tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716509980377809016.post5250796784546999852..comments2024-03-11T10:20:01.582-07:00Comments on The Rehearsal Studio: Military ChutzpahStephen Smoliarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14689767135234237242noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716509980377809016.post-24515445706197746562007-11-21T07:05:00.000-08:002007-11-21T07:05:00.000-08:00Dermot, I am tempted to invoke a variation of the ...Dermot, I am tempted to invoke a variation of the gun-control motto: "Bureaucracies to not cause problems; <I>people</I> cause problems!" However, in all fairness to the people, a bureaucracy functions by virtue of highly specific job descriptions for every role; and, as a rule, human nature does not like to be so constrained. In other words, by virtue of its very "principles of operation," <I>every</I> bureaucracy is rife with opportunities for people to cause problems. Nevertheless, I still tend to side with Max Weber's assertion that a bureaucracy is the most effective way to manage large organizations, such as the military or (even voluntary) firefighters.<BR/><BR/>I used to put a lot more thought into these problems when I was writing about enterprise software. However, I discovered that neither the vendors nor the customers wanted to know about those problems, let alone address them. Unfortunately, those software products are now the primary "engines" of bureaucracy; and I believe this makes large organizations far more pathological than they were in Weber's day.Stephen Smoliarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14689767135234237242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-716509980377809016.post-26416787388567322012007-11-21T02:36:00.000-08:002007-11-21T02:36:00.000-08:00Stephenthis is a problem of bureaucracy rather tha...Stephen<BR/><BR/>this is a problem of bureaucracy rather than the US in particular. Here in Ireland a scandal erupted recently where a volunteer fireman (i.e not full time) was denied his 50 euro payment for a call out to a fire. He was denied the payment because he didn't finish his shift. He didn't finish the shift because he died in the fire. His widow received a note to the effect that as he didn't complete his shift he wouldn't receive payment. <BR/><BR/>DermotDermothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00629103429443551182noreply@blogger.com