Business Strategy - Bureaucratic Leadership

Established by Max Weber in 1947, the term Bureaucratic is a combination of both Greek and French. The French “Bureau” means office/desk, and “cratic” is derived from the Greek “Kratia” meaning the power of, thus the word Bureaucratic means power of office. As you may now guess, the definition of Bureaucratic is a system for controlling or managing a county, company, or organization that is operated by many officials employed to follow rules carefully.

The bureaucratic leadership style is typically used within organizations that possess a clearly visible status quo, or hierarchy theme such as the government. The military consist of strict rules, or codes of conduct, that act as a firm framework for the freedom of the organization’s members, e.g. compulsory marching from location A to B. However, it is not just regimental organizations that possess this style of leadership, there is some level of Bureaucratic leadership in every business despite it not always being implemented.

Within a company driven by bureaucratic leadership, each employee has a clear understanding of what their role is, whether that be marketing, sales etc. This clear role segmentation of sorts allows for easier management, your employee statuses become clearly visible meaning responsibility can easily be established as well as improvements to be made. Though these rules implemented cater for easier management and a more organized company overall, it can significantly hinder the ability and creative influence that the employee may have. For example, the marketing sector of any company must be allowed room for the explosions of creativity that occur, limit the room allowed, limit both the rate of productivity as well as the quality of output.

This type of leadership works well in companies abiding by strict health and regulations, they’re consistent requirement to follow a wide variety of rules in order to ensure any form of violations don’t occur. In an analysis of all workplace Industries, the hospitality industry is evidently at the top of an adaptability hierarchy.


- Alex Hugill