Thoughts on bureaucracy

bu·reau·cra·cy

1a : a body of nonelective government officials
1b : an administrative policy-making group
2 : government characterized by specialization of functions, adherence to fixed rules, and a hierarchy of authority
3 : a system of administration marked by officialism, red tape, and proliferation

Source: MW.

Aside: There are so many things to learn in this blog post called Creative Bureaucracy. If you’re part of some from of policy making group, why not make it weekend reading?

Today my thoughts are about bureaucracy.

I mean, it’s a wonderful thing to know that there’s an army of people hired by our tax dollars to “put everything in place”, taking care of things that individuals needed as part of the social contract with their governments.

Also great to know so many people are part of corporate bureaucracy, ensuring that the well oiled revenue machinery continue to create jobs and feed families. Economic defense, sure. Transparency, accountability, yes, all good.

This is not a deep article about how the industrialized man needed management.

But, just a reflection that, upon reading and re-reading the definition of this word, I wonder how many people who frown upon red tape are earning their keep being the red tape.

I wonder how often officialism masquerades as sovereignty and respect of the law of the land. I don’t see children who respect their parents necessarily requiring them to seek approval for having one more cookie on the kitchen counter.

I wonder how administrators actually hate other administrators too. If all the administrators and bureaucrats agree, there wouldn’t be so much of an issue. Bureaucracy will work like a VB coded spreadsheet.

But how can we get the good of bureaucracy out without the experience that bureaucracy is throwing at us? Maybe they need someone like a designer. I know IT bureaucracy – they simply exist to control my PC, mobile etc. And when they need something, it’s usually made into a click of a button. If you disagree, don’t click.

But the general bureaucrat’s head is so hard. One have to throw in many years of English language honing, personal relationships, business development tricks and sometimes a little bit of tantrum here and there. It’s not the smart ones who can get things through their heads. And all these take time.

My head hurts (and I miss blogging).

Met a lot of family, old friends recently. Everyone naturally asked me – what am I doing now? Am I dealing with technology still? Music?

I think the answer is – bureaucracy.

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