IV. Conclusion
It has to be acknowledged that even though Weber believes
rationality and efficiency can be attained through bureaucracy,
he was mindful of its shortcomings as evidenced by the fact
that he also associated it with “an oppressive routine adverse
to personal freedom” [10]. He realizes that bureaucracy limits
individual freedom and makes it difficult if not impossible for
individuals to understand their activities in relation to the
organization as a whole. Most importantly, bureaucracy favors
what Weber called the “crippled personality of the specialties”
[10]. Due to the irreconcilable differences between the
administrative traditions that were presented by the founding
fathers and the impossibility of managing a modern society
without bureaucracy, it is not surprising that scholars within
the field of public administration have so far failed to come up
with an adequate theoretical base to explain the relationship
between bureaucracy and representative government. The
changes that have taken place within the American society make
it clear that the problems administrators have to contend with
do not easily fit the existing structure of hierarchy and authority
based structure. Hence, the need to restructure or readjust the
bureaucracy to adapt to new and complex problems becomes
apparent. Unfortunately, there is no consensus regarding how
the restructuring can be done and this issue will remain one of
the hot debates in the field of PA for the coming decades.