The Enabling Roles of Bureaucracy in Cross-Expertise Collaboration

Abstract

Based on a 15-month ethnographic study of the engineering division of an aeronautical company, I explore the role of bureaucracy in cross-expertise collaboration. I bring together an attention to situated work practices with a focus on formal elements and I find that, contrary to expectations, bureaucracy has an enabling impact on collaborative processes. More specifically, my fieldwork shows that the typical elements of a bureaucratic work organization foster clarity, fairness, integration and streamlined relations in the interdependent work of a multitude of experts involved in the product development of the company. These positive outcomes, however, depend on three conditions under which bureaucracy operates in this context. Namely, the familiarity of employees with bureaucratic structures, their buy-in, and the flexibility they have when dealing with them. I propose that these findings contribute to organizational scholarship in at least three ways. First, unlike what is assumed, this study shows that bureaucracy supports collaboration and helps to solve key challenges associated with work across expertise domains. Second, it enriches our understanding of the interplay between formal and informal elements in cross-expertise work. Third, it refines our ideas about the role of bureaucracy in lateral relations and the conditions underpinning its enabling value.