Bureaucratization in Academic Research Policy: What Causes It?

Robotic Bureaucracy: Administrative Burden and Red Tape in University Research

“…In some cases, administrative burden is sufficient to represent a problem on its own, and in others, it is a leading indicator of possible red tape. The sheer volume of regulations concerning university research is creating an unsustainable administrative burden (for an overview, see Bozeman and Jung ). Anyone in the United States who has a federal research grant is responsible, along with their institution, for complying with a voluminous set of federal government research regulations.…”

“…These include, for example, requiring PIs who have no lab animals to verify that they are not mistreating these nonexistent animals; requiring postdoctoral mentoring plans before researchers are hired or have been given duties about which to mentor; and mandating regular attestations to work hours and assignments—all this despite the fact that the most important research work, idea development, may well occur as one is hiking, driving, or taking a bath. One of our favorites is the congressionally mandated requirement that researchers attest that they are doing nothing that abridges gun rights under the Second Amendment, regardless of the focus of their work (for a fuller explanation and other examples of the breadth of research administration regulations, see Bozeman and Jung ). Most of these rules are vexing, not life‐altering, but, as so well described by one of the PIs we interviewed, taken together, they represent “death by a thousand 10‐minute tasks.”…”

What’s happening to our universities?

“…Universities today operate in a demanding and fast-moving environment, subject to a plethora of pressures, expectations, regulations and laws (Bozeman, 2015). 9 Yet, in responding to these, the tendency among many universities -and perhaps this is more pronounced in the UK than elsewhere (see Hoggett, 1996) -is to interpret all these over-literally, and to devise some gold-plated solution to even a relatively minor problem, so that they can then triumphantly claim to have adopted best practice.…”

“…9 Yet, in responding to these, the tendency among many universities -and perhaps this is more pronounced in the UK than elsewhere (see Hoggett, 1996) -is to interpret all these over-literally, and to devise some gold-plated solution to even a relatively minor problem, so that they can then triumphantly claim to have adopted best practice. The result is all too often a disproportionate response in terms of greater formalisation and more burdensome bureaucracy (see Bozeman, 2015), with no consideration of the load (particularly the cost in terms of additional time) being imposed on those lower down the organisation. 10 For example, in the case of the UK, and perhaps other countries as well, government concern with illegal immigrants has sometimes focussed on the problem of some students registering at colleges in order to obtain entry visas, and then not turning up at these colleges, but instead disappearing into the general population.…”

In Search of Relevance in the Twenty‐First Century

“…Universities have been criticized in recent years for high tuition fees and inability of graduates to obtain employment (National Research Council ). In response, universities argue that governments have reduced their support to universities, forced additional and increased fees, and added evermore burdensome rules and regulations that require expanding bureaucratic structures (Bozeman ). These administrative strictures parallel the growth of expectations of the roles of universities such that the university, according to legendary former president of University of California at Berkeley Clark Kerr (), has become a multiversity.…”