Essays on Bureaucracy

Lindblom is not too pessimistic regarding the ability of the administrators to make profound ‘big’ choices that will change or reshape their external environments. Lindblom considers the administrators too afraid of making choices to the extent that they find every approach that is meant to alter their external environments insecure. This means that Lindblom considers the administrators as a hindrance to the sustainable growth of public institutions. He further considers public administrators to be incredibly limited in their scope because of the political environment that exists in both private and public administration (Stillman, 2009, p. ). Lindblom suggests that the

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Question 1

The US bureaucracy has faced a lot of criticism from its citizens, some viewing it as failed system whose mechanisms perpetrate incompetence and corruption in the pretext of serving the US citizens. However, Goodsell in his book, “The New Case for Bureaucracy” comes to the defense of the US bureaucracy, terming it as the most effective and efficient bureaucracies in the world.The central themes of this book revolve about bureaucracy, the citizens’ expectations from the bureaucracy and finally how anti-government ideas have reinforced the image of failed bureaucracy in the United States. I his defense of the US bureaucracy,

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Abstract

Federal bureaucracy is a source of concern in America. In the decision-making process, the average citizens have always been ignored. Most decisions are made by senior officials without taking into account the needs of the citizens. Because of this, there is need to give the citizens a chance to participate in decision-making processes.
In the United States of America, federal bureaucracy is a norm rather than an exception. The decision-making process has been left for state officials, contrary to the rules of democracy. As a democratic country, it is surprising that citizens and their elected leaders do not participate

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Introduction

Bureaucracy as a management of an organization by non-elected officials has long been there in society and firms since 20th century. This form of organization is prevalent both in the public and private sector. The evidence of techno-management or technology management being usurped by bureaucracy is plentiful. For example, techno-managers need for control and domination is evidenced by their language at work by use of words and phrases such as “how many people work for you?”, “subordinates,” “my people” and “staying on top of things,” etc. These indicate the necessity of separating bureaucracy from techno-management; while doing so, one

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Bureaucracy is a term often used as a detracting slogan and label for all public administration or any formal organization. It can be used to refer to modern organization, either public or private, according to the rationalized principles of modernity. This may include business and industrial corporations, as well as public service agencies. The term become an analytical concept through sociologist Max Weber, and sociologists or organizational design experts often use the bureaucracy to refer to an organizational form. Moreover, bureaucracy can refer to a group of workers such as civil service employees of the government of the United

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[University]
Compared with other western democracies, the United States has a far larger number of political officials at the top of the national bureaucracy. Why is this the case? What are the implications of large numbers of political appointees for good governance?
One of the plausible explanations why the number of political positions has grown in number is because American democracy is still a work in progress. As much as possible, elected leaders would like to fill the gaps by creating positions for every administrative function. As observed by Kettl, “In civil service systems, each position is identified in

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Bureaucracy otherwise referred to as the rule by office or desk refers to a system of administration whereby most of the essential administrative decisions are formulated by the state or organizational officials at the expense of the elected representatives. These officials are referred to as the bureaucrats. This system thrives well in a situation where large groups of people who need to work collectively towards a common goal are involved such as in the country, state or in learning institutions. Most of the time bureaucracy is wasteful and inefficient, but the system has proved to be helpful in ensuring

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Arguably the most controversial approach in public administration, Max Weber’s bureaucracy model is one that has been criticized by contemporary scholars in management. Bureaucracy, which is no doubt the most rigid approach to administration, has been blamed for a multiplicity of faults in many aspects of leadership, management, administration and governance (Stillman, 2009). Bureaucracy has many basic elements as explained by Weber. The most prominent element of bureaucratic administration is that it is characterized by stringent rules and procedures, which make administration some form of predictable, fixed routine that does not provide room for independent and innovative thinking.

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Introduction

“Organizations are (1) social entities that (2) are goal directed (3) are designed as deliberately structured and coordinated activity systems and (4) linked to the external environment.” (Daft, 2004). The study of their behavior forms an integral part of business management because it is only from their study that organizations can be designed to provide desired outputs from the most efficient combination of resources. It is important to note that organizations are not only business based but also may be of other types too. (The La Cosa Notra, the Government, councils, clubs, a school, etc. are some non-conventional organizations.)

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Introduction

Bureaucracy refers to an administrative system that has a hierarchical structure and whose functions have been separated. Additionally, a bureaucratic organization relies on certain rules and procedures, which are regularly revised to enhance efficiency. Many organizations both private and public such as governments and universities often rely on bureaucratic structures. Therefore, the essay will explore the characteristics of bureaucracies as well as its advantages and disadvantages with according to Max Weber.

List the Key Characteristics of Bureaucracy

The first characteristic is that of specialization where workers carry out tasks that require training and expertise (Bond & Kevin 90). Personnel who are trained are able to complete

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Question One

The job is purposed to offer services to Starbucks customers in the most efficient of ways. It is aimed and focused at boosting customer services. This job description provides a clean environment. Similarly, quality services are purposed to be effected by the provisions coming along with this job. It is also expected that the job shall operate along guidelines and rules that underlie Starbucks. In this regard, its summary and mission are well clear.
It shall be expected that the cleaner employees shall work within the following parameters; they shall be expected to work in a manner that upholds

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Management Theories

Beach Nuts was an extremely influential company in the food industry. It was well known f its production of children juice that was termed as healthy for children consumption. The company had had exclusive market share in the United States as well as the rest of the world. This was mainly following its uniquely manufactured juice that was fit for children consumption. However, the adulterous production behavior of the company did not last for long. It became known that the juice that the company produced was negatively influential to the body of its users. The juice was believed to

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Organization is a complex mechanism and the larger the scope and scale of its operations the more hierarchical should be its structure to meet the needs and objectives. Business distinguishes flat and bureaucratic organizational structures. This division, however, does not mean that flat organizational structure operate without a single hierarchical level. The backbone of every company is a set of operational policies and regulatory requirements that determine the way communication and relations are built within its core. This specific set of policies and managerial reporting is what we call bureaucracy of the company (Jones, 2010).
With the above in

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Introduction

The term, ‘Bureaucracy’ is made by French word bureau (office) and Greek word kratos (rule). Bureaucracy refers to a body of administrative officials that assists the government and plays important role in running public institutions. Bureaucracy is one of the most significant bodies of modern society. This paper intends to discuss the bureaucracy and further examines what is wrong and right with it along with discussing views of eminent scholars Ralph Hummel and Charles Goodsell.

Discussion

Bureaucracy is a powerful body that affects the life of people and society in larger perspectives. Along with affecting people, it affects every other

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‘Name’

‘Instructor’s name’
Public sector ethics is a broad topic and usually encompasses the components of the public administrator’s primary responsibility as a ‘steward’ to the general public. But nowadays we see that the bureaucracy of this country functions like an organization whose responsibility is nothing more than organizing and managing the implementation of public policies, with a detached managerial perfection. Their decisions are based on logical and operational factors rather than on ethical perspectives. Louis Gawthrop, in the chapter ‘Rediscovering Democracy: Is Anybody Listening’, criticizes the way in which public sector enterprises are viewed as modern day

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Terry Cooper and Louis Gawthrop assume a different approach on matters of ethics especially in the public sector. They bring out the nuances that characterize operations in the public sector. Gawthrop takes us through the historical developments in the governance of the United States of America. He outlines the progress which begins with the presidency of George Washington. Interestingly, Gawthrop appreciates the bureaucracy which was formally introduced by President Wilson Woodrow. Woodrow essentially sought to distinguish between the political unit of government and the administrative unit. He considered the latter as the bureaucracy. It is this bureaucracy that is

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The term, ‘Bureaucracy’ refers to an administrative body that administers institutions and system of a country. Members of this body are not elected like politicians but they have ample rights, duties, powers and responsibilities. Bureaucracy plays very significant role in making and administering of policies that run the government as well as the country. The whole system of any country or a society needs to be regulated in order to function smoothly and this is one of several responsibilities of bureaucracy. This paper intends to discuss bureaucracy and several other related aspects of the subject matter.
I run an

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A.H. Maslow, A Theory of Human Motivation, 1943
Thesis: In this article, Maslow discusses in depth about the basic concepts of motivation that a human mind may be subjected to and how this motivation can further affect an individual’s performance in any number of day to day activities. Maslow also discusses the use of motivation to bring out the desired performance of an individual in the administrative perspective.

“The integrated wholeness of the organism must be one of the foundation stones of the motivation theory.”(Page 114)

“The person who thinks he is hungry may actually be seeking more for comfort, or dependence, than for vitamins or proteins. Conversely, it is possible to satisfy hunger need in

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Ahn, M.J., Bretschneider, S.(2011). Politics of e-government: E-government and political control of bureaucracy. Public Administration Review, 71 (3)
The following article is aimed at reporting innovative public administration experiment in South Korea, which was initiated in order to reduce negative influences of bureaucracy on provision of governmental services and improve citizen participation and democratic values.
The article is useful for the research as it reflects recent trends in the development of public administration and can serve as a good ground to use upside down approach, when coming to the history of the issue.
Matei, L., Flogaits, S., Archmann,

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I do believe that transparency is a key component of good governance. Absence of transparency introduces issues of corruption, which then results to mismanagement of public funds. The issue of transparency makes a great link to responsibility and accountability. The public administrators need to be accountable for their actions. Denhardt(2011, p.119) seems to support the idea of transparency by indicating that the public administrators need to be held accountable to various standards such as statutory law, professional standards and community values. The public may easily lose confidence in a government where there is no transparency. A common challenge

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Q1. In the above video, do you find Brown's explanations for the failure of FEMA after Hurricane Katrina convincing? Why or why not?
The criticism of the government on the Hurricane Katrina issue has been tagged to mismanagement and uncoordinated preparation in disaster management. The delay in response to a catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina’s magnitude is very telling of the failure of the Federal flood protection. Many stakeholders concerned with disaster management have had criticism leveled on them due to poor or lack of execution of emergency evacuation programs. Federal Emergency Management Association’s take on the storm

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The Classical approach is one of the most influential theories of management. Its influence may be dated back to its exclusive impact during the industrial Revolution. This management approach is reliant on unique principles of balance in authority and responsibility, division of labor, delegation to build as well as unity of command. The approach is extremely critical in the definition of excellent management as well as the process of management. This approach is based on several theories that were fashioned by theorists; Weber, Taylor, and Fayol. Each of these management theorists has come up with unique arguments that are

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Introduction

In the introductory of the chapter, bureaucracy is presented as a body of non-elective officials who are in governance or involved in decision making policy. Bureaucracy is presented as a system that has drawn a lot of negative public reaction evidenced by the attitude people have developed towards it. The Americans have referred bureaucracy a stupid, complex, aggressiveness and self-interest system. It was not until the time of Max Weber and his publications of bureaucracy that people began to see the importance of bureaucratic administration which is opposed to democracy. Max weber observed that bureaucracy promoted the activities of

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DB6 Q1

Impression management is an objective driven action by which people try to control the perceptions or the impressions that other individuals form of them. Personally, I have in many occasions tried to use this tool myself. For example, when I first joined college, I adopted a special lifestyle that I hoped would convince my friends that I was from rich background. I used to dress in fancy clothes, most of them spent from my upkeep money and even sometimes from my tuition money. For some time, my impression management tactics yielded fruits and I was able to acquire a

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The bureaucracy is a very important branch of the congress. It is the bureaucrats who have expertise in policy issues although their work is not majorly to make policies but to interpret and enforce the policies that have been formulated. The congress and the president have to cooperate with the bureaucracy for effective and efficient running of the government. Most people are not conversant with the legal system and that may be the reason why they do not give attention to the bureaucracy. Also there have been efforts by the president to frustrate the bureaucracy in an effort to

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Question 1

Despite the fact that the bureaucracy gets little fanfare, it is still very important branch of the congress. Among the major reason for its importance is the fact that the bureaucrats give a clear definition of policies, make rules to interpret the law, assist the government in law enforcement and also coordinates the working of the government. Bureaucracy works hand in hand with the congress during policies formulation. Being in the iron triangle the bureaucracy has the potential to stop any bad decisions made by the executive. This therefore helps in protecting public interest and ensures that the interests

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Introduction

Bureaucracy may either refer to a group of workers like he civil service employees or organizational design professionals or an ideal way of organizing the government agencies. There are several attributes or characteristics of bureaucracy.
First, formal hierarchical structure is a form of central decision making whereby those levels above control and make decisions for those ones below. In bureaucracy, also there is management by rules whereby after the top levels make decisions they are executed by the lower levels in a consistent manner. The organization is also done in terms of specialty in which those professionals doing the

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The concept of bureaucracy was advanced principally by Max Weber. Weber was a German sociologist who viewed bureaucracy as the ideal means to organize governments and large organizations both in terms of structure and function. Bureaucracy is mainly defined by formal rules and procedures to be followed at every stage of whichever process that is undertaken by the organization. In addition, bureaucracies are usually characterized by a clear chain of command which must be followed by all the members of the organization. Such attributes contribute to the low fanfare that characterizes the bureaucracy. Nevertheless, the bureaucracy can be just

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Introduction

Organizations are able to select best structure which help them to work as per unique type of activities and their outputs. There are five most common types of structures used in different types on organizations, Simple structure, Machine bureaucracy, Professional bureaucracy, Divisional form and Adhocracy.

This simple organizational structure is widely used in small businesses organizations, in this structure the coordination of work is effectively structured in a small set of activities with less decision makers, who coordinate activities in a quickly and effectively manner.

Example: a small shop

B. Machine Bureaucracy
The machine bureaucracy is found in mature organizations. Mature organization are

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Most of the modern-day scholars claim that bureaucracy is a very inefficient phenomenon. Despite this, there are many bureaucratic organizations in the universe; the United Parcel Service is an example. Max weber, the founder of the concept of bureaucracy, believed that, a bureaucratic form of government was the most superior compared to the rest. It is said that most bureaucratic organizations shows their superiority through the immanent rationality. The problem arises due to the use of the term, rationality, because it is impossible to comfortably agree with Weber that rationality meant efficiency. The United Parcel Service works to ensure

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Any social, economic or political system that is based on organised structures and defined rules of engagement would entertain some form of bureaucracy. In the operations of the complex American political system, bureaucracy is entertained from the very onset. It is becomes a political controversy merely in relation to a different understanding and analysis by scholars and politicians alike. However, it should be appreciated that the American bureaucracy due to its complexity can be perceived in various levels and perspectives. The fact that the political system itself entertains two tiers of government, that is the federal and the state

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Features of a Bureaucratic organization.

Max Weber (1864-1920), a German sociologist proposed different elements found in a bureaucratic organization, which assist in resource control, aid decision making process, accomplish organizational objectives, and protect employees. Weber conceived bureaucracy as an abstract for rational decision making procedures with minimal frictions from human emotions and errors. According to Weber, bureaucratic institutions are most rational in carrying out impartial control over workers (FISCHER and SIRIANNI, 1994).
The theory of bureaucracy is founded upon the nature of power and authority relationships. It is concerned with how organizations operate rather than how they function. According to Weber, there are three

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