Bureaucratization of non‐governmental organizations: An analysis of employees' perceptions and attitudes
| Author | E. A. Narayana |
| Published date | 01 May 1992 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230120202 |
| Date | 01 May 1992 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
AND
DEVELOPMENT, VOL. 12,123-137 (1992)
Bureaucratization
of
non-governmental organizations: an
analysis
of
employees’ perceptions and attitudes
E.
A. NARAYANA
Nagarjuna University.
India
SUMMARY
The key concern of the following article is to measure empirically the extent to which non-
governmental organizations
(NGOs)
are bureaucratized. The perceptions of the employees
of the
NGOs
were elicited about the characteristics of bureaucracy. Interval scale data on
respondent perceptions were analysed through stepwide regression. The statistical analysis
does not reveal any specific directionality. Instead, it shows
a
complicated set of relationships
between each
of
eight characteristics of bureaucracy (dependent variables) on the one hand
and the multitude of independent variables on the other. It can be inferred from the data
and regression results that the bureaucratic characteristics of
NGOs
have not crystallized,
as in the case
of
many governmental organizations. Only some postulates of bureaucratic
theory, as propounded by Max Weber, are prevalent in the
NGOs.
INTRODUCTION
Bureaucracy and bureaucratization are ubiquitous characteristics of modem times.
Bureaucracy is a term which lends itself to emotional responses and is used as an
epithet for its negative consequences (Gawthrop, 1969). In common parlance, it
is
used to denote tortuous procedures, narrow outlook, inefficiency, red-tapism and
the high handed manners of government by officials. Yet it is considered the very
essence of political modernization and the core of modern government (Friedrich,
1953, p. 464). It is almost impossible to find any branch of administration without
bureaucracy. It is an all pervasive phenomenon and its inevitability is widely accepted.
Max Weber may be regarded as the founder of the systematic study
of
bureaucracy.
Almost every study of bureaucracy contains a reference to his work. It
is
widely
recognized that, of all the studies on bureaucracies, some are a series of footnotes
to Weber, some use his model and some recognize his formulative ideas but take
them as the main object of their criticism (Dyer and Dyer, 1965, p. 16).
The Weberian concept
of
bureaucracy was based on a sociological analysis which
united in a single frame of reference both political and organizational dimensions.
Weber formulates his concept theoretically and establishes the connection of bureauc-
racy as an administrative organization with politics and society. He also imparts
to his technical definition a degree of clarity and sophistication never previously
attained. Precision, speed, unambiguity, knowledge of the files, continuity, discretion,
unity, strict subordination, reduction of friction and of material and personal costs-
Dr Narayana is a Lecturer in
the
Department
of
Political Science and Public Administration, Nagajuna
University, Nagarjunanagar-522
510,
(A.P.) India.
027
1-2075/92/020123-17$07.50
0
1992
by John Wiley
&
Sons, Ltd.
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