The achievement of effectiveness and efficiency in any organization or institution depends greatly on the coordination of work. Organizations and institutions can only realize the coordination of work through inter-relating the subdivisions of work and allowing every entity to execute tasks with skill and enthusiasm (Gulick & Urwick, 2004). The US government in itself is an institution although the effectiveness of its administration has been shortchanged by the built-in and historic rivalry between the legislature and executive branches in the national, state, and local constitutions.
The rivalry between the two branches of government has affected the administration of government in various ways. In the execution of its duties, the executive has to get approval from the legislature, which either accepts or rejects the policies recommended by the executive. The legislature also has the responsibility of coming up with policies that regulate the executive’s actions. In most cases, legislators enact policies that ignore the necessities of the national, state, and local governments meaning that government administration is affected as the executive is restricted to the poor and inappropriate policies, laws, or regulations enacted by the legislature. On the other hand, as a result of the rivalry, the executive at the national, state, and local levels sometimes take actions without considering laws, regulations, and rules in place, and this affects the administration of government (Fry, 2008).
As provided by the US Constitution, the Congress has to respect the separation of powers by allowing the President, who is the head of the executive, to carry out his duties freely such as creating a temporary Executive Office of the President (EOP) and using appropriated discretionary funds to finance such a unit (Relyea, 2011). However, the rivalry between the Congress (legislature) and the executive has seen the latter contravene prevailing statutes, laws, and regulations to allocate huge budgets to the EOP, which are rejected by the Congress. For instance, in 1981, the legislature rejected the executive’s budget request after questions were raised regarding the same (Relyea, 2011). This affected the executive’s move to implement other regulations, rules, and laws enacted by the legislature.
References
Fry, B. R. (2008). Mastering public administration: From Max Weber to Dwight Waldo. Chatham, N.J: Chatham House Publishers.
Gulick, L., & Urwick, L. (Eds.). (2004). Papers on the Science of Administration. Routledge.
Relyea, H. C. (2011). Executive Office of the President: An Historical Overview. DIANE Publishing.