Texas is described as having a decentralized personnel system. ...

[Tazate]

Texas is described as having a decentralized personnel system. Explain what this means, why it is the case, and why it matters.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

What is policy implementation and how does the Texas bureaucracy do it? In what ways can legislative policies be misdirected or go wrong in practice?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[Koolkid240]

Answer to Question 1

Answer: An ideal response will:
1. Explain that the legislature typically provides only general guidelines for personnel policy and that personnel policies are therefore largely developed and carried out by different agencies.
2. Explain that decentralization means there is variation across agencies in terms of the nature of their personnel plans, including things like grievance procedures and standardized exams for advancement.
3. Note that many local governments (municipal in particular) have more centralized merit personnel systems than does the state government.
4. Explain that decentralization is a function at least in part of the role of the individualistic political subculture and the plural executive.
5. Explain that decentralization means that the merit system is less widespread and less entrenched in Texas than in many other states and the federal government.

Answer to Question 2

Answer: An ideal response will:
1. Define policy implementation.
2. Explain how the legislature broadly defines policies and programs and has bureaucratic agencies fill in the details, and how this can involve the creation of new agencies, the development of rules, procedures, and guidelines for programs, and the hiring of or moving of personnel.
3. Explain how policies may have little possibility of success, how programs may be underfunded, how programs can have unintended consequences, how agencies may not have the ability to implement programs, and how interest groups and businesses can undermine policy.
4. Explain co-optation.