Bridging the bureaucratic divide: Using GPRA and the PMA to enhance the career manager and political appointee relationship

The study of bureaucratic politics explicates a dysfunctional relationship between career executives and Senate-confirmed political appointees in the American administrative state. Additionally, a number of natural barriers exist between these two executive actors that can cause tensions, hamper cooperative management and ultimately affect policy outcomes. The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) and the President's Management Agenda (PMA) are two of the latest in a long series of efforts to improve the performance of federal agency management. Although these efforts mandate the use of a number of managerial tools to improve internal agency management, they do little to redress the barriers between political appointees and career managers. This dissertation evaluates just how GPRA and the PMA can help careerists and political appointees overcome these barriers to good management and reduce tensions by evaluating three case study agencies: the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.