Organizational Structure, Work Process, and Proposal Making in Administrative Bureaucracies

Bureaucratic organizations are frequently seen as static entities which cannot change their mode of operations. However, organizations today are confronted with continual contingencies that make change critical to survival. It can be asserted that complex and organic forms of organization promote innovation within the context of administrative bureaucracies of local governments. In order to explore this thesis, examination was focused on proposals for technical and administrative innovations by officials at the lower and middle echelons of administrative bureaucracies. Local governments in Belgium offered the appropriate data for examination. The data used were gathered in 44 administrative bureaucracies in Belgian cities having a population of 15,000 to 100,000 as of December 31, 1968. The most obvious finding was that structures and processes do not affect proposals by these officials in the same way. Differences in hierarchical location and function result in different processes underlying proposal making activities by middle and lower echelon personnel.