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 20
"Normal" Bureaucracy 20
Is Weberian Bureaucracy Normal? 21
The Normal as Pathological 21
Bureaucratic Loathing 22
Generalized Scapegoating 23
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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
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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