Importance Of Bureaucracy In Public Administration

The quest for quality delivery of public goods and services had been sought for a very long time. Early public administration thinkers such as Wilson and Weber sought to design principles (Waldo, 1948; Wilson, 1887). Traditionally, the field was born out of the demand for generally accepted administrative principles with the view of facilitating effectiveness in the performance of public responsibilities including the formulation and implementation of policies and programs for the general populace.

Scholars have argued for the incorporation of cardinal principles into Public administration to enhance public service quality; it is within such context that Wilson argued for a separation of politics from administration since the latter is purely

The paper is organized into five main sections. Section one provides a general introduction to the study which clearly states the study objective. Section of the paper briefly discusses the concept of bureaucracy, its underlying principles, strengths and weaknesses. Section three of the paper discusses the methodology adopted for the study whilst section four contextualizes bureaucratic structure and quality at the University of Cape Coast. The final section provides summary, conclusions and

The first (1st) revolves around the administrative management of chief executives. It is represented by a seven-tiered system and introduced under the acronym “POSDCORB”; composed of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting, and budgeting (Gulick 1937, p. 13). According to the author, this system is adapted from Henri Fayol and is adaptable and universal to virtually any organizational context: “It is believed that those who know administration intimately will find in this analysis a valid and helpful pattern, into which can be fitted each of the major activities and duties of any chief executive”. The second (2nd) concerns his development of lines of accountability between leaders and subordinates in what he calls coordination. It is considered paramount to effective functioning in a bureaucracy: “Co-ordination of this type is essential. It greatly lessens the military stiffness and red tape of the strictly hierarchical structure” (Gulick 1937, p. 36). Fitch argues that Gulick’s work is among the first to offer this kind of in-depth analysis and represents the building block for various authors writing on the topic of administration later: “This article still stands as the preeminent statement of the classic position on organization, but more than that, it revealed remarkable prescience by