How does bureaucracy work

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Robert Longley. History and Government Expert. Robert Longley is a U. Facebook Facebook. Updated February 03, Essential Characteristics of a Bureaucracy Complex multi-level administrative hierarchy Departmental specialization Strict division of authority Standard set of formal rules or operating procedures. Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Their crucial role intertwines with other structures in pushing or impeding the process of transformation or transition.

In contrast with the status in stable regime where the bureaucracy operates according to clearly defined goals and policies, declaration of the transitional period toughens the bureaucratic mission because they do not have certain policies. Consequently, the bureaucrats and organizing institutions have the responsibility of taking measures, implementation and contributing to the continuity of government operations.

They try to work out the problems and challenges resulting from the temporary absence of the new regime. The must utilize policies and objectives among the massive information, capabilities and experience they possess. Accordingly, bureaucracy could play a key role for a period of time in the transition that may be prolonged or shortened.

Thus, the new regime could crystallize its own policies, objectives and the road map for the transformation. Jenei and Witte, , pp. Poland was one of the first Eastern European countries to break the socialist rule in Separation was ignited by economic challenges, political conflicts of the governmental institutions, the deteriorated standards of living, the varied development returns between different regions and the widening gap between government and citizens.

Moreover, division was highlighted by the failure of the United Workers Party, the ruling party at the time, and the president Jaruzelski to face the public and elite protests about the deteriorating national economy. The declining GDP was starkly compared with that of other countries in the continent. In this context, there was an agreement among the political parties on the construction of a new constitution, elections and regime.

Therefore, they formed a committee to write the new constitution announced after a popular referendum in May Making the constitution and holding new elections represented the first step chosen by the new regime. Furthermore, factors such as the high levels of corruption, low confidence in governmental institutions, and weak participation percentage in the electoral process have doubled the complexities of the transitional period.

In this context, some dilemmas related to the policy-making process in transition were highlighted. Questions to consider include: What were the priorities of the new regime for the agenda setting? Who were the main actors or participants in making the decisions? Was the political consensus considered as a necessity? There were many internal and external variables affecting the policy-making process in the transitional period in Poland.

As for the external variables, globalization came first. The urgent need to meet the necessary economic and political requirements needed to join regional entities, such as the European Union or NATO, added momentum to the policy-making process Wesolowski, , pp. Thus, there are some workers in the highest levels of government who have no moral commitments to the new regime because they were appointed by the former and they are loyal to it. Moreover, some problems arose related to the salaries of public and private employees in similar jobs.

They negatively affected the competitive advantage in the public institutions as university graduates drove qualified employees to seek jobs only in the private sector. This was the response from the bureaucrats to achieve the balance and improve their living conditions.

It is found in all governmental levels in a context where civil service is usually undeveloped, centralized, irresponsible and riddled with bureaucratic implementation of laws Wolf, , pp. Concerning the classical dilemma between the bureaucracy and democracy, bureaucracy used to represent real problems for organizations that rely on freedom of individuals, expression and commitment, such as universities.

The bureaucrats also have many organizational culture challenges. For example, the lack of innovation and creativity, refusing adaptation to improvements and resisting changes come usually on the top of the challenges list. Although skills and expertise are essential, the organizations need more variety and flexibility in transitional period. The bureaucrats used to confront accountability by selective reporting to avoid punishment and increase incentives control of data or information so that they could maintain their jobs regardless of the efficiency and quality of the services.

Therefore, the bureaucrats do not only face new phenomena related to the transition, but also, they are supposed to participate in them Frank, , pp. For example: The new bills and laws regulating the freedom of information and dissemination of values of transparency;. The local administration reform decentralization, delegation of functions and powers, providing services such as education, the increasing role played by local units and restructuring or inventing governmental programs ;.

The balance of policy-making and administrative laws that operate through legislative and executive authority; and. The transition process varies from one country to another and there are some determinants contributes to these differences: the political history, economic and institutional status and cultural heritage and social values.

In addition, the relationship between governments and bureaucrats is among the main determinants highlighted by studies to understand the role of bureaucracy in transition. For example, some studies considered variables as the educational levels of bureaucrats, their technical skills, expertise, interactions with citizens and their support to the confidence in governmental institutions to be crucial in understanding the relationship.

The more the bureaucrats reach higher levels in these variables, the more they be able to participate not only in achieving the objectives of the new regime but also in policy-making process.

Furthermore, factors as the values and political beliefs of the bureaucratic elite and top managers could affect the relationship between bureaucracy and government. Consequently, the closer the margins of objectives and interests between the new regime and bureaucrats, the more probable the bureaucrats would positively participate and involve in policy-making process.

In addition, the more the relationship between political officials and higher levels of bureaucracy is better, the more positive it will affect the success of policies toward reform or change. On the other hand, there could be conflict or contradiction between the objectives and interests of bureaucrats and new regime pioneers because of: the political loyalties of some high-level bureaucrats to the old regime;. Therefore, the bureaucrats may refrain from providing the decision-makers with the required information to make policies, and even more, they may impede their implementation.

They also can affect these policies evaluation by negatively influence the regime image and confidence in front of the masses Ishay, , pp. As the regime changes, regardless of the reason for this transformation, new policymakers need to know how to: use the bureaucracy to achieve their goals and to overcome the transitional periods;.

The features of the bureaucracy, such as specialization, identification of works and ability to control them, contribute to increasing the efficiency and quality goods and services production.

The more the bureaucratic capacities are, the greater the influence on the elite more effective participation in policy-making. The bureaucrats can also use their knowledge and ability to access information and control their submission to enhance their role and achieve the required objectives if they in line with their goals.

On the other hand, the bureaucrats may isolate and protect themselves by laws and strictly follow the rules to evade from their responsibility acting as a group not individually, therefore their resistance to change is always significant Jenei and Witte, , pp.

For example, many variables constitute the ecology of transitional period and the determinants of the bureaucracy role in Poland: The transition to a market economy requires the replacement of pre governmental institutions and practices with new institutions that differ in terms of objectives, structures, organization, staff behaviors and capacities.

The new governments and institutions had to play an important role in rebuilding the administrative apparatus, its credibility, and engagement of new actors such as local governments and private sector in policy-making process Rice, , p. The effects of the closure policies of many agencies that used to enjoy considerable public support had created a functional vacuum and caused economic turmoil.

Thus, many civil servants lost their jobs and other employees were threatened with losing their income. Those employees use their power and political and administrative channels they have with the society to keep their jobs and fight against the closure of these governmental institutions Blanchard, , pp. The bureaucracy tried to prolong the transition time and the use of old laws or legislations during the new regime by providing incomplete information, deliberately delaying its provision and highlighting the challenges and changes the regime face that were economic, social and political, which were too much to be quickly absorbed Kulesza, , p.

The transition process coincided with the changing role of the government in the society and its transformation to serve the interests of citizens.

Although the daily interactions between the public and the government were carried out through the administrative apparatus or bureaucracy, the problems of these interactions were reflected in general policies.

Furthermore, these interactions affected interest and pressure groups efforts to protect the consumer in light of the increasing role of the private sector. Communication channels must be developed among citizens, local governments and the central government. Rehabilitation of the civil service and making it accountable to citizens in addition to the parliamentary councils Regulska, , pp. Moreover, bureaucrats stressed these reforms as dilemmas, especially due to the financial responsibility of the government with regard to increasing expenditures and at the same time comply with the law that set a limit for obtaining loans not exceeding 3: 5 of the GDP Sutch et al.

The lack of information doubled the complexity of policy-making as the new and the expert policymakers could not sometimes name institutions that provide them with accurate and complete information on any issue and they did not have access to all information sources.

Moreover, the absence of good organizational structure, the lack of clear responsibilities regarding bureaucratic functions and the weak coordination among institutions got more complicated if the employee who collects this information at the official level is not loyal to the new regime. Thus, it seems to be more difficult if there is a need for a coordination between governmental and non-governmental actors regards policy-making process.

The complex and multi-dimensional nature of administrative reform issue legislation, procedures, principles, techniques, etc. Bureaucracy may seem like a modern invention, but bureaucrats have served in governments for nearly as long as governments have existed.

Archaeologists and historians point to the sometimes elaborate bureaucratic systems of the ancient world, from the Egyptian scribes who recorded inventories to the biblical tax collectors who kept the wheels of government well greased. In contrast, in the United States, a democracy and the Constitution came first, followed by the development of national governmental organizations as needed, and then finally the study of U.

In fact, the long pedigree of bureaucracy is an enduring testament to the necessity of administrative organization. However, it was not until the mids that the German scholar Lorenz von Stein argued for public administration as both a theory and a practice since its knowledge is generated and evaluated through the process of gathering evidence.

For example, a public administration scholar might gather data to see whether the timing of tax collection during a particular season might lead to higher compliance or returns. Credited with being the father of the science of public administration, von Stein opened the path of administrative enlightenment for other scholars in industrialized nations. In the early U. This is understandable since the American Revolution was largely a revolt against executive power and the British imperial administrative order.

For example, Article II, Section 2, provides the president the power to appoint officers and department heads. Granting the president and Congress such responsibilities appears to anticipate a bureaucracy of some size. Under President George Washington, the bureaucracy remained small enough to accomplish only the necessary tasks at hand. The employees within these three departments, in addition to the growing postal service, constituted the major portion of the federal bureaucracy for the first three decades of the republic.

Two developments, however, contributed to the growth of the bureaucracy well beyond these humble beginnings.

The cabinet of President George Washington far left consisted of only four individuals: the secretary of war Henry Knox, left , the secretary of the treasury Alexander Hamilton, center , the secretary of state Thomas Jefferson, right , and the attorney general Edmund Randolph, far right. The small size of this group reflected the small size of the U. Credit: modification of work by the Library of Congress.

The first development was the rise of centralized party politics in the s. Under Democratic President Andrew Jackson, many thousands of party loyalists filled the ranks of the bureaucratic offices around the country. This was the beginning of the spoils system , in which political appointments were transformed into political patronage doled out by the president on the basis of party loyalty.

Political patronage is the use of state resources to reward individuals for their political support. This system served to enforce party loyalty by tying the livelihoods of the party faithful to the success or failure of the party. The number of federal posts the president sought to use as appropriate rewards for supporters swelled over the following decades.

Patronage had the advantage of putting political loyalty to work by making the government quite responsive to the electorate and keeping election turnout robust because so much was at stake. However, the spoils system also had a number of obvious disadvantages. It was a reciprocal system. Page 1 Page 2. What Bureaucrats Do Government bureaucrats perform a wide variety of tasks. Bureaucratic Functions One useful approach to understanding what bureaucrats do is to examine the actions of different governmental agencies.