Students Name
Critique 1
Homework Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for
September 4, 2024
Chapter 2
Identify and evaluate at least (2) major themes:
Chapter 2 of The Politics of the Administrative Process talks about the size of
government. The second theme of chapter two is what government does and how it does
it.
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Implications from a leadership perspective (How does this impact the way you
practice?):
Perception is important. Especially if we are using tax dollars. No one wants to end up on
the local news! Administrative responsibility is what American tax payers expect.
Citizens demand more services from government and yet we complain that the
government is too big with many regulations. While the federal employees ratio has
dropped, the number of state and local employees has doubled. My organization was not
immune to the previous observation as we doubled in the last 15 years. We did increase
our service level expectations and automated a lot of things. However, our trustees, who
are elected by the public, have a tough time approving budget requests. They want
accountability from our executive team. Maybe that I s why we had 3 CEO’s in the last 6
years…. As a leader, I would preach transparency and integrity. As leaders, we should
clearly communicate our knowledge, ideas, and expertise in an open, fair, and honest
environment, resulting in better organizational outcomes and decision-making. We earn
trust by our dedication to honesty, fairness, and ethical conduct .
Speaking of Transparency, government is a complex collection of services much of
which hard for the public to see and especially at different levels of government. As
Christopher C Hood puts it, per page 45, government shapes our lives by applying a set
of administrative tools. Some of these tools are direct and some indirect. As a leader, we
need to know when to use those tools. Public can see direct tools like policy and fire
protection. Government by proxy is harder to see like contracting out, distributing grants
and administering loans. There is not a simple answer how one should govern but having
options and being open to new ideas is what inclusivity means to me. As a leader, I want
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to welcome all individuals, honoring and respecting their unique stories and
perspectives, and celebrating the value that diversity adds to my mission.
Question(s) or concern(s) generated from the new learning from each source:
The “Five Myths about Big Government” on page 35 was something I heard about
before. Point number four about saving money by eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse is
all I heard growing up from family members and the news. CEM Benchmarking performs
a study of major Retirement System around the world. Each year, my Retirement System
ends up on the top of most money spent per member. While we do provide a lot more
services and we do not subcontract jobs, one can’t stop to think, are we using our
resources properly. We are trying to automate as much services as possible and
eventually, we do believe those still employed (at least in my department) will be analyst
and not processors. My pet peeve is the Social Security Administration. While on page 43
it states, with which I agree, that Social Security has been a major force in dramatically
reducing poverty of Americans, to me, it is a pyramid scheme that gives Americans false
hopes of retirement.
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References
Kettl, D. F. (2021). The Politics of the Administrative Process (8th ed.). Chatham, N.J.:
Chatham House.
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