Public Administration Exam Questions with Complete Answers Latest Update 2024
Willoughby (1918) - The Movement for Budgetary Reform in the States - Answers 1) How budgets would
advance and provide for popular control.
2) How budgets would enhance legislative and executive cooperation.
3) How budgets would ensure administrative and management efficiency
Scientific Management - Answers 1) Replace rule-of-thumb methods with more systematic methods for
measuring (employee) output
2) Studying to optimize placement of workers in work roles
3) Obtaining cooperation of workers to achieve full application of scientific principles
4) Establishing logical divisions within work roles and responsibilities between worker and manager
Kaufman (1956) - Answers Discussion of the balance of three competing values in a democracy:
1) Representativeness
2) Neutral competency
3) Executive administrative capacity
Cast this as a historical development (i.e. of the administrative state) and that none of these three are
always and ever preeminent.
Simon (1946) - Answers Advocates for a valid study of administration that is not based on principles.
-Principles approach
--Principles
*Specialization
*Unity of command
*Span of control
--"Fuzziness" of proverbs (easily allow tensions)
--Tensions
*Specialization vs. unity of command
*Span of control vs. flat organizations
,*Organization by process/purpose and clientele/place
--Drawbacks
*Not theoretical
*Not useful/insufficient guidance on how or when to apply principles
-Valid study of administration
--Addresses how organizations can operate efficiently.
--Identify the 'limits of rationality'
--Experiment-driven research
Waldo (1948) - The Administrative State - Answers -Democratic states are underpinned by bureaucracies
(both professional and political). Service to the public--and not scientific management and efficiency--
is/should be the core ideal of the bureaucracy.
-Culture and history play an important role in viewing what is "right"
-The idea that principles to administration comes from a "cosmic constitutionalism" is a prominent
aspect of American thought
-Two separate notions of law sometimes leads to dissonance in terms of what law to follow (e.g.
normative versus physical)
Enduring questions:
1. Who has the power to govern (in the U.S./under the Constitution)?
2. Is the phenomenon/problem of weak methodology still present today in PA?
Pendleton Act of 1883 - Answers Created a federal civil service based on merit
Dorman B. Eaton - Answers -Chair of first Civil Service Commission (under Grant)
, -Wrote "Civil Service in Great Britain" (1880)
Wilson (1887) - Answers "It's getting harder to run a constitution than to frame one"
Four principal foundations for today's public management:
1. Government as the primary setting
2. Executive function as the proper focus
3. Principles and techniques for more effective management as a key to develop administrative
competence
4. Comparison as a method for study and advancement of the field
Neutral competence - Answers Public administrators/bureaucrats are to be politically neutral and
competent in their jobs
Goodnow (1900) - Politics and Administration - Answers Politics: The expression of the will of the state
Administration: The execution of that will
Taft Commission (1912) - Answers Issued first call for a national executive budgeting system
Brownlow Committee (1937) - Answers Recommended sweeping changes to the executive branch of the
U.S. government
-Created aides for the President
-President should have direct control over the administrative departments
-Managerial agencies should be part of Exec. Office of the President
Goldwater-Nichols Act (1986) - Answers Reformed the Pentagon and created a unified JCS, among
others
AFMS - Answers Activating, Framing, Mobilizing, and Synthesizing
POSDCORB (Gulick, 1937) - Answers Planning
Organizing
Willoughby (1918) - The Movement for Budgetary Reform in the States - Answers 1) How budgets would
advance and provide for popular control.
2) How budgets would enhance legislative and executive cooperation.
3) How budgets would ensure administrative and management efficiency
Scientific Management - Answers 1) Replace rule-of-thumb methods with more systematic methods for
measuring (employee) output
2) Studying to optimize placement of workers in work roles
3) Obtaining cooperation of workers to achieve full application of scientific principles
4) Establishing logical divisions within work roles and responsibilities between worker and manager
Kaufman (1956) - Answers Discussion of the balance of three competing values in a democracy:
1) Representativeness
2) Neutral competency
3) Executive administrative capacity
Cast this as a historical development (i.e. of the administrative state) and that none of these three are
always and ever preeminent.
Simon (1946) - Answers Advocates for a valid study of administration that is not based on principles.
-Principles approach
--Principles
*Specialization
*Unity of command
*Span of control
--"Fuzziness" of proverbs (easily allow tensions)
--Tensions
*Specialization vs. unity of command
*Span of control vs. flat organizations
,*Organization by process/purpose and clientele/place
--Drawbacks
*Not theoretical
*Not useful/insufficient guidance on how or when to apply principles
-Valid study of administration
--Addresses how organizations can operate efficiently.
--Identify the 'limits of rationality'
--Experiment-driven research
Waldo (1948) - The Administrative State - Answers -Democratic states are underpinned by bureaucracies
(both professional and political). Service to the public--and not scientific management and efficiency--
is/should be the core ideal of the bureaucracy.
-Culture and history play an important role in viewing what is "right"
-The idea that principles to administration comes from a "cosmic constitutionalism" is a prominent
aspect of American thought
-Two separate notions of law sometimes leads to dissonance in terms of what law to follow (e.g.
normative versus physical)
Enduring questions:
1. Who has the power to govern (in the U.S./under the Constitution)?
2. Is the phenomenon/problem of weak methodology still present today in PA?
Pendleton Act of 1883 - Answers Created a federal civil service based on merit
Dorman B. Eaton - Answers -Chair of first Civil Service Commission (under Grant)
, -Wrote "Civil Service in Great Britain" (1880)
Wilson (1887) - Answers "It's getting harder to run a constitution than to frame one"
Four principal foundations for today's public management:
1. Government as the primary setting
2. Executive function as the proper focus
3. Principles and techniques for more effective management as a key to develop administrative
competence
4. Comparison as a method for study and advancement of the field
Neutral competence - Answers Public administrators/bureaucrats are to be politically neutral and
competent in their jobs
Goodnow (1900) - Politics and Administration - Answers Politics: The expression of the will of the state
Administration: The execution of that will
Taft Commission (1912) - Answers Issued first call for a national executive budgeting system
Brownlow Committee (1937) - Answers Recommended sweeping changes to the executive branch of the
U.S. government
-Created aides for the President
-President should have direct control over the administrative departments
-Managerial agencies should be part of Exec. Office of the President
Goldwater-Nichols Act (1986) - Answers Reformed the Pentagon and created a unified JCS, among
others
AFMS - Answers Activating, Framing, Mobilizing, and Synthesizing
POSDCORB (Gulick, 1937) - Answers Planning
Organizing
