Bureaucracy: what government agencies do and why they do it

Abstract

This book examines the behavior of U.S. government agencies, arguing that agency actions are shaped not simply by their formal goals but by a complex interplay of factors, such as the circumstances the agency staff encounter, the beliefs and experiences the staff bring to their work, the pressure of interest groups, and the organizational culture. The book shows that public agencies often do not have the same autonomy as private organizations and are frequently subject to greater constraints, which makes it more difficult to manage them effectively. The author examines several government agencies, including the armed forces, prisons, schools, the CIA, and the FBI, to illustrate how these factors interact and influence the way agencies define and perform their tasks. – AI-generated abstract