Description
The books assigned for this assignment are
– Gromley Jr., William T. and Steven Balla (2013) Bureaucracy and Democracy: accountability and performance
– Radin, Beryl A. (2002) The accountable juggler : The art of leadership in a federal agency.
Memorandum Assignment 1 – Accountability
You work for the newly appointed state Secretary of Labor, Rose Riveter. Although the Secretary is experienced in labor law generally and in labor issues confronting the state, she has little public sector experience, whereas you have had extensive experience working in local and state government for various public officials. The Governor’s office has advised the Secretary that she has a lot to learn in order to effectively operate in government. The Secretary, recognizing your experience and political and bureaucratic knowledge and acumen, has asked you to prepare a series of memoranda and briefings on important topics to help bring her up to speed. She asked you to start with the topic of “accountability”, which she vaguely believes refers to the “politics” surrounding her position and organization.
Your assignment is to write a memorandum to the Secretary explaining to her important elements of public sector accountability – essentially what she needs to know right now to make sense of the demands she will confront. She will follow up her reading of the memorandum with a meeting with you to explore and the information you provide to her.
Your memorandum should not exceed three pages (using 1-inch margins, 12 point type, single spaced, with one blank space between paragraphs, and numbered pages). So that you do not spend a lot of time worrying about format, use the following at the beginning of your memorandum:
Memorandum
To: Rose Riveter, Secretary of Labor
From: [Insert your name here]
Date: [Insert the date here]
Subject: Accountability in public administration
memorandum must be wellwritten, clear, concise, and refers to course lectures and materials including readings as appropriate.