MPA comprehensive exam question with
complete solution 2023
Public administration - correct answer (FDR) , 1935 Created for both industrial recovery and for unemployment relief. Headed by the Secretary of Interior Harold L. Ickes, it aimed at long-range recovery and spent $4 billion on thousands of projects that included public buildings, highways, and parkways.
Path-goal theory of leadership - correct answer Roots in the expectancy model of motivation. Path-goal is used because of it's emphasis on how a leader influences subordinates' perceptions of both work goals and personal goals and the links, or paths,
found between these two sets of goals
Taylorism - correct answer The methods of labor management introduced by Frederick Winslow Taylor to streamline the processed of mass production in which each worker repeatedly performs one task
Kotter model - correct answer A useful way to think about the critical elements necessary to create successful change interventions including: increasing urgency, create a guiding coalition, get the vision right, communicate for buy-in, empower action, create short-term wins, consolidate gains and don't let up, and anchor change in your organization.
Federalism - correct answer a form of government in which power is divided between the federal, or national, government and the states
Types of federalism - correct answer (1) Dual Federalism
(2) Cooperative Federalism
Dual federalism - correct answer Doctrine holding that the national government is supreme in its sphere, the states are supreme in theirs, and the two spheres should be kept separate
Cooperative federalism - correct answer A system of government in which powers and policy assignments are shared between states and the national government. They may also share costs, administration, and even blame for programs that work poorly. also known as marble cake federalism
luther gulick - correct answer POSDCORB is an acronym widely used in the field of Management and Public Administration that reflects the classic view of administrative management. Largely drawn from the work of French industrialist Henri Fayol, it first appeared in a 1937 staff paper by Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick written for the Brownlow Committee. The acronym stands for steps in the administrative process: Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting and Budgeting. | In his piece "Notes on the Theory of Organization", a memo prepared while he was a member of the Brownlow Committee, Luther Gulick asks rhetorically "What is the work of the chief executive? What does he do?" POSDCORB is the answer, "designed to call
attention to the various functional elements of the work of a chief executive because 'administration' and 'management' have lost all specific content." In Gulick's own words, the elements of POSDCORB are as follows: Planning, that is working out in broad outline the things that need to be done and the methods for doing them to accomplish the purpose set for the enterprise; Organizing, that is the establishment of the formal structure of authority through which work subdivisions are arranged, defined, and co-
ordinated for the defined objective; Staffing, that is the whole personnel function of bringing in and training the staff and maintaining favorable conditions of work; Directing,
that is the continuous task of making decisions and embodying them in specific and general orders and instructions and serving as the leader of the enterprise; Co-
Ordinating, that is the all important duty of interrelating the various parts of the work; Reporting, that is keeping those to whom the executive is responsible informed as to what is going on, which thus includes keeping himself and his subordinates informed through records, research, and inspection; Budgeting, with all that goes with budgeting in the form of planning, accounting and control. |EXTRA| = Gulick's "Notes on the Theory of Organization" further defines the principles of POSDCORB by explaining that if an executive's workload becomes too overwhelming, some of the elements of POSDCORB can be organized as subdivisions of the executive, depending on the size and complexity of the enterprise. Under Organizing, Gulick emphasized the division and
specialization of labor in a manner that will increase efficiency. Gulick notes that there are three limitations to division of labor. The first occurs when labor is divided to the point where any one task in the division of labor would require less than the full time of a
worker, in which case a worker may need to be employed in other tasks to fill up their time. The second limitation to division of labor arises from technology and custom, where certain tasks may only be handled by certain workers either because of a lack of technological means or customs at the time. Gulick gives the example of a single worksite in which only plumbers do the plumbing work and electricians do the electrical work, though this may not take up their full work time. Work in these areas could be re-
combined in a manner to increase efficiency, however union considerations could prevent this. The third limitation to division of labor is that it must not pass beyond physical division into organic division, or intricately related activities must not be separated from each other. Gulick gives the example that while it may seem more efficient to have the front end of a cow graing in pasture at all times and the back half being milked at all times, this would not work due to the intricate connection between the halves that is needed for the whole to function. Gulick notes that organization of specialized workers can be done in four ways which are: By the purpose the workers are serving, such as furnishing water, providing education, or controlling crime. Gulick lists these in his prganizational tables as vertical organizations. By the process the workers are using, such as engineering, doctoring, lawyering, or statistics. Gulick lists these in his organizational tables as horizontal organizations. By the clientelle or materiel or the persons or things being dealt with, such as immigrants, veterans, forests,
mines, or parks in government; or such as a department store's furniture department, clothing department, hardware department, or shoe department in the private sector. By
