AN APPRAISAL OF THE IMPACT OF BUREAUCRACY ON THE EFFICIENCY OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISE IN NIGERIA. A CASE STUDY OF POWER HOLDING ELECTRICITY COMPANY

ABSTRACT

      The primary purpose of this study is to ascertain the compact of bureaucracy towards achieving organizational objective.

      The survey method of descriptive research was used for the study. The main instrument used in data collection for the study was a questionnaire the responses were tallied in frequency tables and percentage was used to analyze the data.

      The result of the analysis and interpretation revealed that bureaucracy has too much innovation and not rigidity, it sees human feelings and not regarding human feelings and not regarding human as a programmed like machines and appropriately manipulated to produce standard outcomes in the organization.

      It was also discovered that rules and regulation encourage the operation of Power holding  , Anambra state , impersonal orientation help the actualization of organizational objectives, too close supervision and control helps bureauorate in the process of carrying out assigned works in the organization, employees are motivated due to unsterile work environment, strick adherence to rules and regulation allow for workers.

      Creativity and innovation, hierarchy of authority fosters the process of decision, a message- sender and message receive short communication, Division of work compete of work comede and slow the process of decision making, employee are satisfied by the method o payment and remuneration.

      Also, it was recommend from the study that organization  has been viewing their staff as human that have feelings and not like machine that an be programmed, the polytechnic management should neither be two rigid nor two flexible in things but a balance should be struct, employees should be expose to learning opportunities so as to bring out creativity and innovativeness in them.

      The polytechnic should “work with and not load over’ subordinate should understand how the system works that will bring positive change.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Bureaucracy is a distinctive arrangement used by human beings to organize their activities. The invention of Western bureaucracy several centuries ago helped solve the problem for leaders of governing human systems that grew larger and more complicated with each passing year. The great virtue and probably defining characteristic of bureaucracy, according to the one of the founders of sociology, German Max Weber ( 1864-1920), is as “an institutional method for applying general rules to specific cases, thereby making the actions of government fair and predictable”.

Weber contributed much to the understanding of bureaucracy as a social phenomenon. His ideal bureaucracy legitimately, efficiently, and rationally organized people and work to get things done by the elected leader in a democracy. Bureaucracy, he noted, provides for the role of the “functionary” (an interesting word), who is the person interspersed between leader and electorate within a democratic system. Ten features of the Weberian bureaucracy archetype follow:

The bureaucrats must be personally free and subject to authority only with respect to the impersonal duties of their offices.

The bureaucrats are arranged in a clearly defined hierarchy of offices.

The functions of each office are clearly specified.

The bureaucrats accept and maintain their appointments freely—without duress.

Appointments to office are made on the basis of technical qualifications, which ideally are substantiated by examinations administered by the appointing authority, a university, or both.

The bureaucrats receive money salaries and pension rights, which reflect the varying levels of the hierarchy. While the bureaucrats are free to leave the organization, they can be removed from their offices only under previously stated, specific circumstances.

The office must be the bureaucrat’s sole or at least major occupation.

A career system is essential; while promotion may be the result of either seniority or merit, it must be premised on the judgment of hierarchical superiors.

The bureaucrats do not have property rights to their office or any personal claim to the resources that go with it.

The bureaucrat’s conduct must be subject to systematic control and strict discipline.

Bureaucracy has been called a concept with a career. Today it has at least four separate meanings:

The totality of government offices or bureaus that constitute the permanent government of a state; that is, those people and functions that continue irrespective of changes in political leadership.

All of the public officials of a government.

A general invective to refer to any inefficient organization encumbered by red tape.

A specific set of structural arrangements.

Bureaucracy is sometimes called the “fourth branch of government…While technically under control of the executive branch, it sometimes seems to function as if it had a will, power, and legal authority all its own.” (5)

The Two Main Problems of Bureaucracy

      Most people at some time or another complain about two main problems with bureaucracy: inefficiency and arbitrariness, according to political scientist and author James Q. Wilson. Wilson received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1959 and later taught at Harvard and UCLA. (He is well known for his influential “broken windows” theory of crime (1982), that is, if police and the community ignore public disorder (symbolized by broken windows), then law-abiding people will be intimidated and criminals will get the message that “anything goes.”  Many police departments adopted this theory as part of “community policing.” Without good statistics on crime rates, nobody would know what worked in fighting crime.)

      Weber was a German sociologist and formulated ideas on the ideal management approach for large organizations. Unlike Taylor and Fayol who tried to solve practical problems related to the activity of managing, Weber was more concerned with the basic issue of structuring the enterprise. He developed a set of ideas about the structure of an organization that define what we know as “bureaucracy.”

The characteristics of an ideal formalized organization or bureaucracy as described by Weber consist of the following set of typical characteristics:

Division of labor : authority and responsibility are defined very clearly and set out as official duties;

Hierarchy of authority: office positions are organized in a hierarchy of authority resulting in a chain of command or what is known as “the scalar principle”;

Formal selection: employees are selected on the basis of technical qualifications (merits) through formal examinations, education or training;

Career managers: managers are not owners of the units they administer, but professionals who work for fixed salaries and pursue “careers” within their respective fields;

Formal rules: administrators must function according to strict formal rules and other controls regarding the conduct of their official duties. These rules and controls would be impersonal and uniformly applied. .