Dysfunctions of Bureaucracy

Buechner criticized the bureaucracy of Max Weber. The organs that Max Weber’s structure or functions of bureaucracy are full of advantages. He argued that Max Weber’s structure or functions of bureaucracy are full of advantages. Max Weber presented the functions on basis of characteristics where Buechner gave the model according to characteristics or purpose. Buechner found some problems in max weber’s model.

Absence of Adoption: 

weber’s model has remained as a model only. It doesn’t exist in the practical field.

Absence of Individual Freedom: 

There in nothing like individual freedom in weber’s model for workers. But it is essential to work freely to achieve the purpose.

Competency: 

Members are needed to be employed outside the merit and technical competency for the well-being of an organization.

Focusing on Public Bureaucracy: 

Max Weber’s theory only focused on public bureaucracy, not in private sector. His model is not effective in public sector bureaucracy only.

Importance of Informal Relation: 

Impersonality declines the importance of informal relation on unofficial contacts which is essential sometimes on an organization.

Hierarchical Pattern: 

The superiors order the subordinates and accordingly they perform. That does not always help to achieve the particular goal of an organization.

Max Weber’s bureaucracy model actually focused on process, not on the result of actions which are more important.

Fundamental Principles of State Policy in Bangladesh

Fundamental principles of state policy indicate those principles which are used as a guideline in formulating different policies. These policies are made up based on the social, economic and administrative perspectives. These principles are the fixed permanent which is not denied by any of the government and policies are made based on these principles as well.

The concept of fundamental principles has been taken to our country Irish constitution and these are taken focusing on the prohibition of economic imbalance and extortion. Now every rolling government follows these fundamental principles. The fundamental principles have been stated in the Article-8 to Article-25 in part II of the constitution Republic of Bangladesh.

Fundamental Principles of State Policy:

Nationalism:

Nationalism has been set as the very first principles which have been stated in the article 9 of the constitution. Nationalism which has been achieved from the culture, belief and a long struggle of the war of independence.

Socialism and Freedom Extortion:

Socialism has been stated as the basic principles and mentioned in Article-10 of the constitution. In order to avoid the extortion of wealth and economic imbalance, these have been taken as fundamental principles of state policy.

Democracy and Human Rights:

Democracy is the way of people’s participation in every sphere of the government. To ensure the human right and people's participation democracy has been included as a fundamental principle of state policy in Bangladesh.

Secularism and Freedom of Religion:

Constitution of republic gives the freedom of religion and prohibits the abuse of religion in the name of politics. It prohibits to rescue the name of any religion in the state. Constitution of the republic of Bangladesh states about this basic principle in the “Article 12”.

Provision of ownership:

Constitution of Bangladesh states about these types of ownership:

       1. Public ownership refers to that type ownership which remains          people will be the owner of the property as well as government         is the owner of that property.

       2. Private ownership means organization or person can hold the            ownership.

       3. Although ownership has been mentioned where the                          cooperation of public-private ownership has been legitimate.

Emancipation of Peasants and worker:

The constitution gives the provision of the emancipation of the toiling masses of Peasants and workers.

Free and compulsory Education:

The constitutions give the provision of free and compulsory education. It focused on education of illiteracy and ensuring primary education for everybody. Women participation is also compensation considered as an important focus.

Rural Development and Agricultural Revolution:

Our government is focused on the development and agricultural revolution and it is considered as the key source of development of the country.

Public Health and Morality:

Proper sanitation, measure for the prevention of diseases and improving awareness are being focused by the government based on this vision, the contented adopted this fundamental principle as state policy.

Improving and Protection of Environment and Bio-Diversity:

The improvement of environment and preserving ecological balance is the main concern and as per the concern, this has been adopted as a state policy.

Work as a right and Duty:

The citizens have to perform some basic duties and they have the right to and legal work based on their capability.

Provision of Necessities:

The state shall be concerned for the fulfillment of basic necessities---

·  Citizens will have the right to food, shelter, treatment, education and recreation as their basic necessity.

·  Every citizen will get the job according to their capabilities and their proper wages and facilities.

·  Every citizen will get the financial and non-financial benefits.  

Separation from Judiciary from the Execution:

Judiciary bodies and executive bodies are to be separate from the proper execution and evaluation of policies.

National Culture:

There is some culture and there is also some culture from minor groups as well and these have to be preserved.

Promotion of International Peace and Solidarity:

Promotion of international peace and solidarity should be ensured

Fundamental principles are maintained in the every shade of administration these are more focused on the social and economic values. The outcomes of following these principles are definitely in a positive way but with a slow process, as they deal from very root central as focused for the development. 

Field Administration vs Local Government

Field Administration and Local Government unit are two vital parts of the public institution of the present structure of administration. These two are directly involved in the policy execution process following a direct structure and responsibilities.

Field Administration Unit:

Field administration unit refers to that unit which is directly involved in the policy execution and works in the field within a fixed jurisdiction. Field administration unit plays that vital role where they connect with the local people taking the policy from the central government. An efficient and ineffective field administration unit can easily turn an innovative policy or plan into a field one.

The present field administration unit is of the following three fires:    

          · Division

          · District

          · Upazilla

Division:

Division is the height tire of the field administration unit. Divisional commissioner it the administrative head of the division. Divisional commissioner deals with every activity performed within the division and he also oversees the activities of the district and Upazila.   

District:

District of the second tire of field administration in Bangladesh. Deputy Commissioner is the head of the district.

Upazilla: 

Upazilla is the last tire of field administration. Upazilla Chairman is the political head and Upazilla Nirbahi Officer (UNO) is the administrative head of the Upazilla.

Combining of these tire basically, the policy implementation is done and reached to root level.

Local Government Institutions:

Local government institution deals with local level people for policy implementation. The representatives are elected by the local people and some of them are centrally selected (in practice).

Local Government Institutions:

           1)  Rural Local Government Institution

           2)  Urban Local Government Institution

1. Rural Local Government Institution: 

• Zila Parishad
• Upazila Parishad
• Union Parishad

Rural Local Government institutions are in three tries Zilla Parishad, Upazila Parishad, and Union Parishad. Union Parishad works for rural development such as sanitation, fisheries, tree plantation, and nutrition and so on. Upazila Parishad works for the welfare of local people as well as and the Zilla Parishad oversees the activities of other units.

2. Urban Local Government Unit:

                (i) City Corporation

               (ii) Municipalities/ Paurashava 

These institutions work in their jurisdiction for the welfare of the people of their given territory. Field administration and Local Government units contain more differences in their role and structure.

Structure:

Representatives of field administration units are elected and mostly the representatives of Local government institutions are elected by the local people. There is territorial conflict on local government.

Purpose: 

Filed administrative institutions are focused on implementation of the policy and local government institutions are also focused on the welfare of the local people.

Administration: 

Field administration is run under cabinet division and local government institutions are run under cabinet division and ministry of local government. The responsibilities of representatives of local government are fixed by the rules of business 1996.

Structure of Public Institutions in Bangladesh

Public institutions refers to those institutions which are directly involved in policy formulation and implementation process. These institutions are the core element of formulating and implementing process of government and these institutions are more conceptualized as it it’s directly involved in public affairs and more importantly they are directly run by the ruling government. Public Administration institutions are mainly those administrative bodies which deals with public policy implementation and formulation, hardly these are focused on the judicial activities.

The Concept of public institutions are practiced in our constitution form the British regime. Now, Bangladesh carries a well-structured public administration system and related public institutions as well.

From the structure of present administrative system, public administrative system can divided into :-

·         Executive Body

·         Legislative Body

·         Constitutional Body

·         Local Government Body

Executive Body: 

Public administration largely deals with the executive body of the country. It can be said that the executive body is the heart of public administration. Execution body basically deals with the implementation the policies. The entire executive body can be divided into two parts:-

1.       Central Body

2.       Field Administrative Body

Central Body: 

Central body is further divided into many parts such as ministry, division, department, wing, section, and branch. In the present structure, these are ministry in Bangladesh .The administrative head of the ministry are the secretaries (public servant) and the political head of the ministry are ministers.

Figure: Heretical Structure of Central Bodies

Field Administrative Body: 

Field administration unit refers to that unit which works for policy implementation within a fixed geographic area. Field administrative units are divided into two terms and those are district, division and upazila parishad. These institution basically starches the policies from central government to the field.

Legislative Body:  

Legislative body refers to that administrative body which deals with the policy formulation. In Bangladesh legislative body mainly means to parliament which is headed by the honorable prime minister and these are 300 seats which is filled up based on representative selected by popular votes and 50 seats are reserved for particularly women representative.

Constitutional Body: 

Constitutional body refers to that administrative unit which is instructed as well as formulated based on provision of the constitution. These institutions are mainly focused on the implementation and continuation of the provisions of constitution public policy implementation. Prime minister’s office, president’s office and parliaments are statuary body and other constitutional bodies are :-

• Controller and audit general
• Public Service Commission
• Attorney General
• Election Commission Bangladesh

These institutions plays vital role in the continuation of the policy and each of the statuary body plays their own significant role according to the constitution.

Local Government: 

Local body is the significant public administrative institution which deals directly to the local people for implementation.  Local body is structured in three sires

Ø  Zila Parishad

Ø  Upazila Parishad

Ø  Union Parishad

It is found that 75% of the success depends largely into these fixed geographical based administrative unit. These institutions are skeleton of entire administrative system. The policy formulation, implementation, execution all these institutions. Any tasks are performed by these institutions. Any useful policy can fail if that policy is not properly executed by the entire administrative system. So, in the administrative system these public administrative institutions plays irreplaceable roles.

Function and Dysfunction of Weberian Bureaucracy

Max Weber
(1864-1920)

Bureaucracy is an organizational model that includes many departments and divisions administered by a lot of people according to rules and regulations. The structure focuses on division of work hierarchy competence, discipline, and specialization. Actually, it is hard to define bureaucracy in a specific way because of its diversified nature. The definition of bureaucracy varies to the country to country, man to man. The bureaucracy of government reflects the particular society and its norms. 

Bureaucracy has grown by the development of economics. Development of economy demands the process of industrialization and establishment of an organization. Employment of large officials demanded the birth of bureaucracy.

Max Weberian Bureaucracy

Max weber presents the ideal form of bureaucracy analyzing the concept of authority and power. An authority which is an important phenomenon in today’s world has three classifications according to Weber.

• Traditional: Traditional authority means the authority on basis of social customs and norms.
• Charismatic: Charismatic power is the potential to influence other by one’s competency gained by birth. It snatches audience’s obedience.
• Legal Authority: In an organization hierarchy under legal national authority limits a person’s decision making power.

Functions of Max Weber’s Bureaucracy

Fixed official jurisdiction: 

This function refers to the division of work. Work should be divided among the employees according to their skills and efficiency. It rubs the organization smoothly.

Specialization: 

There are many departments in an organization. The work should be specific in every department. Activities will not be same in all departments. Specialized employees actually take the organization towards success.

Hierarchy: 

Hierarchy is the structure of practicing authority. The subordinates are bounded to obey the order or instructions of superiors.

Rules and Regulations: 

Every organization included some formal or written rules and regulations that are must be maintained by all related to the organization. All members are bounded to obey the rules and regulation of organization.

Competence: 

Members of an organization are required on the basis of merit and technical competency. References are not allowed and competence employees run an organization effectively.

Impersonality: 

A person is not focused here. Organizational post or position is more focused. Position or post gives authority of decision making. A decision remains the same rather than the person.

Established norms and conducts:

Informal rules and regulations specified as a tradition in an organization. These rules are unwritten. Everyone obey these rules as basic norms or custom.

Maintenance of Records and Files: 

Documents of an organization are needed to store official purposes and calculation of loss, profit, actions and consequences to run it properly and gain the purpose.

 👉    Dysfunctions of Bureaucracy