Second, the structures and rituals of bureaucracy constitute a set of social norms which, like all norms, are difficult to challenge without looking like a buffoon. Suggest abolishing the trappings of bureaucracyâ the multiple management layers and all-powerful staff groupsâand your colleagues will scoff at your naivete. Whatâs next? Letting people design their own jobs, choose their colleagues, and approve their own expenses? Well, yes, actually, but if you go there, heads will explode.
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Fourth, bureaucrats are inclined to defend the status quo. Bureaucracy is a massive, multiplayer game in which millions of human beings compete for the prize of promotion. These are zero-sum battles. To advance, you must master the art of ducking blame, defending turf, managing up, hoarding resources, trading favors, negotiating targets, and escaping scrutiny. Anyone whoâs spent years honing these skills is unlikely to be enthusiastic about a radical rule change.
Let us not pretend, though, that bureaucracy advances independent of human intention. The fuel that feeds the growth of bureaucracy is the quest for personal power. Power brings survival advantages, and we are wired to seek it. Having the power to direct your life is essential, but like the desire for food, alcohol, or sex, the lust for power can enslave us. Thatâs why philosophers and moral teachers so often warn us of its dangers.
Formal power is the currency of bureaucracy; it is the prize for which the game is played. Bureaucracy inflames our natural desire for power, sometimes to the point of caricature. As a result, bureaucracy often brings out the worst in people, whether itâs a minor functionary gleefully enforcing a petty rule, or a CEO getting an ego massage from a deferential underling. In other words, bureaucracy isnât simply an organizational problemâitâs a human problem.
So, letâs face facts.
BUREAUCRACY IS FAMILIAR. You wonât have the courage to take on bureaucracy unless you believe there are alternatives. We must search out organizations that have successfully defied management orthodoxy.
BUREAUCRACY IS COMPLEX AND SYSTEMIC. Fragmented, half-hearted attempts wonât cut it. We need to replace the entire edifice of bureaucracyâone stone at a time.
BUREAUCRACY IS WELL DEFENDED. There will be resistance, so management rebels need to join forces. You have to build a grassroots movement that can overwhelm or route around the defenders of the status quo.
BUREAUCRACY SERVES A PURPOSE, HOWEVER POORLY. The goal is to carefully dismantle bureaucracy, not simply blow it up. You need a change strategy that is both audacious and prudent.
BUREAUCRACY IS SELF-REPLICATING. There will be no easy victories. Bureaucrats will fight back. To persevere, youâll need a sense of purpose thatâs as unshakable as the path is arduous.
Bureaucracy, as weâve noted, is a game. It pits contestants against one another in a battle for positional power and the rewards that come with it. We have no problem with competitionâunless winning comes at the cost of oneâs humanity. Bureaucracy will start to crumble when talented and principled people walk off the playing field; when big-hearted heretics decide to forgo bureaucratic wins for the sake of their own integrity, and for the sake of those whoâve been diminished by bureaucracy. As Harvard professor Marshall Ganz notes, the goal of people who change the world is ânot winning the game, but changing the rules.