ABSTRACT
Bureaucratic structures emerge out of the record-keeping activity of an encompassing social system. An extended family acquires bureaucratic elements when one family member has the responsibility of keeping a record of one type of family resource, a second another resource, and both are subordinate to a third member. Just as record keeping is always an adjunct of other activities, bureaucratic structures are always adjuncts of larger social structures. Each bureaucracy accumulates and preserves information for an organization. No bureaucracy is an autonomous social unit. Bureaucrats are not authorized to direct the activity of the organization they service but they often influence the actions of the encompassing organization by influencing the flow of information.
