Department

Department (from the Latin decernere : to decide) is the designation for an organizational element on a certain hierarchical level in the organizational structure of a public administration with a certain objective responsibility .

Federal administration

In the federal administration , departments can be set up in the central and local authorities . They correspond to the presentations in the highest and upper federal authorities . Departments are usually the lowest organizational unit in the federal administration, but they can also be divided into subject areas. Departments are led by a department head . The members of the higher service in a department are referred to as department heads. They correspond to the speakers in the highest and upper federal authorities. The department members of the upper service are referred to as clerks and those of the middle service as office clerks . Several departments can form a department group or are directly subordinate to one department.

State administration

In a larger authority such as the district government, departments can represent the lowest level of decision-making and are each subordinate to an officer of the higher service as department head . In this case, several divisions are grouped into departments. Instead of department , the term department is also used for this decision-making level , especially in ministries .

Local government

In the case of city ​​administrations and district administrations, on the other hand, the departments are often the highest hierarchical level, which are headed by the democratically elected full-time officials ( mayor , city ​​council , district administrator , district councilor ) as department heads. Several municipal offices or departments are subordinate to the department. Depending on the hierarchy level, a department can range from a few clerks to several hundred people.

Web links

Wiktionary: Department  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Department. In: Online administrative dictionary. Online administrative dictionary 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Presentation. In: Online administrative dictionary. Online administrative dictionary, accessed April 5, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Example of the subdivision of a department into departments ( Memento from March 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) at the Darmstadt Regional Council