Skip to main content

Structure of Bureaucratic Decisions

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance

Synonyms

Bureaucracies; Formal organizations; Hierarchies; Machine bureaucracy; Milgram’s bureaucracy; Weberian state

Definitions

Bureaucracy has been defined as “a continuous organization of official function bound by rules” (Weber 1947, p. 330). Rules, regulations, procedures, and standards are designed to achieve organizational goals. Control is a mechanism used in bureaucracies to ensure the orderly conduct of the behavior of staff. For example, in Weber’s view, administrative acts, decisions, and rules are captured in writing (Weber 1947, p. 332).

Therefore, a bureaucratic structure is a rule-bound governmental and administrative system. Bureaucracies are seen as organizations in which tasks are divided among technical specialists who devote their full working capacity to the organization and whose activities are coordinated by rational rules, hierarchy, and written documents.

A bureaucratic structure can be termed as a formal organization, which has a hierarchical structure...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bailey JJ, O’Connor RJ (1975) Operationalizing incrementalism: measuring the muddles. Public Adm Rev 35(1):60–66. https://doi.org/10.2307/975202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bendor J, Hammond HT (2010) Choice-Theoretic Approaches to Bureaucratic Structure. USA: Michigan State University. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199238958.003.0027

  • Brignall S, Modell S (2000) An institutional perspective on performance measurement and management in the ‘new public sector’. Manag Account Res 11(1999):281–306. https://doi.org/10.1006/mare.2000.0136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryan DJ (2003) Bounded rationality. Annu Rev Polit Sci 2(1):297–321. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.2.1.297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burns T, Stalker GM (1994) The management of innovation. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dye T (2016) Understanding public policy, 15th edn. Pearson, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahl RA, Lindblom CE (1953) Politics, economics and welfare: planning and politico-economic systems, resolved into basic processes. New York: Harper & Brothers

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrell OC, Skinner J (1988) Ethical behavior and bureaucratic structure in marketing research organizations. J Mark Res 25(1):103–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grune-Yanoff T (2007) Bounded rationality. Philos Compass 2(3). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-9991.2007.00074.x

  • Haveman HA, Kluttz DN (2015) Organizational populations and fields: ecology and institutionalism. In: Scot R, Kosslyn S (eds) Emerging trends in the social and behavioral sciences. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0245

  • Hummel RP (2008) The bureaucratic experience: the post-modern challenge, 5th edn. USA: M.E.Sharpe

    Google Scholar 

  • Keiser RL (2011) The impact of bureaucratic structure on government eligibility decisions. Public management research association conference

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindblom C (1959) The science of muddling through. Public Adm Rev 19:79–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindblom C (1979) Still muddling, not yet through. Public Adm Rev 39:517–526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matte R (2017) Bureaucratic structures and organizational performance: a comparative study of Kampala capital city authority and national planning authority. J Public Adm Policy Res 9(1):1–16. https://doi.org/10.5897/jpapr2016.0377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meier KJ, Bohte J (2006) Politics and the bureaucracy: policymaking in the fourth arm of government, 5th edn. USA: Cengage Learning

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintzberg H (1993) Structure in fives: designing effective organizations. USA: Prentice-Hall

    Google Scholar 

  • Olsen JP (2005) Maybe it is time to rediscover bureaucracy. J Public Adm Res Theory 16(1):1–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters GB (2009) Still the century of bureaucracy?: The roles of public servants. Public Policy Adm 30:7–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Popoola OO (2016) Actors in decision making and policy process. Global Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences 5(1):47–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Selten R (1999) What is bounded rationality? Bounded rationality Dahlem conference, May, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/1654.003.0004

  • Shaikh IA, Islam A, Jatoi BA (2018) Bureaucracy: Max Weber’s concept and its application to Pakistan. Int Relat Dipl 6(4):251–262

    Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki K, Hur H (2018) Bureaucratic structures and organizational commitment of senior public officials: evidence from a cross-national study of 20 European countries (No. 9; 2018)

    Google Scholar 

  • Theodoulou SZ, Cahn MA (2013) Public policy: the essential readings. USA: Pearson

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiernan SD, Morley MJ (2013) Modern management: theory and practice for students in Ireland. USA: Gill Education

    Google Scholar 

  • Trondal J (2010) Bureaucratic structure and administrative behaviour. Lessons from international bureaucracies (No. 11). http://www.arena.uio.no

  • Verma D (2014) Study and analysis of various decision making models in an organization. J Bus Manag 16(2):171–175

    Google Scholar 

  • Walton EJ (2005) The persistence of bureaucracy: a meta-analysis of Weber’s model of bureaucratic control. Organ Stud 26(4):569–600

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber M (1947) The theory of social and economic organization. USA: Martino Fine Books

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juliana Abagsonema Abane .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Abane, J.A., Abubakari, M., Asamoa, E.Y. (2020). Structure of Bureaucratic Decisions. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_663-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_663-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics