A review of some characteristics of bureaucracy with comparative references

Abstract

Many different meanings have been assigned to the term bureaucracy. The term was first used in the eighteenth century by a Frenchman, de Gournay, who defined bureaucracy as a new form of government government by officials. In the nineteenth century the idea of bureaucracy was elaborated into a doctrine of administrative efficiency. It was particularly associated with the civil service - a service of well educated and trained officials whose great task was that of administering the State. It was Max Weber who became responsible for establishing the first meaning as the standard one in twentieth century social science. He was among the first to develop a generalizable theory of organization applicable across modern society. Weber's model can be described as being a definitional and a normative model. The definitional model of bureaucracy is concerned with specifying the features that a system of administration needs so that it can properly be called 'bureaucratic' . He distinguishes ten or eleven of these. Since Weber believed that the defining characteristics were also necessary conditions for administrative efficiency his model becomes a normative model as well. A normative model seeks to prescribe what are the necessary. conditions for organizational efficiency. While many organizational sociologists accept Weber' s definitional model, because it is clear, precise and generalizable, many debate the normative model. They question its efficiency, its reliability and its rationality.