On the Dimensions of Bureaucratic Structure: An Empirical Reappraisal

Abstract

1 An earlier version of this article was presented at the Eastern Academy of Management Meetings in Philadelphia, May 1973. The author is grateful to Professor Anant Negandhi for his help and encouragement. The results of a comparative study of 19 United States manufacturing organizations using the Aston group's four abbreviated structural scales and seven other measures support the concept of a multidimensional bureaucratic structure space. Factor and cluster analyses yielded three independent dimensions of decentralization, specialization, and formalization. The results are interpreted to suggest not only that a multidimensional model of bureaucracy is superior to the unidimensional Weberian one, but that the dimensionality of the bureaucratic structure space may be a function of the socio-cultural environment of the organization unit being examined. The results imply that bureaucratic structure may conform to the equifinality principle, in that a variety of structural arrangements appear to be equally viable strategies for the various sample organizations.'

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