Question

Many Americans do not believe that the federal bureaucracy serves the public interest. These dissatisfied citizens have supported a range of reforms including terminating agencies, devolving responsibility to lower levels of government, and privatization. Are such reforms likely to make the bureaucracy more responsive to public wishes? Who benefits from these reforms and who loses? Explain.

Answer 1

ans...

These reforms are intended to reduce the workload or responsibilities already assigned to bureaucracy. So, due to the reform, the bureaucracy will have less work to do and as a natural response, it should be more responsive. But, it is not assured as it is the part of organizational culture that is set by a bureaucracy that creates problems. It may persist even if there are other partners in terms of private players or voluntary institutions. Hence, there is a need to change the culture of bureaucracy to make it more responsive.
The winners are the private players or other organizations as they now own the responsibility to deliver the work of public interest. It makes them the beneficiaries of the power sharing process. The losers are the marginalized people who are still not assured of the services they deserve. These reforms only ensure that responsibilities are decentralized. But, the mechanism to deliver the benefits to the people at the bottom, should be improved so that the benefits are delivered to them.