The Bureaucracy of Poverty

The Bureaucracy of Poverty

The city of Philadelphia has a poverty issue; more than one in for residents are in poverty.  Mayor Micheal Nutter is attempting to bring reform to the city's antipoverty agency.  The Mayor's Office of Community Services (MOCS) has been an agency of patronage for years, and to say the least that their budget has been robbed by other departments.  This department has been renamed the Mayor's Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity (CEO).  A respected new Director, Eva Gladstein, has been appointed and gave the agency a new focus: Produce a report on what city government can do to fight poverty, and coordinate the process.  The new plan has been titled "Shared Prosperity Philadelphia."
The MOCS has long had a reputation of having patronage hires.  Nutter has sponsored MOCS hires, as well as political influences.  Nutter's spokesman; however, states that he does not sponsor and hire based on patronage "because of politics or favor."
The Mayor knows them, knows their work, their skills and then hired them," he said.
Gladstein has stated that so far, her personnel decisions have not been influenced by political pressures.  She has said that she is shifting people elsewhere so that CEO "can focus on the implementation of the plan."

I find this to be a good example of a more local form of Bureaucracy.  This article also represents and shows the patronage that can and will go into the different agencies.  It is human nature to surround oneself with people who share similar mindsets.  I agree with Nutter, whereas many appoint people based on political bias or favor, Nutter appointed these members because he "knew of their work and skills."  It seems like a loophole; however, it is a credible point.  In the beginning of the article, it was stated that different agencies would go and cut into the MOCS budget to fight poverty.  Bureaucratic pathologies, such as Conflict and reverse duplication where affecting the poverty in the city.

This flow chart is a good example of the causes and effects of Conflict. Conflict is the root of the organization or agency's performance. Depending on the consensus and/or decision quality with ultimately affect the performance of the organization.