Unfortunately, bureaucracies often have within them the seeds of their own incompetence, like a bad genetic inheritance. Robert K Merton has argued that bureaucracies have inherent dysfunctional and pathological elements that make them inefficient in operations. Merton found that bureaucracies have a trained incapacity. This refers to a state of affairs in which one's abilities function as inadquacies or blind spots. Actions based upon training and skills which have been successfully applied in the past may result in inappropriate responses under changed conditions. According to Merton, bureaucracy exerts constant pressures on people to be methodical and disciplined to conform to pat terns of obligations. These pressures eventually cause people to adhere to rules as an end rather than a means-as a matter of blind conformance.