Question

"A lot of times, when things land at my desk—it's a choice between bad and worse. And as somebody pointed out to me—the only things that land on my desk are tough decisions. Because, if they were easy decisions, somebody down the food chain's already made them."

— President Barack Obama, 2009
Use the passage to answer the question.
1. Which principle of bureaucracy does the quotation demonstrate?
a. formalized rules
b. job specialization
c. hierarchical authority
d. complex structure

Answer 1

The correct answer is C) hierarchical authority.

The principle of bureaucracy that the quotation demonstrates is the hierarchical authority.

This principle states that when the leader has more authority when he occupies the highest place in the Organization. This leader at the top of the hierarchy is entitled to make the most difficult of the decisions. In this case, that is why President Obama commented that the most difficult decisions had to be made by him. Other kinds of decisions could have been made by other members of his cabinet.

Answer 2

The correct answer for the given question above would be option C. Based on the given speech above by Barack Obama on 2009, the principle of bureaucracy that the quotation demonstrates is hierarchal authority. In the hierarchal authority, this is the basis of decision making. When the decision is too difficult to make in the lower levels, this will be pass on to the higher ones. Hope this answer helps.