Bureaucracies R Us
What is your purpose in life? Following programs or achieving goals?
Bureaucracies R Us
I woke up this morning, thinking of bulldozers and bureaucracies in the same thought. That can’t be good.
Like most terms that we thoughtlessly throw around, we need to better define our terms. No not bulldozers. We all agree on that one, I think. But what is bureaucracy? Here’s my effort at a definition: Bureaucracy is an organization built up within another organization to execute the objectives of that larger organization. Oh, and bureaucracies are made out of people.
That larger organization can be a government (also made out of people), or perhaps a large corporation (yes, also made out of people). And there are bureaucracies within religions, education and any number of other organizations.
All those bureaucrats are there to keep things humming and in line with the objectives of the organization that created and ‘maintains’ the bureaucracy. Oh, but did I mention that bureaucracies are made out of people? Oh, yes, I did. That means that bureaucracies don’t always hum and maintain according to plan.
So, what about bulldozers? Bulldozers are there to level out uneven areas, to scoop out large areas in preparation for the foundation of a building, and in any other situation where you have to move a large mass of earth from here to there. If a tree gets in the way, no problem. Your average bulldozer can mow it down effortlessly. If a lot of trees get in the way, that may slow it down, but the bulldozer will get it done.
You may have caught on now, to why my mind conflated bureaucracies with bulldozers. A bulldozer is efficient and ‘single-minded’ in its purpose, as are many bureaucracies. Bulldozers and bureaucracies don’t make value judgments, the people who control them do. Without bureaucracy it would be impossible to build and maintain our transportation system, for example. It would also have been impossible for Hitler to execute his ‘final’ solution’ of Jews. It would be impossible for charitable organizations to send relief aid to disaster areas. It would be impossible for Russia to invade Ukraine. For better and worse, we could not exist in our modern form without bureaucracy.
And bureaucracy is where independent thought goes to die. Bureaucrats are not expected to use any more judgment than absolutely necessary. They are there to follow rules and protocols. We presume that the people who make those rules and protocols are capable of good judgment, to the benefit of all. We should know better. We do know better, don’t we? And yet, many presume that if some rule has been violated, such a person must be evil, or at least wrong. Those who comply must necessarily be good people. We should know better than that, too.
I have been contemplating the bulldozer approach to issues since my early adulthood. That’s fifty years, half a century, of asking myself “What were they thinking?!” The answer, of course, is that they weren’t thinking, they were following the rules. Are rules a satisfactory substitute for rational thought? I’ve encountered many bureaucrats in my life, both personally and professionally. Frankly, they intrigue me. Not always in a good way. How can such people put aside plain common sense in favor of following rules, in favor of going along? In favor of leveling everything around them. Nothing too high, nothing too low, everything level.
I think bureaucracy can be a state of mind as much as a cultural reality. We all encounter bureaucrats when we go to the DMV, enroll our kids in school, file tax returns or insurance claims. Yes, bureaucrats are people. And in this regard, I’ll point something out that I’ve been thinking about and will write about more, later: Process and goals. Some people are focused on the process, and have no actual goals. Some people focus on goals, and work through or around the process in order to achieve them. Yes, I would be in that second group.
And I have encountered goal oriented people within bureaucracies. Interlopers, you might call them. Numerous times I have needed a permit or some such. Sometimes my goal doesn’t dovetail with the rules. And sometimes a bureaucrat sees that my goal is worthwhile and bends the rules, the process, to align with my goals. Other bureaucrats, not so much. Rules are rules. In such cases, I’ve learned to go find another bureaucrat.
The bureaucrats who sent millions of Jews to the death camps were following the rules. I have no doubt that at least some of those bureaucrats, a la Schindler, found ways to subvert the rules and save Jews. Other bureaucrats didn’t see a problem, or were even unaware of the big picture that they were participating in.
Bureaucracies and bulldozers. How are they alike, and how are they different? I know people who are bureaucrats at heart, regardless of their profession. They barely understand the idea of goals, but they are authorities on process. They feel threatened by choices. They only truly feel comfortable when there are no choices. The rules say that we must do it ‘like this’, so we must do it ‘like this’. It’s the best for everyone, to the bureaucrat’s mind, because conformity is the ultimate goal, not the results. Roads, concentration camps, education as indoctrination, even belief systems (especially belief systems!); all must be bulldozed into cultural conformity. No highs, no lows.
In 1948, George Orwell wrote 1984, a parable of indoctrination, a parable of the will of the state taking precedence over the will of the individual. Some things never change. In 2084 The Reawaking, I examine the same theme, but from a different perspective. What if conformity becomes so oppressive that it spawns a movement within itself to reestablish the individual as the ultimate authority in his own life?
2084 The Reawakening at Barnes and Noble
2084 The Reawakening at Amazon
"And bureaucracy is where independent thought goes to die."
True, and the main goal of a bureaucracy is to preserve and grow the bureaucracy regardless of changes in leadership, i.e. elected officials in the case of government. Elected officials come and go but the swamp abides.