Essay Questions
- According to the textbook, what is the definition of bureaucracy?
- Bureaucracy is a formally and rationally organized hierarchical structure and process composed of professional individuals working and communicating from within well-defined positions to achieve complex goals.
- List and discuss three important elements of professionalism.
- Formal and advanced education process
- Formal title
- Lifelong learning
- What is a network organization?
- Regular interaction of individuals of all sorts and in a variety of different organizations
- Communication hubs
- Actions based on:
- Knowledge acceptance
- Organization will or goals
- Action informally initiated—swarming
- Loosely organized—command and control by organizational elite often untenable
- Discuss three important considerations or determinations related to the ability to communicate knowledge and to determine its utility in the governance process.
- Governance in our democratic setting necessitates communication among administrators, elected officials, and citizens to determine the full meaning and value of knowledge and its role in efforts to built sustainable, livable, and desirable states and local communities.
- Networked communication among and between administrators collectively assesses the knowledge value of information, its validity, and utility.
- Communication is a two-way process between a sender and a receiver of communication.
- List and discuss three obstacles facing women and minorities in public administration.
- Patronage
- Gendering
- Discrimination
- Stereotypes or cultural values and beliefs
- What are three recent developments that have led administrators to actively recruit community volunteers to work with administrative agencies?
- Demographic change (Baby Boom retirement)
- Administrative costs are rising significantly
- Scholars and practitioners increasingly realize that sustainable governance is not an administrative enterprise—it is a community enterprise
