Chapter 11

     In chapter 11, it talks about the types of communication. The two types of communication are formal communication and informal communication. Communication is a very important role in organizations and public administration. Communication, although very important and very helpful, also has its flaws like everything else in this world.
     Formal communication is written messages that follow formal chains of command. According to the book, in organizations, managers tend to use more formal communication because the role of an agency's executive is to direct, coordinate, and control the activities of persons below them. One of the biggest issues faced when dealing with formal communication is cost efficiency. Formal communication, especially in large organizations, produces too much paperwork which is very cost heavy. Money must be spent to produce, process, and store formal communication. Another issue faced in a situation such as this is also that it is not environmentally savvy. Creating too much paperwork is not environmentally friendly and this causes issues with many people especially in today's society and the worry about global warming.
     The second form of communication, informal communication, is about oral communication that "flows inside and outside formal channels of communication and written communication that does not follow formal channels" (p.277). Informal communication usually is more informative than formal communication and is spread faster throughout an organization. Forms of informal communication are e-mails, faxes, photocopies, telephone answering machines, and voice mail. Informal communication is a lot more eco-friendly than formal communication but it too has its flaws. Informal communication is limited and prohibited during power outages, when the internet or phone lines are down.

Chapter 10

      In chapter 10, it talks about personality types, micromanagement, and approaches to leadership. The different types of personality are active-positive, active-negative, passive-positive, and passive-negative. Active-positive personality is when a person desires to reach goals and attain results above everything else. Active-negative is when a person feels the need to have power and keep it. Passive-positive is when a person tries to be loved and revered. Passive-negative is when a person stresses civic virtue.
     Micromanagement is when managers supervise too closely. When you have micromanagement, it prohibits employees to do their best work and reaching their full potential eventually. Also, micromanagement hurts overall vision because leaders that micromanage become too busy worrying about every little thing subordinates are doing. Of course, there should not be little management either. Leaders must balance out how much management is given. Part of being a good leader is to be able to help move people in new directions and help them reach their full potentials.
     Functions of leadership are "to define an agency's mission and goals, to be viewed as the institutional embodiment of its purpose, to defend its integrity, and to bring order to internal conflict" (p. 249). Leadership involves three levels of responsibility and control which are technical, managerial, and institutional. Leaders deal with problems dealing with performance at the technical level. At the managerial level, leaders mediate "between the lower levels of the agency and those who use its services and acquiring the resources needed to carry out its central functions" (p. 249). Leaders make long term policies and provide support to help the agency reach its goals in the institutional level.

LeMay, Michael C. (2006). “Balancing Values in the Administration of Public Policy”  Public Administration: Clashing Values in the Administration of Public Policy.  WADSWORTH CENGAGE Learning, 2nd edition.

Chapter 9

            In chapter 9, it talks about the functions of personnel in administration. A separate staff that serves line management is the human resource development (HRD). They are responsible for creating policies for people and positions in the public sector. Nationally, the system is run by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Human resources functions include “position classification, recruiting and selecting employees, negotiating with collective bargaining units, doing performance appraisals of current employees, and conducting training and professional development events” (p.222).

            Recruitment is the process of which job openings are advertised, trying to get candidates to apply for them. Part of the recruitment process is to have the candidates take skill tests, provide police clearances and court clearances. The skills tests are specific to each company and each position to ensure the candidate is qualified to fulfill the requirements of the job position.

            Another thing chapter 9 talks about is the rights of employees. Employees tend to have strikes and labor unions to “guarantee the rights of public employees beyond wages and working condition issues within contract negotiations and agreements.” These rights deal with things like layoffs. Public unions have established rights and protections such as a right to join a union, freedom of association, unions can collect agency fees, public employees have the right to express their views in public forums, employees must be involved in decisions on contracting a project or making it in house, fair treatment, equal pay for equal work, retention of employees who perform well, protection against such things as arbitrary action, and protection against reprisal for lawful disclosure of information (pp. 231-232).

LeMay, Michael C. (2006). “Balancing Values in the Administration of Public Policy”  Public Administration: Clashing Values in the Administration of Public Policy.  WADSWORTH CENGAGE Learning, 2nd edition.

Chapter 8

            In Chapter 8, it talks about values and the public policy process. Values are part of the very nature of the policy process because values help set goals and a program’s success or failure is “largely measured by how well it achieves its goals.

            Head Start, a federally funded preschool program that aims to improve a child’s overall well being, is an example of how values are great in public policies. Head start is for kids ages 4 and below that come from low-income families. At first, Head Start was only for children ages 3 and 4, but because the early years in a child’s life are critical in their developmental processes, it was extended in the 1990s to children as young as newborns—just like a daycare center.

            Another thing this chapter talks about are two contrasting views of government management which are results-oriented management and process-oriented management. Outcome-oriented program objectives are set by managers to analyze their programs and report their findings to CEOs or the people in positions above them. Process-oriented management is where objectives “are limited to comment, feedback, and process objectives.”

            In order for any policy to work anywhere, the policies must always be evaluated. The typical evaluation standards are compliance, efficiency and effectiveness. Compliance relies on auditing making sure the transactions are legal and just evaluating the books. Efficiency evaluates the productivity of the program and the resources used—making sure tasks are completely understood and the right people are doing them (qualified employees). Finally, effectiveness is used to see if the government resources are helping achieve the goals of the policies.

LeMay, Michael C. (2006). “Balancing Values in the Administration of Public Policy”  Public Administration: Clashing Values in the Administration of Public Policy.  WADSWORTH CENGAGE Learning, 2nd edition.

Chapter 7

            Chapter 7 talks about management. It mentions the different approaches to management in this chapter: management by objectives (MBO), organizational development (OD), operations research (OR), program evaluation and review technique (PERT), quality circles (QC), and total quality management (TQM).

            MBO defines short term and long term objectives and records program results to determine their effectiveness. Throughout the world, private and public organizations have used this approach because it distinguishes between functions and objectives. It also calls for rapid change and for managers to be flexible and to think quickly on their feet.

            OD is “a process for increasing an organization’s effectiveness by integrating an individual’s desire for personal growth with the organization’s goals” (p. 173). Managers use change agents whom are outsiders that help bring about change in the organization.

            OR emphasizes efficiency through maximizing payoffs in goals the agency sets out to accomplish. It relies heavily on “probability theories, queuing techniques, and mathematical model building.” OR originated after WWII in England so that they could study bombing runs and submarine warfare. The U.S. in turn adopted this approach to help solve problems like bus schedules, mail delivery, waste management, etc.

            PERT maps out steps to carry out a program. It basically aims toward finding the best possible solution that requires the least amount of work or steps. QC is a small group of employees that try to solve problems that directly affect their work. It requires much participation, innovation, and flexibility. TQM involves continuing concern for quality in the production of goods. It seeks top performance (as should every organization).

            I believe all these approaches are great especially when aspects from each of them are combined to reach optimum performance, quality, and efficiency of the organization at hand.

Chapter 5

            In chapter 5, it talks about the schools of organizational theory. The five schools of thought talked about in this chapter are classical theory, humanist theory, neoclassical theory, systems theory, and new public management theory. Each school focuses on certain values in organization to characterize the school of thought. The scholars that make up a school share common values and assumptions about organization.

            The humanist school of organizational theorists, also known as the human relations school, developed in reaction to the image that organization is “one composed ideally of clearly defined units and subdivisions arranged in a pyramidal or hierarchic structure of authority” (p. 119). They think the classical model is too authoritarian and suppresses creativity. Human relations theorists focused on a need of the recognition of informal aspects of organization. It sought to help the workers and understand what factors that did not deal with economy affected these workers, the organization and the workers’ performances.

            The systems school of organization theorists value change rather than efficiency. This was created after World War II. The systems theory is multidimensional, complex, and sees organizations as states of equilibrium. It favors structures less rigid because “flexibility is a core value.” It calls for organizations to keep changing and adapting to their new environments to come.

            I think the best theory is the systems school theory because I like the idea of change, for the most part. Like many people, well everyone, in this world I want change but am scared of it. I believe change, most of the time, is a great thing but it does have its downfalls. The systems theory forces change and adaptation which can very much be a good thing and teach us to be quick on our feet and see what things are in need of change for the betterment of our communities.

Chapter 4

            In Chapter 4, it talks about the models of U.S. federalism which are the layer-cake model, the marble-cake model, and the picket-fence model. The layer-cake model was used to characterize relations within the federal system. Its emphasis was on the division of powers between the national and state levels which led into dual federalism later on in the years. It is called the layer cake model because each level has certain authority and it emphasizes each level’s distinctiveness.

            The marble-cake model was used during the time cooperative federalism developed. The marble cake model is named so because like marble cake, the distinctions are blurred and it is difficult to say where one “flavor” (the national government) ended and the other “flavor” (the state and local levels of government) began. Its focus was more so on the separation of government structures than the programmatic functions.

            The last model, the picket-fence model, connects all three levels of government (state, local, and national) through one centralized form of government. The bureaucrats in the different levels interact more often with those of other levels than with those of the same level of government.

            This chapter also talks about the different approaches to federalism. These approaches are dual federalism, cooperative federalism, creative federalism, new federalism, and renewed federalism. I never knew there were so many different forms of federalism. Dual federalism is when each level of government was viewed as supreme within its areas of responsibility and limited intergovernmental funding. Cooperative federalism emphasized national, state, and local governments cooperating with each other to solve problems. Creative federalism included partnerships with businesses and nonprofit social organizations. New federalism returned more autonomy to states and put more focus on block grants than project or categorical grants. Renewed federalism emphasized things such as individual rights, limited government, and economic capitalism.

            This chapter talks about many different ways and possibilities that were and can be used to help our government work best for the betterment of our nation and our people.