Good The Federal Bureaucracy Essay Example

Bureaucracy otherwise referred to as the rule by office or desk refers to a system of administration whereby most of the essential administrative decisions are formulated by the state or organizational officials at the expense of the elected representatives. These officials are referred to as the bureaucrats. This system thrives well in a situation where large groups of people who need to work collectively towards a common goal are involved such as in the country, state or in learning institutions. Most of the time bureaucracy is wasteful and inefficient, but the system has proved to be helpful in ensuring that the people in such institutions can be organized and hence work together. The same is achieved by the fact that everyone in the hierarchy has their roles well defined to minimize any possible conflicts.
The system is controlled by the presidential powers, legal constraints, congressional dominance and the judiciary. The president has the powers to appoint people to different departmental offices as he tries to shape his government to be in line with what was in his/her manifesto before the elections. The president also has the powers to give directives on what agencies have to achieve during his tenure coupled with the position to reorganize his cabinet and the federal government at any time he feels like he needs a change in the administration. Through these powers, the president controls the bureaucracy.
Bureaucracy is also controlled by the use of legal constraints through systems of rules and regulations and standardized operating procedures. These rules control the workers as they have a layout of what they should do and the consequences of breaking the same. Through this method, the results of any undertaking by the employees are predictable hence much supervision is never required. The method has a provision for correction during the output process just in case any occurs. The Congressional Dominance is evident as they are in charge of the Congress Library, Governmental Accounting Offices and Research Services while the judiciary has the sole responsibility of guarding the constitution.
The system has grown over time due to the increased specialization, economic growth and the ever increasing population. These factors led to the drafting of the USA Constitution in 1787 leading to the creation of the Congress to help the President in his administrational duties. Since then the Congress passed a number of Constitutional Acts aimed at protecting the people. The increased population means that the leaders have to be able to create a system through which the subjects are loyal and organized for them to be able to work in any organization under its jurisdiction. The increased population has also led to an increase in specialization and, therefore, the creation of different institutions hosting such people under an organized management with standard rules and regulations. Businesses and the overall economy cannot grow if there is no laid down system that governs the pricing, taxation, revenue collections, development of infrastructure, hospitals, and educational institutions, among others. These are the factors that have led to the thriving of the bureaucracy under the use of the Constitution and other powers invested on the government; therefore, the system is too rigid when it comes to decision making as it is based on rules and regulations hence sometimes referred to as red tape.
The system of bureaucracy affects the American politics through the formulated policies and the non-inclusion of all the citizens in decision making. The need for the political leaders such as the president to fight hard to get the recognition from other nations and the image that the country is still the superpower has led to the reshuffling of the cabinet and the federal departments. This has also led to the appointment of some leaders not competent for the jobs hence leading to the formulation of subjective rules.