Essay Sample on Bureaucracy

Introduction

Bureaucracy has for decades been viewed with increased skepticism as public employees and agencies are increasingly criticized as incompetent and inefficient. Any system of organization that is known for its size and complexity is a bureaucracy, and within it, all the assignments, jobs, and responsibilities are meant to achieve a specific goal. Bureaucracies exist in all levels of government as well as in most large private organizations. Thus, the individuals employed by government agencies including the high-level executives and managers and the clerical members of staff are known as bureaucrats. The public, its leaders, and social scientist have not been taking bureaucracy seriously despite public administration being a significant political phenomenon. As a result, it is difficult to accurately make judgments as regards to efficiency and waste in bureaucracies.

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The public does not take bureaucracy seriously that is why it is difficult to make accurate judgments about the problems in administrations. People share the belief that public bureaucracies have a vital role to play in various processes that enable the proper governing of citizens. Of course, people know that the government branches and other major political factors such as the media and pressure groups have vital roles to play in the processes that affect the governing of citizens (Milward &Rainey 150). But the public still chooses to see only the public agency roles and the influence of the other political actors on the bureaucracies.

It is easy to see the negative side of an issue than the positive side is the reason people do not make accurate judgments about bureaucracies. The stories dealing with bureaucracies and bureaucrats regularly appear in almost every point in the daily newspapers, and their performance is frequently commented on by politicians (Hill 16). Most public discussions on bureaucracies are mostly deplorable than discussing their actual condition. Besides, the subject of "bureaucracy" is deeply deplored in America and is among the leading negative political symbols in the nation. Hill found that the American public believes that federal bureaucracy ranks last among other public and private institutions when it comes to the aptitude to "get things done" and next to last when ranked on the qualities of integrity, honesty, and dependability (Hill, 16). This alleged ineffectiveness and untrustworthiness of the institutions are what makes it difficult to make accurate judgments about bureaucracies.

The attitudes toward government also contribute to the inaccurate judgments about bureaucracies. Many people believe that a powerful government can pose a significant threat to the public since the elected officials easily lose control over the bureaucrats that are genuinely in control. The public believes that the government is not run for the benefit of the people but rather for the advantage of a few big interests (Hill 17). The level of trust for the government is shallow which reveals the levels of cynicism of the people hence the feeling of alienation from governmental bureaucracies is only natural.

Attitudes towards bureaucratic encounters also contribute to the negativity towards bureaucracies. Despite the people's high satisfaction from the bureaucratic contacts assistance programs such as the benefits of food stamps, subsidized housing, school lunch aid, and Medicaid, there is still a high percentage that has experienced negative bureaucratic encounters. The problems such as those of unemployment, retirement benefits, and public assistance, as well as taxation and policing issues, are still experienced by a significant number in the country.

It shows that there is a complicated relationship with bureaucracy in America since there are some instances when the bureaucracies are loved and when they are hated. There is a difference between particular experiences with the bureaucracies and the people's generalized assessments of it making it intricate for the public to make judgments regarding the waste and efficiencies in bureaucracies.

Works Cited

Hill, Larry B. The State Of Public Bureaucracy. M.E. Sharpe, 1992.

Milward, Brinton, and Hal, Rainey. "Don't Blame the Bureaucracy", Journal of Public Policy, vol. 3, no. 2 (May, 1983), pp. 149-168.