Bureaucratic And Patron-Client Organizations: A Comparison

Models of Organized Crimes

Institution

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Models of Organized Crime

Bureaucratic and Patron-Client Organizations: A Comparison

According to Abandinsky (2012), organized crime is an illegal activity committed by a group of people who have a formally organized structure with the aim of getting direct or indirect financial benefits or materials of high value. Organized crime has two types of organization bureaucratic and patron-client organizations.

Differences

Bureaucratic organizations have a formal and define hierarchy. They have formal management and have a pyramid management structure with the single overall leader and many layers of authority under him or her. On the other hand in a patron-client organization, there

is no formal structure of management, and there is neither a single leader nor layers of management. Bureaucratic organized crime model, the criminals operate under specific territories which they have dominance and control over while in patron-client organized crime model the criminals do not have a stated territory (Chin, 2017).
In bureaucratic crime model, rules, regulations, protocol, and procedures are respected by everyone and restrict members of lower positions from taking any decision which is not approved by the administration.

All decision must be preceded by proper documentation and approval by the administrators. On the other hand, in the patron-client model, all members have the freedom to make decisions without prior approval by the administrating as the decision will benefit the organization. In a Bureaucratic organization, all the financial management is handled by the administrators and this is why the members involved in bureaucratic organization blame failures and financial issues on the administration. While in the patron-client organization all the members share nearly equal responsibilities, therefore, each is held responsible for any failure of the organization. In Patron-client model, members are recruited from a single family of from a particular ethnic group while in bureaucratic members are from various ethnical backgrounds and families (Von Lampe, 2015). In the Bureaucratic model, there is the organization micromanaged by the single leader at the top while in Patron-client model each member has a say in the running of the organization. In the bureaucratic model, members pay loyalty to the top leader while in patron-client based model each member remains loyal to the mission of the organization and are bound by cultural and ethical ties rather than

hierarchy.
Similarities
Even though bureaucratic and patron-client have a sharp difference, they also have some characteristics in common. First, both have an internalized discipline procedure for members. The conduct of members is taken seriously disciplinary measure taken against any member who betrays the organization. In both the model's loyalty and allegiance are maintained through penalties and in most cases, violence is used to maintained order and discipline amongst the members (Von Lampe, 2016). Both the bureaucratic and Patron-client organization strives to make their organizations look legitimate in the eyes of law enforcement officers to conceal their identity and activities. Both conduct illegal activities with the help of experts to gain financial benefits.
Why the models are important for understanding organized crime
Organized crimes are complex and have large networks, and it is not easy to understand their operations without studying their models. These models in identifying the nature of organized crime besides identifying the social condition that leads to increasing the number of organized crime. The models also help in the interest and roles of stakeholders, the nature of the interest and how the stakeholders interact with others. This helps to determine the nature of the illegal enterprise, and they coordinate their operations.

References
Abandinsky, H. (2014). Organized crime. Cengage Learning. 32, 41-63.
Chin, K. L. (2017). Black Gold Politics: Organized Crime, Business, and Politics. Menace to Society: Political-criminal Collaboration Around the World.
Von Lampe, K. (2015). Organized crime: analyzing illegal activities, criminal structures, and extra-legal governance. Sage Publications.

Important