The role of efficiency in bureaucratic study

This chapter analyzes some of the ways that efficiency has been used as a conceptual underpinning to bureaucratic study. The thrust of the argument is that the classical era actually contains two approaches to understanding efficiency, one primarily managerial and the other political. The chapter examines the internal mechanisms of public and private organizations with an eye toward increasing output/input. It focuses on ways to improve efficiency by strengthening the links between bureaucrats and their stakeholders. The chapter explores many of the modem concerns about relating efficiency to responsiveness and equity. It provides a socially responsive dimension to the efficiency concept. The chapter provides an overview of the classical era. It identifies how Frederick Taylor's work inaugurated a concern for organizational efficiency. The chapter examines the main tenets of the principles of management literature. It also explores the role of efficiency in municipal reform writings. The chapter discusses the impact of these critiques on contemporary bureaucratic management.