Bureaucratic inertia is the supposed inevitable tendency of
bureaucratic
The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...
organizations to perpetuate the established procedures and modes, even if they are counterproductive and/or diametrically opposed to established organizational goals. This unchecked growth may continue independently of the organization's success or failure. Through bureaucratic inertia, organizations tend to take on a life of their own beyond their formal objectives.
Examples
Government
The
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...
has offices in almost all U.S. counties, even though only 14% of counties have valid farms or existing agricultural relevancy.
Business
The
Boston Consulting Group
Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the Big Three (or MBB, the world’s three largest management consulting firms by rev ...
has advised firms to cut down on bureaucratic inertia and advised firms to eliminate cruft, bloat, and redundancy in the aspects of the business which are not front-line for the consumer (i.e. the "face" of the company who the customer deals with and who the customer thinks is the value-provider of the company).
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References
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Government
Organizational theory
Political science
Bureaucratic organization