Bureaucratic Structure and Administrative Behaviour: Lessons from International Bureaucracies

Abstract

This article contributes to a growing literature on international bureaucracy by exploring the relationship between bureaucratic structure and administrative behaviour. The ambition of this study is twofold: first, it explores the extent to which international bureaucracies combine two inherent behavioural logics: a logic of hierarchy and a logic of portfolio. Second, two key empirical lessons are used to modify four conventional claims in existing research. Drawing on a rich body of data from three international bureaucracies (the European Commission, the OECD Secretariat, and the WTO Secretariat), this study suggests that administrative behaviour among international civil servants is profoundly shaped by the bureaucratic structures of international bureaucracies. Variation in the abovementioned behavioural logics is conditioned by two aspects of bureaucratic structure: First, the accumulation of relevant organisational capacities at the executive centre of international bureaucracies, and second, the vertical and horizontal specialisation of international bureaucracies.

Stress and turnover intents in international organizations: social support and work–life balance as resources

“…For public employees, dissatisfaction with red tape is a major reason to leave an organization (Brewer & Walker, 2010), as well as a cause for a lack of motivation or work satisfaction (Moynihan & Pandey, 2007), stress (Giauque, Anderfuhren-Biget et al, 2013) and resignation (Giauque et al, 2012). On the other hand, IOs are highly bureaucratized (Barnett & Finnemore, 2004;Trondal, 2011), and their staff members are frustrated by an ever-increasing complexity of their daily tasks caused by New Public Management-like reforms (Botham-Edighoffer, 2006). This brings us to the seventh hypothesis: Dissatisfaction with red tape leads to higher SP and turnover intention (H7).…”

Dari Struktur Birokrasi Tradisional ke Model Adhocracy (Struktur Organisasi Inovatif)

“…Struktur birokrasi tradisional akan memperlihatkan pola perilaku hubungan hierarki, impersonalitas antara bawahan dan atasan baik hubungan yang bersifat horizontal dan vertical (Trondal, 2011). Pandangan lain mengungkapkan, struktur birokrasi tradisional akan mengarah kepada perbedaan antara instrumental desain organisasi dan formulasi pemusatan kekuasaan dalam organisasi (Verhoest et al, 2010).…”

Accountable and Under Control? Explaining Governments' Selection of Management Board Representatives

“…An in‐depth empirical analysis is especially important because by virtue of their de jure design, one may find representatives of national ministries and representatives of more or less independent NRAs on these MBs. This could lead to different levels of accountability because, as suggested in the literature (see, for example, Egeberg, ; Egeberg and Trondal, , b; Follesdal, ; Trondal, ), representatives from national ministries possess a clearer chain of delegation and are usually more directly accountable to, and dependent on, their respective governments than representatives of more or less independent NRAs. Therefore, in order to assess how the formal inclusion of such representatives selected by the particular Member States affects the accountability of MBs, it is important to know more precisely how accountable these representatives are de facto vis‐à‐vis their home countries and their governments (Eberlein and Newman, ).…”