ABSTRACT
The bureaucracy is the administrative apparatus of the modern state; but also any organization or part of an organization with specifically modern characteristics. In business administration, the rationalized parts of the firm are bureaucratic. Once the external functions of bureaucracy are held clearly in mind, the meaning of the structures of bureaucracy can be grasped by contrasting them against their most recent alternatives. Bureaucracy is the administrative apparatus of modern civilization, whether in the private or public sector. In the study of both business and public administration, this form of organization, however, has been caricaturized. In the typical textbook presentation, bureaucracy as modern organization is alleged to be present wherever six characteristics are present in an organization, stenographically: division of labor, hierarchy, written documents, staff of trained experts, full working capacity of the official, and the presence of general rules under which it operates.
