Introduction
Bureaucracy may either refer to a group of workers like he civil service employees or organizational design professionals or an ideal way of organizing the government agencies. There are several attributes or characteristics of bureaucracy.
First, formal hierarchical structure is a form of central decision making whereby those levels above control and make decisions for those ones below. In bureaucracy, also there is management by rules whereby after the top levels make decisions they are executed by the lower levels in a consistent manner. The organization is also done in terms of specialty in which those professionals doing the same thing are grouped under one department (Albrow, 2010 p. 32).
Additionally, the main aim of the organization is to serve the organization and those within it and it must treat all employees and customers equally. With bureaucracy, employment is based on merit and qualification (Thompson, 2011 p. 68). Staff is only employed after going through a competitive process of staffing and their documents must be verified to ensure that only those people are qualified are placed in various positions.
Bureaucracy is very important because it sets out guidelines for running organizations. Bureaucracy is like a set of principles that stipulates the hierarchical levels, how decision-making is made whether it is centralized or decentralized, staffing, and other forms of management. It is therefore important in management because it lays down strategies for managers to follow (Von, 2012 p. 112). In the business world, bureaucracy is used in management of business organizations.
Human resource managers for instance use bureaucracy in the process of staffing. They consider candidates who apply for various vacant positions in the organization in terms of their qualification. Those with academic qualification as well as skills and experience are given jobs and paid in relation to what they do instead of just considering their applicants who are influential. It is an important ingredient for a successful business organization.
Works Cited
Albrow, Martin. Bureaucracy. New York: Praeger, 2010. Print.
Beetham, David. Bureaucracy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009. Print.
Stewart, Rosemary. The Reality of Management. Jordan Hill, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007. Print.
Thompson, Victor A. Modern Organization. New York: Knopf, 2011. Print.
Von, Mises L. Bureaucracy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012. Print
