Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy is a concept. It is the structure and rules which control the activities of people that work for large organizations and government.
It has standardized procedure (rule-following), formal division of responsibility, hierarchy, and impersonal relationships. However, in practice, the interpretation and execution of policy can lead to informal influence.
Bureaucracy is a concept in sociology and political science. Four things are central to any definition of bureaucracy: a well-defined division of work between persons and offices, consistent patterns of recruitment, and stable careers. There is a hierarchy among offices, such that the authority and status are distributed between actors. Formal and informal networks connect people to one another, through flows of information and patterns of cooperation.
Examples of everyday bureaucracies include governments, armed forces, corporations, hospitals, courts, ministries and schools.
Bureaucracy Media
Students competed in imperial examinations to receive a position in the bureaucracy of Imperial China.
The 18th century Department of Excise developed a sophisticated bureaucracy. Pictured, the Custom House in the City of London.
Other websites
- Abstracts of academic books and articles about bureaucracy Archived 2009-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
- Kevin R. Kosar, "What ought a bureaucrat do?" Archived 2009-01-08 at the Wayback Machine Claremont.org, (A review piece that ponders the values that should guide bureaucrats in their work.)
- Scientific Management and the Bureaucratic Organization Summary of key concepts from on-line course.
