Public Administration Services

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Identify the type of public organization for which you work, as well as what types of services, goods, or activities the organization provides to the public. Identify the size and scope of the organization.

I have no idea where you work, so I'm going to use the Federal Department of Defense as a public organization. It is easy, and their budget is actually online. I list the links both in the text below and in a bibliography at the end.

Defense is a public good in that all members of the protected society benefit from it whether or not they pay for it. Since "free riders" are an eternal problem, public goods must be provided by force, though extraction of tax money on threat of prison.

Here is the organizational chart of the DoD:
http://odam.defense.gov/omp/Functions/Organizational_Portfolios/Organization_and_Functions_Guidebook.html

Needless to say, the scope and size of the US Defense Department is massive and very expansive. The latest figures put the on budget items as totaling $527.5 billion, though the department is asking for a slightly lower figure for 2014, 526.6 billion.

The organizational structure is very complex, complying with no obvious model with the possible exception of a "layered matrix," to coin a phrase. It mixes both functional and regional specializations. Within each one is a more or less self contained set of sub-offices dealing with procurement, legal issues, etc.

It should come as no surprise the the budget request spends quite a bit of time explaining what good the defense department does and what the money will go to maintain. They summarize the public goods they produce as the maintenance of a mobile and ready military force. Because of the threats facing America, the request says, we need motivated men and women. Keeping them motivated is, in part, about offering them many financial incentives to stay, fight and remain strong. Therefore, the request stresses that much of the money is going to "people," that is, the servicemen who are doing the fighting and those supporting the fighters. Since much military spending s social spending, they want t dispel any sense that all this money is going to tanks and missiles.

Further, the report states that, since the world is now interconnected and all countries depend on one another, the American military commitment cannot be lessened. The world needs to be governed, and that is what a "ready force" means. In addition, ...