BUREAUCRACY AND RED TAPE BARRY BOZEMAN GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY PRENTICE HALL, UPPER SADDLE RIVER, NEW JERSEY 07458
CONTENTS PREFACE xi 1 RED TAPE AS A BUREAUCRATIC PATHOLOGY 1 What This Book Is About 2 Why Study Red Tape? 3 Concepts of Red Tape 5 Herbert Kaufman's Red Tape Concepts 6 Beneficial Red Tape 8 Red Tape as Pathology 10 Resolving the Confusion of Pathology versus Benefit 11 A Working Definition of Red Tape 12 Conclusion 13 2 IN SEARCH OF NORMAL BUREAUCRACY 14 Bureaucracy Is, Bureaucracy Should Be 16 Weberian Bureaucracy 17 Weberian Bureaucracy and Normal Bureaucracy "Normal" Bureaucracy 20 Is Weberian Bureaucracy Normal? 21 The Normal as Pathological 21 Bureaucratic Loathing 22 Generalized Scapegoating 23 20
vi CONTENTS Big Government Backlash 23 Reasoned Antipathy: Why Reasonable People Dislike Bureaucracy 24 Structure, Freedom, and Bureaucracy 25 Structure as Constraint: What Does Structure Accomplish and at What Cost? 25 Bureaucratization and Standardization of Treatment 27 Bureaucracy and Delays 28 Bureaucracy and Ambivalence 29 Normal or Pathological Bureaucracy? A Case Study 30 Diagnosis: "Normal" Bureaucracy or Pathology? 30 Conclusion 34 3 BUREAUCRATIC PATHOLOGIES AND REFORM 37 Reform at the Millennium 37 Systemic Pathology 38 People Pathology 39 Merton and the "Bureaucratic Personality" 40 Systems Failures in Management, People Failures in Workers 42 The Pathologies 43 "First Generation" and "Second Generation" Pathologies 45 Theories of Bureaucratic Pathology 46 The Goal Ambiguity Model 46 The Utility Maximization Model 49 Property Rights and Principal-Agent Models 51 The Maladaption Model 55 Pathology Models and Reform 57 A Philosophy of Bureaucratic Reform: The Case of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 58 Conclusion 62 4 RULES AND RED TAPE 64 Formalization as Physiology, Red Tape as Pathology 65 Why Formalization Is Important 65 A Rules-Based Theory of Red Tape 69 Anatomy of a Rule 69 A Language of Rules 73
CONTENTS vii Assessing the Effects of Rules: Red Tape and Compliance 76 Rule Density and Rule Incidence 78 Bureaucratic Pathology: Red Tape Concepts 81 Red Tape Defined: "No Redeeming Social Value" 82 Which Concept? 83 Conclusion 84 5 RULES "BORN BAD": RULE-INCEPTION RED TAPE 86 Rule-Inception Red Tape 86 Incorrect Rule Forecasts 87 Illegitimate Functions 89 Negative Sum Compromise 90 Negative Sum Process 92 Autocracy and Participatory Red Tape as a Trade-Off 94 Overcontrol 94 Managerial Overcontrol 95 Political Overcontrol 96 Overcontrol and Illegitimate Functions: A Red Tape Trade-Off? 98 Federal Procurement: An Illustration of Rule-Inception Red Tape 100 The Moral of the Story? 101 High Compliance and High Opportunity Cost Rules 104 Conclusion 104 6 RULES "GONE BAD": RULE-EVOLVED RED TAPE 106 The Evolution of Rules 106 Organizational Phantoms 107 Organizational Entropy and the Disintegration of Systems for Rules-Based Behavior 107 Rules to Red Tape: Reasons for Rule-Evolved Red Tape 110 Rule Drift 111 Implementation Change 113 Change in the Functional Object 115 Change in the Rule's Ecology 116 Rule Strain 117 Rule Incompatibility 118
viii CONTENTS A Model of Red Tape Origins 118 Conclusion 124 7 GOVERNMENT RED TAPE 125 Red Tape as a Piece of the "Publicness Puzzle" 126 Public-Private Differences in Red Tape 126 Generic Red Tape: An External Control Model 127 External Control and Government Red Tape 129 Political Authority and Procedural Safeguards 129 Breadth of Mission 130 Research on Red Tape and Publicness 131 The National Administrative Studies Project 132 Red Tape in Public Organizations: Research Results 132 Conclusion 138 8 RED TAPE AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY 140 Environmental Policy as a Balancing Act: Legislative Background of the Clean Air Act Amendments 141 Federal Air Quality Policy Prior to the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments 142 The Policy Setting: Title V and the Clean Air Act Amendments 143 Title V in Context 144 Title V Implementation 145 Title V Permitting and Sources of Rule-Inception Red Tape 146 Interview Data 146 Key Concepts and the Title V Context 147 The Rule 147 Compliance 150 Assessing Title Vs Rule Inception Red Tape 152 Incorrect Rule Forecasts 153 A Case in Point: Public Participation and Public Information 153 Red Tape and "Over-Control" 157
CONTENTS ix Change in the Rule Ecology 159 Title Vasa Red Tape Remedy? 161 Conclusion 162 9 CUTTING RED TAPE: A BALANCE MODEL OF BUREAUCRATIC REFORM 164 Some Premises for Red Tape Reform: From Economy and Efficiency to a Balance Model 165 Elements of a Balance Model 168 What Can Managers Do about Red Tape? 169 Communicate the "Functional Object" of the Rule 170 Question Authority! Identify the Rule's Purposes 171 Develop Criteria for the Formal and the Informal 171 Test the Rule Forecast 172 Develop Sunset Rules 173 Consider the Technological Fix 174 Provide for Participation by the "Oligarchy of the Interested" 175 Seek External Stakeholders' Views 176 The Red Tape Audit 176 Rules Identification 178 Rules Source Sorting 178 Stakeholder Identification 179 Stakeholder Process 180 Rules Assessment 180 Rules Reformation 181 Conclusion 182 Few Government-Wide Reforms Are Original or Innovative 182 One Size Does Not Fit All 183 Most of Us Prefer to Buy Locally 183 GLOSSARY 185 REFERENCES 187 INDEX 204