite endless ranting to the contrary, American bureaucracy does work – in fact, quite well (p. 4). According to Goodsell criticisms of government bureaucracy are based more on myth than reality. Goodsell argues that government agencies actually play a valuable and indispensable role in making our society a better place to live. For instance Goodsell examines studies that show what he argues is evidence of public satisfaction with bureaucracy. His arguments are based on such statistics as “most” citizens believing that police do not accept bribes (p. 27) or that “only” a quarter of welfare recipients waited a half hour or more for service (p. 35). In addressing direct performance evaluation, Goodsell shows that public bureaucracy has witnessed overall growth in productivity from 1967 through 1990. He acknowledges, however, that this cannot be fairly compared to private industry’s experience over the

Michael Ting also sees electoral competition as a key driver in bureaucratic reform, but focused on how confident politicians will continue to "politicize" government and exercise patronage, while those unsure of future electoral success will "insulate" the bureaucracy (Ting, et al. 2012). He argues that reform will take place under two conditions. First, candidates need to have long-term time horizons. Those who only think in the short term will focus on reelection and ignore the benefits of reform. Second, there is a need for "institutional inertia."

making it more committed to being neighborly while administering more noteworthy power to state and the

Chapter eight of “Essentials of American Government Roots and Reform” describes the federal bureaucracy and its function within the federal government. The book defines the federal bureaucracy as “the thousands of federal government agencies and institutions that implement and administer federal laws and programs.” I argue that while the federal bureaucracy is necessary for some functions, in other ways it has grown too large and burdensome, and the individual agencies’ function and power should be narrowed and reduced.

Bill Clinton was a President that did not allow anyone to tell him something could not be done. If this President found that something could not be completed, he would go as far as possible and then start on the next agenda on the list. He was a well-organized President with people in his cabinet that admired this ability. President Bill Clinton changed the entire ambiance of the country with his command of emotional intelligence. When the country was torn on issues, he would find a way to bring people together and solve the problem, or at least reach a successful consensus. Personal problems riddled the Clinton presidency, but this did not stop the forward successes claimed by this giant of a man. Unemployment was a sore subject, but under President Clinton’s direction the economy grew and women and minorities finally began to be placed in high positions in the federal government. The private sector grew and added a high number of jobs in the economy

The word “bureaucracy” has a negative connotation to many people. The fact is that our current system of government would not be able to survive without bureaucracies. The bureaucracy has become the “fourth branch” of the government, it has quasi-legislative and judicial powers and in it’s own field its authority is rarely challenged. The presence of these large, inefficient structures is necessary if the American people want to continue receiving the benefits that they expect.

Americans depend on government bureaucracies to accomplish most of what we expect from government, and we are oftentimes critical of a bureaucracy’s handling of its responsibilities. Bureaucracy is essential for carrying out the tasks of government. As government bureaucracies grew in the twentieth century, new management techniques sought to promote greater efficiency. The reorganization of the government to create the Department of Homeland Security and the Bush administration’s simultaneous push to contract out jobs to private employers raises the question as to whether the government or the private sector can best manage our national security. Ironically, the criticism of the bureaucracy may be a product

The impact of information technology has been tremendous within the public sector. Over the years, the growth and development of technology has caused the public sector to change. One of the most significant changes in technology has been the evolution of the information systems and how their development has reshaped the way the world uses technology. “It has been just over fifty years since the worlds first programmable computer became operational. It cost millions of dollars to build and processed an unprecedented 5,000 instructions per second. By 1971, Intel was able to pack 25 times that power into a single, two hundred-dollar chip. Today’s personal computers process