Counterbalancing Perspectives on the Current Administrative Telos of American Bureaucracies

Abstract

Although routinely criticized for its many flaws, bureaucracy, as a form of organizing, remains perceived as being more efficient than any other currently known forms of administration. In fact, efficiency is often considered as the primary purpose of bureaucratic organization. This article examines the current administrative telos of American bureaucracies. It makes the twofold argument that bureaucracy’s dominant purpose, as a form of organizing, changes with time, and given the contingency of the political and historical developments of the past four decades, administrative efficiency can no longer be freely associated with bureaucratic constructs. It is hypothesized that instilling stability, by shielding public servants and their decision-making from environmental volatility and stakeholders’ challenges, much of which are political in character, has become the current dominant telos of American bureaucracies.