Public Admin Midterm Study Session - Round 1

Public Admin Basics

100

This is a characteristic of formal bureaucratic organization with a clear vertical chain of command in which in which each unit is subordinate to the one above it and superior to the one below it.

Hierarchy

200

This can succinctly be described at The implementation of gov’t policies, though much longer definitions certainly exist.

Public Administration

300

This is the structure within which virtually all gov’t organizations operate to ensure that goods and services can be produced or provided in the most efficient manner possible.

Bureaucracy

400

This acronym representing key functions of management, particularly in public administration, doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but it does provide a structured approach to managing organizations, ensuring all critical aspects are addressed systematically.

POSDCORB

500

This is a conception of organizational structure, especially in service organizations, whereby managerial duties focus on providing necessary support to frontline employees who deal directly with individuals seeking the organization’s services.

Reverse pyramid

Lowi's Policy Typologies

100

This typology refers to the allocation of benefits and services at no charge to target populations

Distributive

200

This typology imposes restrictions or limitations on the behavior of individuals or groups.

Regulatory

300

This typology entails a deliberate action of the gov’t to shift the allocation of wealth, income, property, and/or rights to broad groups considered as disadvantaged

Redistributive

400

These types of policies are created for the purpose of forming gov’t structure (state-building), including the reorganization of gov't at the agency level

Constituency

500

Often imposed by the group for the group's own protection, this typology subcategory sets professional standards, enforces those standards, and punishes infractions

Self-regulatory

Org Management Foundations

100

This is the tendency of those being observed to change their behaviors to meet the expectations of researchers

Halo effect OR Hawthorne effect

200

This term refers to the number of people an individual supervises within a subunit of an organization

Span of Control

300

This is misleading jargon or meaningless technical terms often used purposely to obscure the meaning of communications within organizations.

Gobbledygook

400

Early org. management theory, founded by this notable scholar, was often grounded in Scientific Management, emphasizing efficiency and rationality rather than later theories that would emphasize human relations.

Frederick Winslow Taylor

500

These are the shared values that bind together members of an organization, that underpin how an organization operates and how things are done.

Organizational culture

Politics and Public Admin

100

This the ability of public employees to make decisions interpreting law and administrative regulations

Discretion

200

Name the U.S. President is depicted in this political cartoon:

Andrew Jackson

300

This is generally a tight-knit relationship between Congress, one or more administrative agency, and an interest group.

Iron Triangle

400

This phenomenon occurs when gov’t agencies established to regulate industries end up being influenced and controlled by the companies they were supposed to regulate.

Agency Capture

500

This is a House or Senate tactic of referring a bill to one or more congressional committee(s)

Multiple Referrals

Federalism in Public Admin

100

These are the collaborative dynamic, or working relationships, that exist among all (types and) levels within the U.S. federal system.

Intergovernmental relations

200

This is the transfer of power from a higher level of government to a lower level of government

Devolution

300

This is the power of governments to take private property for a legitimate public purpose without the owner’s consent.

Eminent domain

400

These are a type of funding that allows significant spending flexibility and discretion on the part of the recipient, with a broadly defined purpose and minimal supervision from the grantor.

Block grants

500

This homely Americana metaphor, describes the interconnectedness of different levels of gov't (national, state, and local) in the U. S., where officials at various levels work together on specific policy areas and program.

Picket-fence Federalism

Potpourri

100

This term may be defined as: Person A having power over Person B to the extent that he/she can get Person B to do something that Person B would not otherwise do.

Power

200

This person is credited for much of the theoretical foundations or bureaucratic theory, most notably, for its influence on American bureaucratic design.

Max Weber

300

These are the people identified by a policy whose behavior is linked to the achievement of desired ends, based on a public problem to be solved or goals to be achieved.

Target Population

400

This phenomenon occurs when decision-makers receive policy-related inputs, compromise and deliberation occur outside of the view of the public and result in political outputs.

The Black Box

500

This concept may be defined as holding the highest (supreme) authority in a specific region, or, as the monopoly of physical force as a means of coercion.

Sovereignty