Deck 9: Human Capital

Question 1

The Senior Executive Service was created by ______.

A) OPM director James King
B) political appointees
C) the Civil Service Reform Act
D) broadbanding

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The government has failed in building human capital partly because of ______.

A) no specialization
B) weak performance management systems
C) the Civil Service Reform Act
D) the Government Performance and Results Act

Answer 2

B

Question 3

All of the following have launched major human capital campaigns EXCEPT the ______.

A) federal Office of Personnel Management
B) National Academy of Public Administration
C) Office of Management and Budget
D) Government Accountability Office

Answer 3

B

Question 4

How many potential managerial layers of government did Paul Light find from top to bottom in the federal government?

A) five
B) seventy-two
C) twenty-five
D) fifty-two

Question 5

The Senior Executive Service has experienced all of the following problems EXCEPT ______.

A) a lack of employees with advanced degrees
B) the proliferation of top-level systems
C) a lack of attention to the human capital problem
D) an inadequate funding of bonus systems

Question 6

According to the text, in what functional areas of the federal service did GAO (2015) find mission-critical skills gaps?

A) cybersecurity and acquisition
B) acquisition and budget
C) animal health and acquisition
D) defense

Question 7

The development of a strategy to recruit and retain the workers the government needs and to ensure that they produce strong and effective government programs describes which issue?

A) grade creep
B) human capital
C) broadbanding
D) Title 5

Question 8

Executive core qualifications are skills that should be possessed by ______.

A) all clerical staff
B) members of the Senior Executive Service (SES)
C) only appointees
D) adaptable staff

Question 9

Forthcoming federal employee retirements will require the federal government to do what?

A) prevent retirements through financial incentives
B) identify strategies for recruiting a younger generation with new skills
C) identify strategies to obtain more money from Congress
D) retrain existing employees

Question 10

This legislation requires agencies to report to Congress and GAO on available positions requiring Senate confirmation.

A) Civil Reform Act of 1978
B) Title 5 of the U.S. Code
C) Vacancies Reform Act
D) Hatch Act

Question 11

In 2001, what changes did Florida make to its civil service system?

A) The state made enhancements to its pension contribution calculations.
B) The state made government supervisors at-will employees.
C) The state made all government employees at-will employees.
D) The state stripped most government employees of their pension.

Question 12

The Volcker Commission argued that the number of political appointees was ______.

A) creating institutional memory
B) necessary to accomplish tasks
C) a reaction to congressional demands
D) an impediment to government performance

Question 13

In 1996, Governor Zell Miller of Georgia abolished ______.

A) his state's merit system
B) at-will empowerment
C) performance management
D) broadbanding

Question 14

Turnover of political appointees creates all of the following problems EXCEPT ______.

A) a lack of commitment to serve the public
B) the undermining of teamwork
C) the undermining of obedience to superiors
D) an endless need for staffing

Question 15

The two biggest problems with political appointees' work histories are that they lack ______.

A) knowledge in human capital and measuring results
B) experience in management and the private sector
C) experience in management and the federal executive branch
D) knowledge in measuring results and a solid educational background

Question 16

Which approach to management focuses on identifying skills that employees need to accomplish an organization's work and on developing those skills to produce strong and effective government programs?

A) human relations movement
B) human capital
C) organizational culture
D) at-will employment

Question 17

The government has failed in building human capital partly because of ______.

A) the lack of adequate strategic human capital planning
B) the paucity of specialization
C) the Civil Service Reform Act
D) the Government Performance and Results Act

Question 18

The federal Office of Personnel Management has published human capital standards that chart the connections between which of the following four elements?

A) broadbanding, human capital, career development, and potential for abuse
B) agency mission, human capital, program performance, and government's accountability
C) program performance, flexibility, career development, and linking pay to skills
D) recruitment, agency mission, turnover, and broadbanding

Question 19

Because the number of leaders in each layer of the federal government has risen over the past few decades, ______.

A) the number of political appointees has increased
B) departments have become more flexible
C) merit pay has increased
D) performance measurement has decreased

Question 20

According to the text, what political scientist recently argued that the federal government would be more effective with a larger federal workforce (by one million persons in 2035)?

A) Karen Hult
B) Jon DiIulio
C) Don Kettl
D) O. C. McSwite

Question 21

The United States federal government has far fewer political appointees serving than most other federal Western democracies.

Question 22

The median length of service for presidential appointees is nearly four years.

Question 23

The number of political appointees at the top of the federal bureaucracy is ______.

A) much smaller than that of other countries
B) about the same as that of other countries
C) much greater than that of other countries
D) not known to be any different than that of other countries

Question 24

The Senior Executive Service is said to serve as what feature between career staff and political appointees?

A) master planner
B) delegator
C) chief budgeter
D) shock absorber

Question 25

At what percentage of salary are Senior Executive Service performance awards capped?

A) There is no cap; awards are unlimited as long as the agency's budget can support them.
B) 1.75 percent of salary
C) 3.5 percent of salary
D) 7.5 percent of salary

Question 26

According to the text, career leaders are a(n) ______.

A) unskilled yet entrenched group
B) highly specialized and high-performing group
C) unpredictable group
D) untrained cadre

Question 27

Two-thirds of the members of the Senior Executive Service have advanced degrees.

Question 28

According to former Comptroller General David M.Walker, "Strategic management of human capital should emphasize that people are the key to the success of our government transformation effort.As such, they should be treated more like liabilities instead of assets."

Question 29

According to Terry Moe, there is a mismatch between the public's ______ and ________, which leads to a greater number of political appointments.

A) expectations of a president; the limited resources available
B) attention to politics; flexible departments
C) patience with politics; nonprofit workers
D) vision for government; state-level staffers

Question 30

Among other strategies put in place by President Obama in 2015, what occurred to the Senior Executive Service hiring process?

A) It was mostly curtailed.
B) It was replaced with an automated, test-based system.
C) It was streamlined to ease the burden of applicants and agencies.
D) No changes were made to the hiring process.

Question 31

What activity helps to ensure that Senior Executive Service leaders are exposed to a variety of management and leadership perspectives?

A) frequent raises
B) performance awards
C) rotations
D) performance reviews

Question 32

Over the past two decades three states-Texas, Georgia.and Florida-have proven their staunch allegiance to the merit aspect of the civil service system.

Question 33

At-will employees enjoy the most protection against termination.

Question 34

Political appointees are needed to ensure that the permanent bureaucracy faithfully serves the chief executive and adapts to a new administration's policy priorities.

Question 35

Among other things, President Obama's 2015 changes to Senior Executive Service guidelines did what?

A) required that Senior Executives were placed on rotation annually
B) required that Senior Executives were compensated more than their supervisees
C) promised performance bonuses of at least 7.5 percent
D) made it easier to join the ranks and earn more perks

Question 36

______ was created by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.

A) The Government Accountability Office
B) The Office of Personnel Management
C) The Office of Management and Budget
D) The Senior Executive Service

Question 37

Although they have subject knowledge relevant to their particular responsibilities, ______ often lack experience in the federal executive branch and in management positions.

A) leaders in reform movements
B) state-level staffers
C) federal political appointees
D) nonprofit workers

Question 38

The United States has a far larger number of political officials at the top of the bureaucracy than do other western democracies.

Question 39

Members of the Senior Executive Service tend to be highly specialized.

Question 40

In 2001, ______ identified human capital management as a high-risk area facing the entire government.

A) the GAO
B) Peter Drucker
C) the Senior Executive Service
D) Governor Zell Miller

Question 41

Among several proposed in 2014 by the Partnership for Public Service, accountability was suggested as a way to improve the federal government's human capital.What does accountability mean in this instance? Provide a real-life example where this might have been imposed in the past and describe, from you perspective, do you think that this goes to improving the public's perception of the American government.

Question 42

What is talent management?

Question 43

Why does the United States have a far larger number of political officials at the top of the bureaucracy compared with other western democracies?

Question 44

What are executive core qualifications (ECQ)?

Question 45

What are the four ways, as identified by the text, that government can focus on building human capital?

Question 46

What is strategic alignment?

Question 47

In human capital management, what role does leadership play?

Question 48

Describe the distinguishing characteristics of the structure and personnel of the Senior Executive Service.From your perspective, is such a corps useful? Explain your answer.

Question 49

What was the Volcker Commission? What did it recommend, and what important questions about contemporary public administration did it answer?

Question 50

What problems are created by rapid-fire turnover of political appointees? Name at least five problems addressed in the text.

Question 51

What is leadership and knowledge management?

Question 52

What is perhaps the greatest task of human capital management?