Discussion. Answer any two questions from below:
1. What hinders effective presidential management? Are all presidents focused on effective presidential management? In your opinion, is one factor greater than another? Can you provide some examples of how Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were effective presidential managers?
2. What is e-government? How can it improve government performance? Have you or your family ever used e-government? In your opinion, what repercussions does e-government have for non-computer users?
3. What are the challenges, the pluses and minuses, of organizational culture? In general, do you think organizational cultures should be nurtured or streamlined (made more uniform throughout government)?
4. According to the text, even though most government programs work well most of the time, Americans tend to be disappointed with government due to their high expectations about government on one hand and their revolutionary roots on the other hand. What do you think about the expectations of Americans of their government? Do you think these expectations help or hinder government performance or are inconsequential to government performance?
5. Examine the checklist that was developed by an interagency task force for choosing an organizational structure and select the criteria that you find to be the best in terms of their relevancy and in terms of the way they are able to keep administrative agencies accountable to the public for results and transparency. Which ones do you think are most often in conflict with each other?
- public acceptance
- adaptability
- professional competence
- participation, representativeness, and diversity
- effective database
- cost and timeliness
- promotion of private efficiency
- accountability to the president
- accountability to Congress
- compatibility with state regulation
Required Textbook
Title Politics of the Administrative Process, 6th edition
Author Donald F. Kettl
Publisher CQ Press
Publication 2014.