Deck 13: The Future

Question 1

What is your own assessment of Leonard White's assertion that "the study of administration should start from the base of management rather than the foundation of law, and is therefore more absorbed in the affairs of the American Management Association than in the decisions of the courts"? In particular, do you think contemporary public administrators are more likely to be interested in the affairs of management associations than in the decisions of the courts?

Answer 1

Not Answered

Question 2

Contemporary public administration seems too complex to be considered "a single process." List all the categorical distinctions among public administrators (such as occupation, function, and level of government) that challenge the single process idea. Explain how each calls it into question.

Answer 2

Not Answered

Question 3

The chapter looks toward the future with optimism in regard to combining strong democratic constitutionalism with strong public administration. How convincing do you find the predictions made? Why? Can you develop a convincing counter argument? How do the changes in government and in the public in response to the events of September 11, 2001, reinforce or detract from the optimism of the predictions in this chapter?

Answer 3

Not Answered

Question 4

Based on what you have learned about the New Public Management approach, do you think this approach will be viable in the long run? Specifically, do you think a strong performance orientation in the federal government will be managerially, politically, and legally feasible for many years to come? Explain.

Question 5

What can you personally do to affect the future of public administration in some significant way? Are you likely to do it? Why or why not?

Question 6

Since Leonard White's time, public administration has become based on law to

A) a greater extent
B) a lesser extent
C)the extent of eclipsing management
D)none of the above

Question 7

In response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,

A) government as we know it has ended
B) a decision has been made about which path to take from the crossroads
C)trends already under way have been reinforced and escalated
D)the Federal Personnel Manual has been reinstated

Question 8

Which perspective is adequate on its own in terms of guiding public administration?

A) New Public Management
B) political
C)legal
D)none are adequate on their own

Question 9

The New Deal placed federal administration

A) under greater presidential control
B) under greater congressional control
C)under greater control from the judiciary
D)the status quo was retained

Question 10

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) will most likely enhance the power of

A) the executive branch
B) the legislative branch
C)the judicial branch
D)state and local governments

Question 11

The generic law regulating administrative processes in the federal government is the

A) Negotiated Rulemaking Act
B) Pendleton Act
C)Administrative Procedure Act
D)Lloyd-La Follette Act

Question 12

During the 1990s, the Supreme Court strengthened

A) the Fifth Amendment's takings clause
B) freedom of expression
C)barriers to gender discrimination in administrative contexts
D)all of the above

Question 13

Which is a major source for the strong performance orientation that is currently pervasive in the federal government?

A) the Civil Rights Act of 1964
B) the development of supply-side economics
C)the tax revolts of the 1970s
D)the Pendleton Act

Question 14

If third-party government continues to grow, the demands for personal responsibility are likely to

A) increase
B) decrease
C)remain about the same
D)the two are not related

Question 15

The fate of privatization and public-private partnerships depends on how the courts apply

A) the equal protection clause
B) procedural due process
C)the presentment clause
D)the state action doctrine

Question 16

The chapter maintains that although constitutional rights are currently irrelevant to the practice of public administration they will become important to it in the future.

Question 17

Judicial decisions beginning in the 1930s and crystallizing in the mid-1940s have added a powerful legal perspective to American public administration.

Question 18

About 80 percent of federal employees are subject to the same personnel statutes and regulations.

Question 19

The "rights revolution" occurred from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Question 20

Globalization makes poor government performance a greater liability than in the past.

Question 21

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has instituted changes that centralize human resources functions in the federal civil service.

Question 22

Information technology can largely redefine and possibly replace management functions once carried out by people.

Question 23

In the new administrative culture, political forces on public administrators will disappear.

Question 24

Of the three branches, the judicial branch will likely gain the most influence over federal agencies in coming years.

Question 25

Disaggregation is most closely exemplified by the formation of the Department of Homeland Security.