Understanding the Nature of Bureaucracy: An Integration of the Organizational and Public Choice Approaches
Abstract
Bureaucracy is a term that has taken on different meanings in the academic literature since its inception. Vincent de Gournay first coined the term during the eighteenth century to describe the illnesses of rule by officials. Since that time, the term has evolved in organizational theory to describe a form of rational hierarchical organization in the public and private sector and at the same time, the public choice school describes it as a class of institution associated with inefficiency. This study reviews the literature on bureaucracy and incorporates the insights of Austrian economic theory on information, rules, and uncertainty to integrate and clear up the ambiguous definitions of the term. Bureaucracy is defined as a set of administrative rules used by an organization to coordinate production when coordination is not accomplished with the aid of monetary prices. This new definition has implications for the Air Force and any organization which must rely on rule- based systems to transmit production decisions in the absence of a monetary profit and loss system. Because prices and administrative rules are closely related in purpose the price system's efficiency in providing information, incentives, and discipline serves as an appropriate model for the design of better bureaucratic systems.... Management, Administration, Public administration, Economic analysis, Bureaucracy, Rules, Prices, Public choice, Organizational theory.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA262394
Entities
People
- Rodney G. Vernon
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology