Bureaucracy and Accountability

Bureaucracy and Accountability



Introduction

Both in sociology and in management science, and especially that of public administration, bureaucracy is an organization or organizational structure characterized by explicit and regularized procedures, division of responsibilities and specialization of labor, hierarchy and impersonal relationships. In principle, the term can refer to any type of organization, e.g. private, public, social, nonprofit or for-profit, etc.

A second characteristic of bureaucracies, particularly the government, is the recruitment and placement or removal of personnel (staff) according to explicit criteria relevant to the performance of functions (i.e., not related to personal matters).

Examples of everyday bureaucracies can count on hospitals, courts, churches, schools, military and business, both public and private. For example, a hospital supervisor for the principal or make decisions about the overall distribution of resources between departments. Each head of the department are medical decisions about how to organize the resources that have been designated by the principal or supervisor in relation to care that his department provides to the public (hours and types of care from doctors, nurses ... - materials and use of beds, operating rooms). Each doctor or nurse within those departments are decisions about patient care to attend, with the resources available in your department as they have been organized by the department head, etc These officials (doctors, nurses, etc) Are both employed as promoted or dismissed in relation to their technical training and performance in relation to their tasks, and not because they are friendly, friends or relatives or descendants director of any significant family. For example, both a doctor and a nurse manager access to their positions relative to the specialization courses they have attended and successfully completed and in relation to their experience.

In modern times the bureaucracy assumes its role and importance not only in the development of state functions, but also in corporations and large companies, capitalist or not, due to the development and specialization of labor that have experienced these, often referred this type of bureaucracy in the private corporate bureaucracy, a term commonly understood as referring to all the employees of higher ranked specialists in areas such as marketing, advertising, sales, legal departments, administration, public relations, etc. it alleged, they hold some kind of monopoly on certain knowledge. This sector of services is also one of the segments of the society's fastest growing economic power and decision-making in many countries of the First World (Miller, 2010).

Discussion

Characteristics

According to Weber, a bureaucratic system governed by the following principles:

The performance of official duties is permanent and constant (in the sense that officials do not change arbitrarily and tasks will always be someone to play a certain role).

Such functions executed strictly according to the following rules:

The duties of each officer outlined according to impersonal criteria.

The official has the authority to perform their duties.

The means of coercion available to the officer strictly limited and conditions of use clearly defined.

The responsibilities and authority of each officer are part of a hierarchy of authority, rights and duties with appropriate monitoring and appeal.

\Officials did not own the resources used in carrying out their functions, but are responsible for the use of ...