1. BUREAUCRACY AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

2. OUTLINE OF TOPICS Definition and Origins of Bureaucracy
Structural Features of Bureaucracy
Personnel Features of Bureaucracy
Importance of Bureaucracy in Public Administration
Problems and Challenges with Bureaucracy in Public Administration

3. Definition and Origins of Bureaucracy
Though various scholars have defined the concept bureaucracy, there is no standard definition for it.
However the concept usually refers to a particular method of how organisations are structured, how tasks are undertaken, and how personnel are engaged and managed.

4. Definition and Origins of Bureaucracy (Cont’d)
The first use of the term bureaucracy has been attributed to the economist Vincent de Gournay.
But Max Weber, a German Sociologist, is more often referred to as its founder, as a result of his systematic study of bureaucracy.
Max Weber saw bureaucracy as an administrative body of appointed officials.

5. Definition and Origins of Bureaucracy (Cont’d)
According to Weber, if subordinates follow the orders of their superiors, they are conferring legitimacy on the authority system.
Based on this, he identified 3 types of authority:
Charismatic Authority
Traditional Authority
Rational/Legal Authority

6. Structural Features of Bureaucracy
According to Weber, the basic features of a bureaucratic system are as follows:
Hierarchy
Authority
Impersonality
Documentation

7. Personnel Features of Bureaucracy
In a typical bureaucratic organisation:
Bureaucrats are appointed but not elected.
Bureaucrats are appointed based on merits.
They work within an hierarchy of offices.
The bureaucrat’s job constitutes a career.

8. Personnel Features of Bureaucracy (Cont’d)
Bureaucrats are entitled to salaries, pays, bonuses etc.
They are available to serve any government of the day.
The official is not allowed to appropriate his or her position for personal gain.
Rules and regulations guide their behaviour.

9. The Importance of Bureaucracy in Public Administration
Bureaucracy is technically capable of attaining the highest degree of efficiency.
It is superior to any other form of administration in precision, in stability, in discipline and in reliability.
It provides an efficient means for human resource management.
It insists on the existence of formal rules and the separation of the assets of the bureaucrat from those of the office.

10. Problems and Challenges with Bureaucracy in Public Administration
These problems include the following:
Rules can become ends in themselves.
The cultural determinism of bureaucracy.
Red-tape, cumbersome administrative procedures and resultant corruption.

11. Solutions to the Challenges of Bureaucracy in Public Administration
The challenges in bureaucracy can be addressed through the following means:
Administrative reforms.
Cutting down unnecessary rules and regulations.
Decentralisation.
Continuous evolution and training of public officers.