Create an initial discussion forum post in two steps. In step 1 choose a bureaucracy (i.e. school, workplace, place of worship, sports team, etc.) that you have had some experience with. Make sure you provide the name of the bureaucracy you chose and why you selected it. Do an analysis of that bureaucracy based on the information in the information section. In step 2: Identify how the bureaucracy that you have selected meets each of the characteristics (1-6 ) associated with bureaucracies in the information section. Provide specific examples for each. Write at least 10 sentences that discuss your personal example of bureaucracy. You should also include your thoughts/reactions/opinions to the pluses and negatives of a bureaucracy. And finally, state whether, or not, you think that bureaucracies are positive or negative, and why.

Information:

Much of our society is organized as a bureaucracy: corporations, institutions, the armed services, etc. A bureaucracy is a large secondary with specific structural characteristics that are formed to efficiently achieve specific goals.

Characteristics of bureaucracy are:

1. Specialization
2. Hierarchy of offices
3. Rules and regulations
4. Technical competence
5. Impersonality
6. Formal written rules

Advantages for bureaucratic structures:

• Standards, you know who is responsible for what
• You know what is expected of you for every situation
• Judged by the job you do, rather than you are
• Know your jobs well because of expertise
• One person is not responsible for everything

Disadvantages to a bureaucratic structure:

1. Confusing chain of command
2. Passing the buck
3. Peter’s principle, people rise to the level of total incompetence
4. Rules and regulations outdated
5. People see you as a number
6. Communication flows only one way
7. Goal displacement
8. Parkinson’s Law, work expands to fill the time given it