X-RAYING BUREAUCRATIC THINKING

It is a common experience that bureaucrats in the Government world over share some common thinking behaviour,namely,look for precedence,follow the rules and play safe. My experience hind sight reveals that the so called "successful" bureaucrats have an additional ability,namely a good understanding of psychology of rational thinking; that most people do not like to go into complexity and look for simple solutions. So they follow the "Either Or " logic. and not generate more alternatives. Further being conservative and non risk taking,they go in for TINA factor(There is No Alternative). So chose a preferred decision or postpone /differ the decision for a future date.The second option involves little risk so that itis generally the preferred option. No wonder there are delays and delays !

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Comment by Franis on December 26, 2011 at 13:47: The other thing I noticed about bureaucratic thinking is that it involves fearing the consequence of making a decision. This is yet another reason for putting off making any decision at all. Decisions made unintentionally, which are what happens by not making a decision in default are another consequence.
Some really punitive and draconian decisions have seemed justified by imagining how upset or fearful people will be. This is another common effect of bureaucratic policies.
Socially, an example is that the Victorian practice of imagining there are "serious" consequences to swearing - eliminating certain "socially objectionable" words from airwaves, courtrooms and bureaucracies.
In a more serious light, this sort of decision making (fearing what others will think) can escalate into consequences of discrimination, by circumstancially excluding certain people.