The topic is:
Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy.
…in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.
Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy is that in any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control, so that those dedicated to the goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely.
*heh*
Throwing a monkey wrench into Das Buros via Conservative Cat, Blue Star Chronicles(Ouch!), Basil’s Blog, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, and Is It Just Me?
I guess that applies to school administrators too?
In spades, Diane.
None of that should really be a surprise – but I think it’s worth remembering that not all bureaucracy is bad and harmful, just the kind that doesn’t have to earn it’s money. Government can simply take what it decides it needs, so there’s no optimization, no inherent drive to maximize efficiency, etc.
Of course, Robert. And Pournelle’s comment tacitly acknowledges that. The “Iron Law” he states is that, like Gresham’s Law and money, bad bureaucrats tend to overwhelm good ones. *heh*
Pournelle does make a point of mentioning that in an unpublished work he and Stefan Possony were working on before Possony’s death, The Strategy of Progress, they had noted some areas where bureaucracy could be a decided benefit.
But waiting in the wings is the type two bureaucrat. Always.