Hey guys, I have a simple question: Is there a such a thing as a private bureaucracy?
Strapko: Hey guys, I have a simple question: Is there a such a thing as a private bureaucracy?
Family, epsecially on holiday.
"Look at me, I'm quoting another user to show how wrong I think they are, out of arrogance of my own position. Wait, this is my own quote, oh shi-" ~ Nitroadict
A bureaucracy is what you get when you are so far away from your agents that you cannot trust them to do what you need them to, and thus impose upon them a set of rules to follow.
They then become rules-obeyers instead of market participants.
The fallacies of intellectual communism, a compilation - On the nature of power
Yes, Toyota prides itself in its structured bureaucracy. They are a private enterprise(for the most part), hence a private bureaucracy.
Bureaucracy can happen at many levels, in governments, or even small organizations.
Simple answer: Yes, very much so.
As such any organisation will have it. You would, for instance, not have a functioning legal/judicial system without it, anarcho-capitalism or not. Also, a system of private ownership of the means of production implies a hierarchy, ab initio, and thus bureaucracy.
This is not to say that bureaucracy is necessarily a good thing, nor that private bureaucracy = public bureaucracy. Indeed, depending on the setup, a bureaucracy can be so as to effectively place proper responsibility within the hierarchy or so as to hide proper responsibility. However, where it is possible to avoid a malfunctioning private bureaucracy, it is, following any standard definition, quite the opposite for most public bureaucracies. Now, whether or not any bureaucracy whatsoever tends towards malfunctioning is an entirely different matter. Look it up on Wikipedia for more references including Max Weber et al. Additionally, look up "The Peter Principle". Personally I'm somewhat undecided about its general applicability, but interesting it is nonetheless.
Thanks for the responses guys.
Didn't like the responses on RPF's? These responses are very similar to the ones over there. ha! Oh well. Stubborness is awesome.
From the dictionary:
My AP Gov class disagreed though. Bureaucracy was defined as any kind of hierarchical system of organizing things, or something like that.
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