Managing with a Conscience Second Edition

It’s Time to Eliminate Bureaucracies

Bloated bureaucracies crush aspirations, stifle creativity, suppress ingenuity, and slow down responsiveness. Unfortunately, once bureaucracy develops, it is as difficult to control in business as crabgrass on a suburban lawn. Bureaucracies cause people to thirst for power, value personal ambition over team gain, and put paperwork before people.

In bureaucracies, employees “don’t matter” because they are single voices, and individual customers “don’t matter” because they are never heard by the people who determine policy. People choose the political solution rather than the best answer. Promotions are earned through political savvy rather than performance; the “show” becomes more important than content; and rumor becomes the primary form of communication. This causes organizations to focus inward and lose touch with reality.

To succeed, bureaucratic obstacles must be eliminated, and speed, simplicity, and continuous improvement emphasized. Operational units must remain small. People must get out of their offices and in front of customers. Ad hoc task forces, composed of multifunctional groups, should be set up to tackle issues; ideas should be chosen based on merit rather than on an individual’s place in the pecking order; and activities that do not add value to the client should be eliminated.

Additional Reading:
What Does Red Tape Cost Your Business?
Enough with the Paperwork Already
Simplicity Wins. It’s That Simple.

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Frank Sonnenberg, a marketing strategist, has written four books and published over 300 articles. This article was adapted from Frank Sonnenberg’s new book, Managing with a Conscience: How to Improve Performance Through Integrity, Trust, and Commitment (2nd edition). The book was named one of the top 10 Small Business Books of 2012 • Trust Across America named Sonnenberg one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders of 2011 and 2012 • Sonnenberg was nominated one of America's Most Influential Small Business Experts of 2012 • In 2011, Social Media Marketing Magazine (SMM) selected Sonnenberg as one of the top marketing authors in the world on Twitter. www.franksonnenbergonline.com © 2012 Frank Sonnenberg. All rights reserved.

Posted by Frank Sonnenberg on Tuesday, May 15, 2012

2 Responses to “It’s Time to Eliminate Bureaucracies”

Hal Zapken says:

September 10, 2012 at 1:03 am

So true. Perfect example…Verizon. Once customer driven after the Bell breakup the corp has locally monopolized their services and profits have driven the company to lose sight of users loyalty. Government in the Postal Service also has lost sight of customer loyalty. Rather than congress repeal laws that are choking the only govt agency reaping consistent good grades from the public, the service is forced to cut the services the public wants and ignore what the public has to say.

Reply
Frank Sonnenberg says:

September 20, 2012 at 11:51 am

Hi Hal. Unfortunately when organizations get too “comfortable”, some lose sight of their purpose –– serving customers. I think you’ll find these situations most where limited competition exists.

Have a great day!

Best,

Frank

Reply