A post-bureaucratic proposal: A bureaucratic and business model

Abstract

The objective of this text is to present a proposal for a post-bureaucratic model that we call a bureaucratic model. This proposed model would be a combination of the current bureaucratic model with the business model. This proposal is based on four principles: - There are conceptual elements of the bureaucratic model that fit perfectly with the philosophy and functions of public administration. A part of the bureaucratic model can not be ignored if one wants to avoid falling into discretion, clientelism and legal and institutional insecurity. - The public administrations of the future can not face their future challenges with the bureaucratic model, in a context of complex governance and with a possible increase in their competences. The bureaucratic model is rigid and not in line with the management needs of public services, in terms of operating in a network and with sophisticated technological systems. An ordered business model needs to be introduced in public management. - Both models can coexist if their organizational perimeters are clearly defined and the relationship patterns between both are established. It would be a complex system of equilibria but that could work in practice. - The current model of public administration is an eclectic monster in which its base is the poorly implemented bureaucratic model, to which pieces of the management model and pieces of the governance model have been added. Among these three models, which coexist in a chaotic way, the old clientelist model reappears among its cracks. Clientelism is very resistant, since it is the natural form of human organization, and takes advantage of moments of crisis or the lack of consistency of models to be reborn. In these conditions, affirming that the current public administration has a bureaucratic model is an imposture since its design responds to such diverse conceptual tensions that no solid and solvent model really possesses. The central part of this study is normative in which the proposal of a buroempresarial model is presented (section 3). Before that, a synthetic review of the historical models that have been superimposed on public administrations is made: "patronazgo" or clientelar model, bureaucratic model, managerial model and governance model (section 1). The final result is a combination of models that weaken the public administration conceptually and that make it difficult for it to provide legal and institutional security as well as effectiveness and efficiency in the provision of public services. In section 2 some reflections are made about the possible future models of public administration. The proposed buroenterprise model is an attempt to respond to the demands of these future scenarios.