Definition of bureaucracy Bureaucracy

/bjʊɹɑˈkɹʌsi/ - [byurakrusee] - bu•reauc•ra•cy

We found 10 definitions of bureaucracy from 7 different sources.

What does bureaucracy mean?

Noun Plural: bureaucracies
bureaucracy - nonelective government officials
		bureaucratism
		government officials, officialdom people elected or appointed to administer a government
		pentagon a government building with five sides that serves as the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense
bureaucracy - any organization in which action is obstructed by insistence on unnecessary procedures and red tape
		organisation, organization the activity or result of distributing or disposing persons or things properly or methodically; "his organization of the work force was very efficient"
bureaucracy - a government that is administered primarily by bureaus that are staffed with nonelective officials
		authorities, regime, government the act of governing; exercising authority; "regulations for the governing of state prisons"; "he had considerable experience of government"

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bureaucracy (Noun)
Structure and regulations in place to control activity. Usually in large organizations and government operations.

bureaucracy (n.)
A system of carrying on the business of government by means of departments or bureaus, each under the control of a chief, in contradiction to a system in which the officers of government have an associated authority and responsibility; also, government conducted on this system.
bureaucracy (n.)
Government officials, collectively.

bureaucracy
An organization characterized by standardised procedure (rule-following), formal division of responsibility, hierarchy, and impersonal relationships.

bureaucracy
būrō′kras-i, n. a system of government centralised in graded series of officials, responsible only to their chiefs, and controlling every detail of public and private life.—ns. Bureau′crat, Bureau′cratist, one who advocates government by bureaucracy.—adj. Bureaucrat′ic, relating to or having the nature of a bureaucracy.—adv. Bureaucrat′ically. [Bureau, and Gr. kratein, to govern.]

Bureaucracy is typical for large organizations and government. It means the structure and set of regulations that control the activities of people that work for these organizations.

It is characterized by standardized procedure (rule-following), formal division of responsibility, hierarchy, and impersonal relationships. In practice the interpretation and execution of policy can lead to informal influence.

Bureaucracy is a concept in sociology and political science. Four structural concepts are central to any definition of bureaucracy: a well-defined division of administrative labor among persons and offices, a personnel system with consistent patterns of recruitment and stable linear careers, a hierarchy among offices, such that the authority and status are differentially distributed among actors, and formal and informal networks that connect organizational actors to one another through flows of information and patterns of cooperation.

Examples of everyday bureaucracies include governments, armed forces, corporations, hospitals, courts, ministries and schools.