000			01532pab a2200181 454500
008			180718b1996 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aAdler, Paul S
245			_aTwo types of bureaucracy _benabling and coercive.
260			_c1996
300			_ap.61-89
362			_aMar
520			_aThis article proposes a conceptualization of workflow formalization that helps reconcile the contrasting assessments of bureaucracy as alienating to employees or as enabling them to perform their tasks better. Interpreting formalization as an organizational technology, we use recent research on the design of equipment technology to identify two types of formalization - enabling and coercive. Whether the impact of formalization on employees' attitudes is positive or negative is, we argue, a function of whether that formalization enables employees better to master their tasks or functions as a means by which management attempts to coerce employees' effort and compliance. We identify some forces that tend to discourage the enabling orientation to the benefit of the coercive orientation, as well as some persistent countertendencies that encourage the enabling orientation. We suggest some ways in which this typology can be extended beyond workflow formalization to other facets of bureaucracy such as internal labor markets, hierarchy, and the role of staff functions. - Reproduced
650			_aCivil service
650			_aBureaucracy
700			_aBorys, Bryan
773			_aAdministrative Science Quarterly
909			_a31580
999			_c31580 _d31580