Beauty and the Bureaucracy

“Bureaucracy is the epoxy that greases the wheels of progress.”
~ Dr Jim Boren ~

Everyone says they hate a bureaucracy. Bureaucracies hamper our freedom, force us to conform, throttle progress and are no respecter of our individuality. But the idea of bureaucracies is necessary and beautiful in a complex society. How else can complex programs and initiatives be locked-in and translated into meaningful, broadly and evenly applied execution without some form of consistent, non-discriminating deployment mechanism? This is no small task. Personalized service applied with the efficiency of a broad brush is a tall and often counterintuitive order.
Sidebar: There is a trend in the global economy toward mass customization and with it the urgency of rising expectations for more features, utilities and personalized add-ons. We see the implication of this in the ever complex world of personal electronic devices where the explosion in “APP”s is so evident. Here software applications are the enabler of mass customization and every handheld device must be able to adapt through APPs and other “features” to serve the individual’s perception of customized need. The device is manufactured as a one-size-fits-all platform that may be mass produced within acceptable cost efficiency parameters and becomes vastly more complex and costly AFTER it gets into the hands of the user/consumer through imported APPs. Take careful note of the hand-off. This trend is representative of a market tug of war between the bureaucratic and things custom.

Sociopolitical Commentary: As citizens come to expect greater customization our society becomes more and more like a proverbial salad bowl than a melting pot. The complexity of our government bureaucratic programs are, by necessity, becoming bigger and more complex as they attempt to comprehend every variation and peculiar anomaly demanded by society WHILE maintaining control of service vending. Bureaucracies can be great “levelers” – but they can also become contrarily benign in their attempt to “routine-ize” interaction with an increasingly diverse and demanding constituency.

And so bureaucracies, under their own momentum, can become ineffective – the opposite of their intended purpose. What gives?

Like any complex and monotonous thing, bureaucracies resist change. They are often concocted and launched into existence by higher powers and handed to lower powers to implement and run. By design, the bureaucrats who run the programs do not have the delegated power to change the systems they operate. Process is king. Implementers are protected by plausible deniability and things lumber forward – unchanging and unable to adapt. Odd and fantastic logic and problem solving patterns arise as users attempt to personalize results or deal with unanticipated scenarios and outcomes. All effort is made to preserve the integrity and constraints of the established system. Rigid software programs cement the logic circuitry to ensure conformance.

We talk about embracing mass-customization and personalized service. Do our systems reflect that banter?

Every business, no matter the size, creates bureaucracies of its own - its “ways of doing things”. This is necessary and expedient for operational discipline, consistency and efficiency. But here’s a rub; change is not viewed as efficient in a bureaucracy. Change is, we know, a reality of life and adapting to change is critical to success. So how can a bureaucracy be at its “consistent” best and adapt for change at the same time?

The answer lies in two concepts: delegation of authority and continuous improvement cultures that deliberately seek feedback for constructive change. Find the bureaucracies that are inevitably in your business and give them a “delegation” and “improvement loop” checkup. Better yet, involve the bureaucrats in designing the system they will have to use as they interface with customers. And, like the handheld device, let your customer have a greater hand in customizing what they get from you. Push it out a little. Your bureaucracies can be beautiful living and adapting things.

“Make decisions as quickly as possible, to keep momentum; procrastinating causes a different set of problems.”
~ Jeffrey Katzenberg – CEO, DreamWorks ~

All the Best!
Bill