Bureau Abbreviations

What is Bureau?

Bureau (pronounced “ birô” ) is a term of French origin whose meaning is ” office “, ” department ” and ” agency “. It is an establishment where administrative work and other business related to the company’s activity are carried out.

In the United States bureau is the name of a department or division of a government office. It is also a chest of drawers, furniture with several drawers.

The term bureau appears in the names of some world-renowned companies, such as: FBI ( Federal Bureau of Investigation ), the US department of investigation; Bureau Veritas, a multinational of Belgian origin, responsible for quality certification and consultancy in companies, following certain standards.

In Brazil and also in England bureau is a desk , a piece of furniture suitable for office, used for work or study purposes.

What is Bureaucracy?

Bureaucracy is a Latin and French term meaning office. Bureaucracy meant all public offices in 18th century France and also the power and action of officials in offices and any other working environment.

Bureaucracy is a concept related to the disproportionate predominance of the administrative apparatus in the whole of public life or private business. It consists of a government exercised by officials, nicknamed “the tyranny of the official”, lacking in imagination. It considers the public as an amorphous mass, susceptible of being transformed into numbers and expedients. Its reason for existence is based on a “correct”, meticulous and unrealistic schematism. It is especially characterized by its impossibility of departing from the “safe” and orthodox norms and instructions, already known and tried.

Bureaucracy is also used in a pejorative way, when talking about the procedures of a process, for example, to open a company, to take a case to justice, to issue original documents, etc. Many thinkers claim that this way of seeing bureaucracy is characteristic of lay people, and indicate that modern bureaucracy is the most efficient mode of administration, both in the private domain (in a capitalist enterprise, for example) and in public administration.

Bureaucracy – Max Weber

Bureaucracy is also part of the studies of the German economist Max Weber, who created the Theory of Bureaucracy, to explain the way companies are organized. Weber defined bureaucracy as an organization based on regular rules and procedures, where each individual has his/her specialty, responsibility and division of tasks.

Weber said that in the bureaucracy impersonality, administration, differences in social and economic levels between people and a level of hierarchy are also concentrated. Max Weber based his theory on seven principles: formalization of rules, division of labor, hierarchy, impersonality, technical competence, separation of properties and predictability of each employee.

According to Weber, the main particularities of a bureaucratic system are:

• Employees who occupy bureaucratic positions are considered public servants;
• Employees are hired according to their technical competence and specific qualifications;
• Employees perform tasks that are in accordance with written rules and regulations;
• Remuneration is based on wages stipulated in cash;
• Employees must comply with hierarchical rules and disciplinary codes that underlie authority relationships.

State Bureaucracy and Public Administration

In one of his works, Ludwig von Mises (Austrian economist and sociologist) implied that in the state bureaucracy, there is no appreciation for reality. From a bureaucratic point of view, a large and powerful state represents an unquestionable advantage. However, security and reliability in State action do not necessarily mean bureaucracy, which is often synonymous with lack of uniformity in procedures, slow service and requirements not provided for in regulatory texts.

A distinctive feature of bureaucratic public administration is that there is a clear differentiation between the public and the private, with a separation between the political and the public administrator.

Bureaucracy in Brazil

The political system in force in Brazil is closely linked to the concept of bureaucracy presented by Weber, taking into account that it aims at an ideal system for the regulation of the State, as foreseen in the “legal-rational” system. In Brazil, bureaucracy often means that many processes are not completed correctly.

Bureaucratization, in the context of the Brazilian state, is related to important changes in the structure and the way in which society is organized. Bureaucratization in Brazil led to the creation of new functions and administrative bodies, and in this way the public mechanism underwent a very rapid transformation, becoming a highly complex body. However, what may have been gained in administrative efficiency has been lost in terms of political effectiveness.

List of Acronyms Related to Bureau