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Bureaucracy in public administration
An essay about bureaucracy
Bureaucracy in public administration
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Bureaucracy is a dominant organization that has emerged in life (Henslin, 2012). It can be a school or university, the government, grocery store, etc. There are five different characteristics in a bureaucracy: clear levels, with assignments flowing downward and accountability flowing upward, a division of labor, written rules, written communications and records, and impersonality and replaceability (Henslin, 2012). A farmer’s market has each of these characteristics. A farmer’s market is a place where farmers or people come and sell healthy, organic foods, or sell different artistic pieces. This essay explains the different characteristics outlined in a farmer’s market. The first two characteristics are clear levels, with assignments flowing downward and accountability flowing upward, and a division of labor (Henslin, 2012). It means that there are different levels of responsibility and specific task they each perform in a bureaucracy. In a farmer’s market, there are three main levels: the owner, manager, and the vendors. The owner is in charge and they own the market. This person(s...
The current issues that have been created by the market have trapped our political system in a never-ending cycle that has no solution but remains salient. There is constant argument as to the right way to handle the market, the appropriate regulatory measures, and what steps should be taken to protect those that fail to be competitive in the market. As the ideological spectrum splits on the issue and refuses to come to a meaningful compromise, it gets trapped in the policy cycle and in turn traps the cycle. Other issues fail to be handled as officials drag the market into every issue area and forum as a tool to direct and control the discussion. Charles Lindblom sees this as an issue that any society that allows the market to control government will face from the outset of his work.
Often, when the discussion of American bureaucracy is broached in conversation, those holding these conversations often think of the many men and women who operate behind the scenes within the government. This same cross section of Americans is looked upon as the real power within the federal government and unlike the other branches of government, has little to no oversight. A search of EBSCO resulted in the following definition, an organization “structure with a rigid hierarchy of personnel, regulated by set rules and procedures” (Bureaucracy, 2007). Max Weber believed that a bureaucracy was technically the most efficient form of organization, one structured around official functions that are bound by rules, each function having its own specified competence (2007). This wide ranging group of Americans has operated within the gaps, behind the scenes, all under the three core branches of government: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The division of government into three branches and separate powers gives each branch both exclusive powers and some additional power...
Local rather than global and small rather than large, the increase in these less conventional manners of production can be seen in the increased abundance of farmers’ markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), and community gardens. Farmers’ markets are common areas where farmers meet on a regular basis and sell various fresh produce directly to the consumers. The number of farmer’s markets between 1994 and 2014 has increased from around 2,000 to 8,000 (ers.usda.gov). Farmer’s offers an aesthetic that Walmart cannot provide—the opportunity to be personable. The consumer is able to see who grew the food, ask how it was grown, and will not be dazzled by fancy packaging or advertisements.
Evidently, during the 1870-1900 period, farmers expressed drastic discontent in which their attitudes and actions had a major impact on national politics. First and foremost, farmers began to feel that their lives were threatened by competition with railroads, monopolies, trusts, currency circulation shortage, and the desire for Mother Nature to destroy their crops. The majority of the people of America were slaves, and monopoly was the master (Document C). Monopolies were dictating the way the agricultural industry functioned as a whole. Additionally, the deflation of prices was particularly crucial, because it put the farmers in a high state of debt. Furthermore, competition was another major contributing factor liable for the farmers’ dissatisfaction.
The emergence of market society is what Polanyi refers to as “the great transformation” (Polanyi, 1957). This great transformation is significant when discussing market society, as it is a transformation of all society. It brought forth change in the organization of the market system, and therefore society due to its efficiency in production, distribution and commodification of labour, land and money. Many changes took place with the emergence of market society, especially in relation to labour, or the work of people.
The Federal Bureaucracy is comprised of nearly every department, committee, and agency that makes up the Federal Government. The function of the bureaucracy is to implement laws and policies, define the rules and regulations of how a law works, and institute examinations, permits and licenses. Congress makes the laws and policies in a broad manner and the bureaucrats flesh out the details and minutia of the intent of that law’s maker. The bureaucrats of the specific department etc. may be appointed officials, civil service employees or other federal employees. The persons are typically specialized in a specific field that relates to the committee’s duties and responsibilities and possess more knowledge than the lawmakers, which allows policies
The smallholders (farmers) were in “the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political and material ruin” (Foner, 2013,p.642). They have been faced by numerous struggles politically as well as economically. To begin with, they were denied the right to direct vote and choose a representative to remedy their problems. Corruption has manifested through the congress and legislatures. The capitalists hav...
Debra Satz, in “Why Some Things Should Not Be for Sale”, argues for a more complex approach in market regulation, as some markets are more problematic than others. While economists tend to evaluate exchanges based only on proficiency (Satz 2010, p2), Satz considers the social context of individual practices in market relationships. In Staz proposed theory, there are four parameters of a market that can make it “noxious”. Noxious in this case meaning the effect of the market causes harmful consequences on society or persons involved. First, some markets may be reliant on the vulnerability of one party to trade. Second, some markets may have exceedingly bad consequences, in terms of welfare or status, for persons involved. Third, some markets may be one-sidedness because of insufficient information, knowledge, or ability to understand or forecast the consequences of an arrangement. Fourth, some markets may have bad consequences for society at large when they reinforce discrimination or inequality of status. For example markets that are considered noxious due to one or more parameters being present in their sale are child labor, prostitution and kidney exchange.
The main objective of this essay is to understand how market society emerged, but first the defintion and characteristics of a market society must be understood. According to Polanyi, “Market economy implies a self-regulating system of markets.... it is an economy directed by market prices and nothing but market prices”(Polanyi 43). Similarily, Heilbroner explains how the market “allows society to ensure its own provisioning”(Heilbroner 12). Both of these explanations describe how the market economy is self regulated, meaning that this “economic system is controlled, regulated and directed by markets alone...
The organization has five hierarchical levels, consisting of a set of divisional/regional managers, and three additional levels that exist in the plant. The plant organization consists of three levels: the plant manager, the seven area superintendents, and the front line people. The two cofounders decided “to avoid creating bureaucratic organizations resembling the government” because of their bad experiences working for the government. As a result, the structure of AES is highly decentralized. This allows managers and employees to both take ownership of their roles and have input on the success of the company. It also allows individuals to develop leadership skills for potential promotions. This flat management structure encourages high employee involvement in all decision-making opportunities.
Empowerment is another feature of post bureaucracy. It represents organizations awarding power and authority to those lower in the organizational hierarchy (Knights & Willmott, 2007). To some extent empowerment could be beneficial to a organization because empowerment would allow the workers to work...
Even though bureaucracy and red tape are overwhelming the accumulation of federal, state, and local mandates make working with the Discussion Board 4 Govt 475
Max Weber mentions that bureaucracy is characterized by impersonality (Weber, 1997), and this is another reason why it is an irrelevant phenomenon in the study of organizations. The relationships between the executive officials and their juniors in an organization that adopts a bureaucratic system of leadership in usually impersonal. Although impersonality of bureaucracy is praised as important in promoting equality by some scholars, it is a bureaucratic characteristic that cause infuriation in organizations as individual treatment of people is overridden by generalization, something that Gajduschek (2003) attests to. An important point to bear in mind is that offended employees are ultimately unproductive employees. Bureaucracies are often
Max Weber, Henri Fayol and Luther Halsey Gulick all addressed issues, concerning how an overall organization should be structured, bureaucratic administration, while Frederick Taylor’s theory of scientific management concentrated on techniques for increasing production (Tomkins, 2005). This essay will focus on the disadvantages and the advantages, including the effective and efficient components, of bureaucracy in public management.
Weber, a notable German sociologist, proposes a management system of bureaucracy where the organizations are formalized and having rigid structure. A bureaucratic organization is said to have a well-defined formal hierarchical structure in such a way that individuals who are in higher position will assign jobs to bottom tier