Chapter Two

BUREAUCRACY
Complied By Kataru Kalsa, PhD candidate

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2.1. Introduction
• Bureaucracy is much researched area by Public
Administration, Political Scientists, Sociologists, and
many others.
• As a result, there is no terminological accuracy
about the concept of bureaucracy.
To some, it is efficiency and to others, it is
inefficiency.
To some it is a term synonymous with civil service
and to others it refers to a body of officials.
• In simple words, bureaucracy is a large complex
structure that handles the everyday business of an
administration.
• Thus, bureaucracy is a generic characterization of all
large-scale, complex organizations, public and
private. So, it is not an exclusive property of
governmental units.
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• This does not mean that there are no differences
between governmental and non governmental
organizations/private organizations.
• Therefore, bureaucracy is a type of organization
designed to accomplish large scale administrative tasks
by systematically coordinating the work of many
individuals
• Both large businesses and other non governmental
organizations are often described as bureaucracies.
• Hence, to differentiate the private and others from
public organization, the term public bureaucracy is
used in a relation to governmental organizations.
• In other words, the concept of public bureaucracy is so
closely associated with government.
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•Public bureaucracy is also used to show
government officials, public servants, civil
servants besides large public organizations.
•However, the terms “bureaucracy” and
“public bureaucracy” are commonly used
interchangeably.
•In a bureaucracy it is expected that each one
will perform his/her own allotted duties
properly and the whole system is organized
on hierarchical basis.
•A hierarchy is an arrangement of activities in
which the activities are represented as being
“above” (superior) or "below“ (subordinate).
•In bureaucracy every care is taken to see that
all decisions are properly executed.
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2.2. Definition of Bureaucracy
•The term "bureaucracy" is a combination of two
words, i.e. "bureau" and "cracy".
•"Bureau" means an office or organization
established to perform certain activities, or it may
mean a government department, while "cracy"
denotes a form of governmental rule.
•In this consideration, bureaucracy simply means a
form of rule or activity exercised/practiced by
governmental offices.
•In its literal meaning, "bureaucracy is a system of
official rules and ways of doing things that a
government or an organization has, which are
complex in nature; or a system of government in
which there are a large number of state officials
who are not elected".
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Generally, there are many meanings of bureaucracy. Some of
them are:
1. Institutional meaning:
• The term "bureaucracy" may refer to government by appointed or
recruited officials as opposed to government by elected
representatives.
2. Activity of officials:
• Bureaucracy may also be defined from the aspect of what officials
do or how they behave. In this regard, in most of the times, it is a
derogatory term.
• Accordingly ‘Bureaucracy’ is often used as inefficient organization
dominated by red-tape (i.e. a symbol of excessive formality and
attention to routine).
• However, government organizations are not always inefficient.
• Hence, this definition is an extremely offensive yet subjective
meaning of bureaucracy.
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 2.3. Classical Theories of Bureaucracy

•The concept of bureaucratic

organizations was a focus of interest for
many of the classical theorists, including
Max Weber, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill,
Gaetano Mosca, and Robert Michels.

•But Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Robert

Michels were the notable contributors.
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 2.3.1. KARL MARX (1818-1883)
• Prior to the tremendous contribution of Max Weber, Karl
Marx attempted to explain bureaucracy in a scientific
manner.
• He tried to conceptualize the role of bureaucracy in his
works on state organizations, while developing a critique
of the political economy of capitalism that existed in
Europe in the 19th century.
• Different from Weber's understanding of bureaucracy as
an ideal type that can exist only in abstraction, Marx
examined it as a set of relationships that arise in a specific
socioeconomic context.
• He pointed out that bureaucracy arose with capitalism and
the nation state in Western Europe around the sixteenth
century.
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Marx mentioned about the spirit (typical feature) of
bureaucracy.
•According to him, the universal spirit of
bureaucracy is the secretiveness sustained
within it by hierarchy and maintained as a
closed corporation.
•He further believed that authority is the
source of knowledge, and the
preservation/protection of authority is its
sentiment/feeling by maintaining obedience
to fixed normal activity, fixed principles and
loyalty.
•For individual bureaucrats, the state's purpose
becomes their private purpose of hunting for
higher position and making a career for
themselves.
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•According to Marx, the bureaucrat cannot be
a rational actor in terms of competence.
•Its hierarchy of structure means a hierarchy of
knowledge, thus comprehensive knowledge is
impossible in a situation where knowledge is
deliberately split up into practical reality and
bureaucratic reality.
•Generally, according to him:
The bureaucracy is a circle from which no one can
escape.
Its hierarchy is a hierarchy of knowledge.
The top entrusts the understanding of detail to the
lower levels, whilst lower levels credit the top with
understanding of the general and so all are
mutually deceived".

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 Marx…
•From his explanations, we can understand that:
1. He has overemphasized the malicious
(evil) side of bureaucracy,
2. His view is in clear contrast to the
conception of his countryman, to the
Weberian conception of bureaucracy as
"rationalization of organization".
3. He simply wrote a critique on
bureaucracy alongside his famous
critique of the political economy of
capitalism.
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 2.3.2. ROBERT MICHELS (1876-1936)
• Robert Michels concentrated his analysis on the
internal politics of large organizations and to the
phenomenon of elite domination in organizations.
• In other words, Michel’s major focus was not on the
state bureaucracy but on the internal political
structures of large-scale organizations.
• His observation was based on the internal structure
of the German Socialist Party, which was supposed
to be organized along democratic principles yet the
reality was quite different, and he discovered that
the system was oligarchic (is a form of power
structure in which power rests with a small number
of people).
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• He concluded that all big organizations tended (had
a propensity) to develop a bureaucratic structure
that ruled out the possibility of internal democracy.
• Furthermore, he viewed bureaucracy as
inevitable/unavoidable in the modern state.
• Through bureaucracy, the politically dominant
classes secure and preserve their power.
• They use positions in the bureaucracy to provide
security for middle-class intellectuals who, in turn,
support the state.
• The bureaucracy tends to oppress the rest of
society.
• Lower-level bureaucrats, in particular, suppress
individual liberty and initiative.
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2.3.3. MAX WEBER (1864-1920)
•Max Weber, a German sociologist, was the
first to systematically develop bureaucracy as
an organizational model in the 19th c.
•He used an “ideal-type” approach to identify
the structure, process and behavior of
bureaucratic organization.
•He saw bureaucracy as a rational way for
complex businesses and governments to
organize.
•For him bureaucracy is the best form of
organization
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•The “ideal-type” was not intended to be
an observed reality.
•Rather, it is a mental construct that claims
to identify what would emerge if a
phenomenon (such as bureaucracy) could
develop into its most complete form.
•Weber did not agree with Marx that
bureaucracy will eventually wither away
(disappear).
•Indeed, he predicted that bureaucratic
administration will pervade all forms of
organization, whether in the religious,
educational, or economic spheres of life.
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 Weber…
• According to him bureaucracy refers to a hierarchical
organization in which functions and powers are
divided as per formal rules and regulations.
• Weber states that bureaucracy is the most efficient
form of organization and is purely official and
rational.
• According to him, every organization can be defined
as "a structure of activities (means) directed towards
the achievement of certain objectives (ends)".
• Every organization develops a system of specialization
(division of tasks) and a set of systematic rules and
procedures to maximize efficiency.
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•Weber stressed that the bureaucratic
form of organization is capable of
attaining the highest degree of
efficiency since the means used to
achieve goals are rationally and
objectively chosen towards the desired
ends.
•In this sense, it is the most rational
means of carrying out functions
effectively in any organization, superior
to every other form in precision,
stability, discipline, and reliability.
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2.4. Characteristics of Bureaucracy
• Sometimes the characteristics of bureaucracy are called
Max Weber’s elements/basics of bureaucracy.
• Weber specified the following structural and behavioral
characteristics or conditions that an organization must
possess before properly being called or distinguished as
a bureaucracy.
• These are (the first three points are structural while
the rest four are behavioral characteristics):

1. Division of labor
2. Hierarchy Structural characteristics of bureaucracy
3. Rules
4. Rationality
5. Impersonality behavioral characteristics
6. Rule Orientation
7. Neutrality

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1. Division of labor:
• This is related to the identification and classification of
activities necessary to accomplish objectives.
• Accordingly, job assignment is based qualifications
and/or special training.
• The regular activities required for the purpose of the
structure are distributed in fixed ways as official duties
according to their Job specialization.
Job specialization Simply means that every job is
classified with specific knowledge skills and abilities
and filled by someone who knows how to do that job.
• As a result, in bureaucracy, there is Job specialization
(Each bureaucrat, or person who works for the
organization, has certain defined duties and
responsibilities).
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2. Hierarchy :
• Bureaucracies are based on a pyramid structure with a
chain of command running from top to bottom.
• Thus the organization of offices in bureaucracy follows
the principles of hierarchy, with a clear separation
between superior and subordinate offices; i.e. each
lower office is under the control and supervision of a
higher one.
• It is the feature of any bureaucratic form of organization.
• A hierarchy is necessary to coordinate and integrate the
activities of the specialized offices.
• Being a bureaucratic official constitutes a career, and
there is a system of promotion and career advancement
on the basis of seniority or merit, or both.
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3. Rules:
• In bureaucracy, there is formalized rules. That is the bureaucracy
does its work according to a set of established regulations and
procedures.
• Bureaucracy operates in accordance with a consistent system of
abstract rules laid down regarding the performance of official
jobs.
• There is consistency in the application of the rules to specific
cases to avoid personal favoritism, arbitrariness, or nepotism
that would otherwise hinder the function of an organization.
• Structures exist to ensure that rules are respected, enforced and
understood.

4. Rationality:
• For Weber, bureaucracy is the most rational known means of
achieving imperative control over human beings.
• For example, candidates are selected on the basis of technical
qualifications, which will be tested, in the most rational cases, by
examinations, or guaranteed by diplomas certifying technical
competence, etc.
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5. Impersonality:
• The bureaucratic form has no place for personal whims/desires and
fancies/wishes.
• Officials are subject to authority only with respect to their impersonal
official obligations.
• Official activity is conducted according to the rules.
6. Rule orientation:
• Rationality and impersonality are mainly achieved through the formulation of
rules and procedures that clearly define official spheres of authority and
conduct, which the employees are supposed to maintain in discharging their
duties.
• This is to mean that the official is subject to strict and systematic discipline and
control in the conduct of his/her office.
7. Neutrality:
• In bureaucracy every one is supposed to be neutral and impartial in taking
decisions.
• One is required to go by laws rather than by the personality, status or political
affiliation of the persons involved.

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Advantages/Benefits of Bureaucracy
• According to Weber, a fully developed bureaucracy has those
advantages of:
Speed: Faster because people know their one specific job
Precision and non-ambiguity: Power lines are clear (easy for
decision making)
Continuity: Rules make it easier to replace a worker when one
leaves
…………
Disadvantages/ Problems of Bureaucracy
The demerits of bureaucracy stem mainly from its behavioral
attributes. It is because of these disadvantages that this system has
got the nickname of red tapism and is known for delays. Some of its
disadvantages are:
1. Secrecy : control of information as a source of power.
Bureaucracies tend to monopolize information, rendering
outsiders unable to determine the basis on which decisions are
made. Secrecy can cover mistakes.
2. Resistance to change: Once it is fully established, bureaucracy is
among those social structures which are the hardest to destroy. It
is not easily changed (i.e. resists change).
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3. Rigid, inflexible
4. Undemocratic: it acts autocratically (even if in compliance with rules) (i.e.
not responsive to public opinion).
• They make policies and take decisions without knowing the citizens real
problems and view point.
• That is there is not participation of the public in policymaking processes
5. Superiority complex of bureaucrats
Usually bureaucrats come from educated families and enjoy certain social
prestige and economic privileges.
After joining services, they enjoy privileges and perk in addition to security of
service.
They thus suffer form superiority complex.
They consider common man inferior to them, though they are expected to serve
them.
7. Buck-passing: There is a tendency to preclude responsibility and transfer
answerability as also incidence of work over to the next (up or down)
in line.
8. Too much Delay: Since in this system there is a hierarchical system, every
paper is to pass through several stages before a final decision is taken.
This delay decision making. Red-tapism, in that insistence on ‘proper
channel’ hampers speed in functioning.
9. No human approach: It is a system in which every decision is taken only
after taking into consideration rules and regulations. There is no
human approach to human problems, which has become a matter of
serious concern in every society.

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 2.5. Critics on bureaucracy
1. However bureaucracy might function as an ideal type, we live in a
real world in which bureaucratic organizational behavior seems
markedly at variance with Weber’s ideas.
• In other words, there is a difference between an ideal type and the
real bureaucratic organizational behavior.
• Real world bureaucracy is characterized by:
bosses without technical competence (due to this, the boss is
actually dependent on the subordinates);
arbitrary rules;
confusion and conflict among roles; and
cruel treatment of subordinates based not on rational or legal
grounds upon inhumanity,
2. Weber may have overstated the extent to which bureaucrats can and
do behave rationally.
3. The Weberian model can best function in a stable environment with
routine and repetitive tasks. Its capacity for adaptation to change
is rather limited.
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Thank You

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