Gregory

Smith

Business

Columnist

My daughter recently turned 15. It was time to take her to get a learners permit so she could start driving. But first, we had to get a note from her high school verifying she was a real person and was officially enrolled as a student. We thought this would be a simple task, but we were wrong.

Upon entering the school office, we came face to face with not one staff member, but four staff members standing around in the office. When they heard my request they responded, "That's not our job." "You have to see "so-and-so" and he is not here today, so you have to come back." I said, "How difficult would it be to look up my daughter's name in one of those computers?" "We can't do that, it's against the rules," they added.

You would think, that a school, a place of higher learning and enlightenment no less, would allow their staff members to perform a simple task. But no, only "so-and-so" was allowed to that. To add insult to injury this particular high school claimed to be one of the best schools in the state.

Bureaucracy is a disease that causes people not to think. I've found bureaucracy forces people into two distinct classes of peoplethose who are allowed to think and those who don't. In more specific terms, a bureaucratic organization has those who are in charge and make up the rules and the then there are the rest. The rest are those poor souls who must follow and enforce the rules of those in charge.

I think this is what the late Dr. Edwards Deming had in mind when he said, "We are all born with intrinsic motivation, self-esteem, dignity, an eagerness to learn. Our present system of management crushes that all out." Obviously this type of management is alive and well in some of our schools.

How do you know if you work in a bureaucratic organization? Here are several symptoms.

A Regulatory Based Culture, Not a People Based Culture-A bureaucracy is structured around rules, regulations and policies. Yes, we need rules, but not to the point where people can't use common sense. We must be asking ourselves, "Do we need all these policies and procedures. Do we need to punish the innocent and create a new rule every time something goes wrong? Management needs to be out and about looking to eliminate unnecessary rules and regulations and empowering those closest to the customer.

Centralized Decision Making-The traditional bureaucracy has a top-down decision making process. People on the bottom of the organization must force good ideas, suggestions and requests up the chain of command for approval. This is difficult and frustrating. Therefore, decisions that should normally take minutes-now take weeks and months. Many times this type of work environment kills initiative. Difficulty in Fixing Mistakes-The bureaucratic system rewards people for not rocking the boat and maintaining status quo. In a bureaucratic organization, the people on top of the organization are responsible for interpreting and approving any changes to regulations. This slows decision making because the responsibility and power to make decisions is taken away from those who need it the most.

Resists Change-A bureaucracy protects itself from needed change. It takes a major crisisa threat to create change in a bureaucracy. The crisis must be of such significant proportions that there are no other alternatives. The reason is because bureaucracies are compartmentalized, functionally aligned, department by department. There is an expert for everything. People are forced into specialized job descriptions focusing on narrow subject areas.

Defined Pecking Orders-In its worse form, a bureaucracy becomes a caste system. Top-down layering dictates what roles to take, whom to talk to and who to associate with. Rank, position and educational degrees become more important than anything else. For an organization wanting change and innovation, this becomes a major problem. For innovation and change to exist, people must feel they have equal access to all people, to all levels of the organization.

Free by fax: If you would like the article, How to Attract, Keep and Motivate Your Workforce, please fax your letterhead, name and the words, "Motivate" to 770-760-0581.

Gregory P. Smith, author of The New Leader, and How to Attract, Keep and Motivate Your Workforce. He speaks at conferences, leads seminars and helps organizations solve problems. He leads an organization called Chart Your Course International located in Conyers, Georgia. Phone him at (770)860-9464 or send an email at greg@chartcourse.com. More information and articles are available at www.chartcourse.com.

Gregory P. Smith, author of The New Leader, and How to Attract, Keep and Motivate Your Workforce. He speaks at conferences, leads seminars and helps organizations solve problems. He leads an organization called Chart Your Course International located in Conyers, Georgia. Phone him at (770)860