How can organizational complexity (bureaucracy) be reduced and the necessary control maintained?
Bureaucracy is not created by bureaucratic objectives or by bureaucrats with a gene for bureaucracy. Bureaucracies often emerge from a combination of valuable principles such as efficiency or equitable treatment. When results deteriorate, we add rules thinking that rules always improve control. We know this is not true. In some professions, people go on strike by applying 100 percent of the rules. When we apply 100 percent of the rules, everything stops. Beyond a certain threshold, rules become counterproductive. As results deteriorate, we add further rules that further deteriorate results. For things to work, we need people’s intelligence and good will to interpret rules. But there is no rule on interpreting the rule. The intelligence and good will required is not a matter of rules but of management. How do national differences affect organizational change, notably restructuring? Competition is global, however national regulations differ. There is no way to avoid restructuring when it
