THE STRUCTURE OF SMALL BUREAUCRACIES

An analysis of bureaucratic structure is based on data from 156 American public personnel agencies. Whereas a professional staff was expected to reduce the need for many managers, the opposite is actually the case. Lack of professionalization tends to lead to the centralization of official authority in the hands of relatively few managers. The division of labor, which typically accompanies growing size, promotes centralization of authority only if the staff is not professional. This finding suggests that a centralized authority structure is well suited for the coordination of tasks differentiated into simple routines but not for that of professional specialties. Structural complexities destroy the economic advantage that operating on a comparatively large scale otherwise has, but bureaucratic mechanisms of communication, such as a sufficient administrative staff, restore this advantage. W Hy does Weber's analysis of bureau