...the Case Study of the UNITES STATES POSTAL SERVICE The evolution of the United States Postal Service is interlaced with the history of our federal government. Today, the Postal Service is the second largest civilian employer in the United States. It has over 700,000 employees, affects an economy that employs 9 million people and represents 8% of the United States gross domestic product in a $900 billion mailing industry (United States Postal Service [USPS], 2002b). This organization reaches every United States household and its operations are often perceived as an indication of the efficiency of the entire federal government as a whole. After the historic gridlock of the Chicago Post Office in 1966, Postmaster General Lawrence O’Brien sought the political support of President Johnson for systemic change in the organization. President Johnson formed a “blue ribbon” commission of well-known business leaders and academia’s to study the Post Office Department. Their mission was to recommend how to change the Post Office Department and to also describe the best governmental organization model for its function. The President’s Commission on Postal Organization (Commonly called the Kappel Commission after its Chairman) presented the President with a plan in 1968, which lead to congressional testimony, but legislative action did not soon follow. Various factions, including the strong postal unions representing 740,000 votes, opposed the government corporation model. The unions vowed...
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...Bureaucracy and you October 23, 2011 POS/110 Mary Ann Koehler Axia College The federal bureaucracy is the United States (U.S.) largest employer. They have millions of employees that literally help run the country we all know as home. Their jobs range from postal services, public broadcasting, and to being in control of student loans. The federal bureaucracy plays such a significant role in our everyday lives that sometimes we do not even realize it. My essay will explain five ways in which the federal bureaucracy regulates my everyday life. I will explain the five agencies that are associated with these regulations and give an in depth explanation of the agencies specific job description and how they affect my life. The federal bureaucracy affects my life more than I knew. I was very surprised to learn that almost every move I make and every think I do on a daily basis is based on the federal regulations. My fiancé is in the process of starting his own business so one of my first errands I or we have to run almost every day is to the bank. The bank that I use is run by the Federal Reserve Board (FRB). When I am home I wait for the mail to come because clients send receipts for invoices they receive and I have to keep track of all of them to ensure our books are straight and that all payments have been made. This goes for our monthly bills we get in the mail as well. The United States Postal Service is in charge...
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...Q1: The federal bureaucracy is organized into different government organizations, and is typically staffed with individuals elected or appointed to specific positions. There are four main departments within the federal bureaucratic system. These include cabinet departments, independent executive agencies, independent regulatory agencies, and government organizations, such as the United States Postal Service and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, also known as the FDIC. In order to gain employment in the federal bureaucratic system, there are two routes a candidate can utilize in order to gain employment. The first autocratic route is political appointment. In order to gain employment through political appointment, a candidate must be selected for top government positions by the President of the United States. The second bureaucratic route is becoming a civil servant. Civil servants make up the majority of the bureaucracy because it does not involve appointment, only passing a series of hiring processes. In order to become a civil servant, an applicant must complete an application for employment. After an application is made, an applicant must submit to a federal background check. Applicants are then chosen for civil service positions based on their experience and the status of their background check. Once an individual is part of the federal bureaucracy, promotions are based on merit. Merit based promotions replaced the spoils system for promoting employees...
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...Federal Bureaucracy – to what Extent does the President have Control of it? When the framers of the Constitution developed our government, they gave Congress the authority to create the departments necessary to carry out the day-to-day responsibilities of governing - the federal bureaucracy. The vast majority of the departments, agencies, and commissions that make up the federal bureaucracy today were created by Congress through legislative acts. Congress is unable to act in a bubble though, due to the nature of the system’s built-in checks and balances, Congress must first get the president’s “buy off” which is represented by his signature. Although Congress has the authority to create these agencies (with the president’s agreement of course), the Constitution designated the president as the person responsible for implementing and administering the decisions and actions of the bureaucracy. “As chief executive, the president is constitutionally charged with ensuring that the laws be faithfully executed” (Harrison, Harris, and Deardorff 391). The resulting tension between Congress, as the creators of the bureaucracy, and the president, as the executive in charge of the bureaucracy, is just one of the tugs-of-war that the bureaucracy is subjected to that affect their behavior and ultimately the amount of control the president is able to wield over them. Originally, the federal bureaucracy had a modest role. In 1789, George Washington headed a federal bureaucracy of three...
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...Should Public Employees Be Allowed to Strike? Public sector employment involves working for any “local, state or federal agency”, effectively making the government the main employer for all public sector workers. Organized labor in the US has been a big part of the public sector since the early 1900’s, but this arena has seen some drastic changes occur in the last century. Looking at the data, it is clear to see that union membership has declined from 1/3 of the nationwide non-agricultural work force, to a mere 12.3% in recent years. Since then though, we also see a sharp decline in private sector unions, but interestingly enough, there was an increase in public-sector union membership, which is now estimated to be around 7.9 million employees. In addition, numerous economists agree, and have stated time and time again, that public sector unions and the political power they currently hold actually increases government spending, by making public goods and services unavailable through strikes, and by skewing the overall pay grade for public sector jobs at a National scale. The main problem being, that the overall demographic of union members in the last 50 years has dramatically changed. To put it in perspective, the public sector usually a higher wage for lower end jobs when compared to the private sector. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its data and concluded that the average median pay for office clerks actively working in the public sector was $27K in 2005, the average...
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...USPS Blue Ocean Strategy Business Plan Final MGT 670 Spring Semester Blue Ocean Strategy The Postal Service should pursue the Blue Ocean Strategy of becoming a nationwide data collection network. According to the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) website they have 211,264 total vehicles as of 2014. The U.S. Government Accountability Office states that the USPS has the largest civilian fleet of vehicles in the world. The USPS also has delivers to every address in the United States- this requires an extensive delivery network. The USPS should exploit their vehicle fleet and extensive delivery routes to outfit their vehicles with sensors to become a data collection network. According to an article in Popular Science, the Postal Service’s fleet of vehicles could be equipped “with an array of cheap sensors, mail trucks could wireless deliver real time information on weather, pollutants, traffic, road conditions, and even locate gaps in cell phone coverage and television signals” (Dillow, 2010). The data collected could have homeland security implications as well, as noted in Popular Science, by sensors being able to identify chemical-biological threats as well as radiological threats. Threats are always prevalent to an organization, especially one that is trying to implement a new business opportunity to their existing business. The USPS is unique because they have threats that come from the private sector and threats that come from Congress in the public sector. The...
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...credited with first coming up with ideas about the modern bureaucracy? a. Thomas Hobbes b. John Locke c. Max Weber d. Alexander Hamilton e. Benjamin Franklin 2. Bureaucracy is characterized by all of the following EXCEPT: a. Merit-based advancement b. Hierarchy c. Worker specialization d. Explicit rules e. Flexible goals 3. The value of explicit rules in bureaucratic institutions is that they: a. Facilitate individually tailored treatment of citizens b. Allow for flexibility c. Encourage creativity d. Create standardization and predictability e. Reduce uniformity of behavior 4. A clear chain of command with all employees knowing who their supervisors are as well as whom they are responsible for is an example of a(n): a. Issue network b. Merit system c. Hierarchy d. Spoils system e. Iron triangle 5. Bureaucracy is useful for all of the following EXCEPT tasks that: a. Require a great deal of coordination b. Require a great deal of planning c. Require a great deal of expertise d. Can be handled on an ad hoc basis e. Require a great deal of routine work 6. The practice in which successful party candidates reward political supporters with jobs or favors is known as: a. Patronage b. Pandering c. Pay-for-play d. Lobbying e. Nepotism 7. The civil service replaced the _________ as a method of choosing government workers. a. Merit system b. Hereditary inheritance 2 c. Optional service d. Spoils system e. Presidential appointment system ...
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...2nd spot, Russia 3rd and Brazil 7th in the list of top 20 host economies of 2013.The current share of global FDI inflows to BRICS is at 22 per cent which is twice that of their pre-crisis level, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report. Total inflow to BRICS reached $322 billion in 2013, up 21 per cent from 2012. INTRODUCTION: South Africa outperformed other countries within BRICS, with FDI inflows rising by 126%. With inflows to China at an estimated US$127 billion, including both financial and non-financial sectors – the country again ranked second in the world, closing the gap with the United States to some $32 billion, FDI inflows to the Russian Federation jumped by 83% to US$94 billion making it the world’s third largest recipient of FDI for the first time ever, The rise was predominantly ascribed to the large acquisition by BP (United Kingdom) of 18.5% of Rosneft (Russia Federation) as part of Rosneft’s US$57 billion acquisition of TNK-BP. India ranked 16th among the top 20 global economies, receiving the maximum FDI, with Asia regaining the top spot as the “largest host region”. FDI inflows into India grew 17 per cent to $28 billion in 2013 despite unexpected capital outflows in the middle of the year, according...
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...State versus Private Ownership Andrei Shleifer Department of Economics Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts. Abstract Private ownership should generally be preferred to public ownership when the incentives to innovate and to contain costs must be strong. In essence, this is the case for capitalism over socialism, explaining the "dynamic vitality" of free enterprise. The great economists of the 1930s and 1940s failed to see the dangers of socialism in part because they focused on the role of prices under socialism and capitalism, and ignored the enormous importance of ownership as the source of capitalist incentives to innovate. Moreover, many of the concerns that private firms fail to address “social goals” can be addressed through government contracting and regulation, without resort to government ownership. The case for private provision only becomes stronger when competition between suppliers, reputational mechanisms, the possibility of provision by private not-for-profit firms, as well as political patronage and corruption, are brought into play. 1 What kinds of goods and services should be provided by government employees as opposed to private firms? Should government workers make steel and cars in government-owned factories? Should teachers and doctors be publicly employed or should they work for private schools and practices? Should garbage be picked up by civil servants or employees of private garbage haulers? Should the whole economy be "socialized"? Although...
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...Veterans Fought for Us, We Should Fight for Them After the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States of America went to war determined to protect our country and seek out those that wanted to hurt us. As a result of being at war for almost 10 years, we are left with approximately 1.3 million veterans since 2002 and many of those with physical disabilities and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Newhouse, 2011). The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have left a new generation of veterans with challenges. Adjusting to civilian life, getting a job in the bad economy and dealing with the mental effects of being in combat are just a few of the challenges that these veterans face. There are government programs and laws in place to help these brave men and women but many companies do not see the benefit of hiring a veteran and many people believe that they don’t deserve what they see as preferential treatment. Veterans have made sacrifices defending our country and our freedoms. Not only do I believe they deserve all of the advantages they earned but they also deserve to have preferential treatment when applying for jobs. We need to make sure as a country that they are not discriminated against while trying to make a living for themselves and get back to civilian life after putting their lives on hold to keep us safe. We as a society need to embrace our heroes and give them the assistance that they have earned. Today there are many problems that face veterans such...
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...The topic I chose for this research paper is the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Amtrak. This was due to the fact that I believe this is the direction America needs to take to reduce demand on oil supplies and cut down on emissions. Mass transit railway systems are cheaper and more efficient than airplanes and automobiles. The problem that exists right now with going to mass railway transit is the fact that many of the railroad tracks have been abandoned, removed or turned into trails for hiking or biking. To reach the rural population is going to be the biggest obstacle facing this much needed service in the United States. This is the area I am going to focus on in this paper. Addressing the problem of reaching rural America with mass transit will be tough but not impossible. My solution would be two-fold, and would entail laying new tracks to old places of service and making hubs that people can travel to with ample (and cheap) parking for their vehicles. The second part would be to invest in busses and start small-town bus routes to pick up passengers in areas where running train tracks would be too inefficient. These busses would run only to and from the train hubs connecting them to small towns and rural bus stops. This plan of reinvesting in the railway system would solve several issues: our reliance on foreign oil, our need to reduce emissions and creating new, long term jobs. Trains can move one ton of cargo, 500 miles using only one gallon of diesel fuel...
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...India. One is that India is a poor, under-developed country, lacking infrastructure and rife with religious superstitions, corruption and violence. The other is that India has an under-rated affluent and intellectual class, an advanced Information Technology (IT) sector and a rich culture. Neither view is entirely accurate. For those planning to do business in India, it is important that they are well informed of the real, complex situation in order to make calculated investments. Knowledge about doing business in India has to be constantly revised, updated and eradicated of biased or stereotypical views. A symptom of the maturity of this knowledge is recognition that the Indian business environment is amorphous. Conditions vary from state to state, industry to industry and region to region. This paper seeks to examine some aspects of this complexity and suggests how prospective investors could use the knowledge generated. Apart from Ramachandran’s (2000) acknowledgement of India’s segmented marketplace and Kumar & Thacker-Kumar’s (1996) article on Indian bureaucratic levels, few scholars have examined the diverse reality of 1 Rodney Sebastian (rodney@alumni.nus.edu.sg) is a graduate of Curtin University of Technology and is currently an independent scholar; Ashvin Parameswaran (ashvin@alumni.nus.edu.sg) is a postgraduate student at the Australian...
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... Value Alignment United Parcel Service (UPS) a global organization and the members of Team B have a common cultural attitude. They both have a set of core values that give them a starting point for every dilemma encountered and every decision made. Core values are, according to "Definitions Of Anthropological Terms" (n.d.), “attitudes and beliefs thought to uniquely pattern a culture.” (para. Core Values). Here, we will discuss the alignment of core values between UPS and Team B. First we will discuss a brief history of UPS and what activities UPS engages. We will specifically discuss the core values that UPS follows as it executes those activities, and we will define the core values. We will then discuss the core values of Team B, and how Team B uses these core values to execute its tasks as an entity in the academic environment. Finally, we will analyze the alignment of the core values between UPS and Team B, and discuss if the members of Team B would consider working for UPS. Table 1 depicts the degree of correlation between UPS and Team B as part of this analysis. History UPS is a global organization that has a rich history spanning 107 years. UPS started a humble existence operating out of a basement and making deliveries on foot and bicycle. UPS continues to follow the inspiring teachings of Jim Casey who was 19 years old at the time and a founder of UPS. (United Parcel Service of America, Inc, 1994 - 2013). According to United Parcel Service of America, Inc, (1994...
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...ORGANISATIONS AS AN EXAMPLE; UNITED NATIONS Its goal and efforts * * * * * What are the international Organisations? International organisations ‘represent the apex of a pyramid of multilateral diplomacy. At the base of this pyramid are the issues suitable for negotiation. Above this is the process of negotiation in which states agree norms or rules, and only in certain cases does this process of negotiation create the appropriate organisation or institutions’ (Imber, 1992). One can classify these organisations into various categories concerning of their functions. Such as: a) International financial institutions b) Commodity cartels c) World trade d) Sustainable economic development e) Food security f) Human rights g) The environment h) Regional organisations i) Health j) Emergency/disaster relief k) Security These organisations can be listed as Inter-governmental and non-governmental organisation too. * Theory and International Organizations One tries to establish a theory which aims to explain international organisations. His theory bases on ‘a principal-agent (P-A) model of international organization in which groups of member governments sometimes empower their IO agents with real decision-making authority. …7 Member governments (making up the principal) hire an IO (agent) to perform some functions that will benefit the members. In this framework, member governments establish the goals...
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...Federal Government Exam 1 Review: The first exam will consist of questions generated from the following review sheet. Make sure you understand each of these topics before proceeding to the test. The exam will be timed so you will not have the ability to peruse your notes or retake the exam. The exam itself will consist of 30 multiple choice questions and you will have 35 minutes to complete the exam. Federalism: The Basic elements of a Federal system of government (i.e. how is it structured/how power is shared) • Layers of gov • Equal power • Distinct powers Powers of the federal government: delegated powers, implied powers (necessary and proper clause), and concurrent powers. • Delegated Powers: (expressed/enumerated powers) powers given to the federal government directly by the constitution. Some most important delegated powers are: the authority to tax, regulated interstate commerce, authority to declare war, and grants the president role of commander and chief of the military • Implied Powers: Powers not expressed in the constitution, but that can be inferred. “Necessary and proper clause” • Concurrent powers: powers shared by both levels of government. Ex: Taxes, roads, elections, commerce, establishing courts and a judicial system • Reserved powers: powers not assigned by the constitution to the national government but left to the states or the people. Guaranteed by the 10th amendment. Include “police power”-health and public...
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