The Bureaucratic Organisation

There is low division of work in public bureaucratic organisations for the higher civil servants. There are however often also low-skilled jobs in bureaucracy like organisations which have a higher division of work. The work in bureaucracies is coordinated by a system of rules which also is the foundation for the principle of equal treatment. Work is also coordinated by standardised skills through a common education (E g. legal studies), formal assignments, command and control by supervisors. There is a strong hierarchy where supervisors control their subordinates and workers report to their supervisor. The bureaucratic organisation can be efficient in a stable environment but has difficulties to adapt to a more changing environment due to its static structure. There are other set-backs such as suboptimization, lack of holistic understanding, dependence of rules and structures and few opportunities for workers to take initiative, learn and develop. There might also be some health-related problems. As work is very prescribed, there is no room for workers to influence their work tasks. Thus control/decision authority is low which is related to a risk to develop stress related health problems such as depression and cardiac deceases.