Red Tape and Public Managers' Decision Making

Abstract

Whereas past studies have examined organizational red tape in terms of either particular organizational processes, time required to fulfill organizational functions, or Managers'perceptions, our research anchors red-tape constructs in the context of particular decisions. Using data from a mail questionnaire survey of public managers in state health and human services organizations, the study hypothesizes that public Managers'assessments of the red tape in decisions is a function of degree of external control, number of participants in decisions, the reversibility of decisions, “risk culture,” and especially the decision content. After using multiple regression to control for possible spurious relationships, the results suggest a two-factor explanation; specifically, assessments of the red tape in decisions are accounted for by the organization's level of hierarchy (more hierarchical organizations have more red tape in decisions) and by the particular content of the decisions.

More than Pathological Formalization: Understanding Organizational Structure and Red Tape

“…In line with Turaga and Bozeman () and Welch and Pandey (), the third independent variable, hierarchy, is measured with a single item. Respondents indicated the perceived levels in their chain of command on a non‐numeric nine‐point scale between few levels and many levels.…”

“…In a red tape context, the existence of many managerial layers in hierarchical organizations implies that decision making involves a large number of internal stakeholders (Turaga and Bozeman ). In turn, it takes employees longer to complete key organizational tasks, such as hiring and firing personnel, buying equipment, and reorganizing organizational units.…”

“…Walker and Brewer () find that higher hierarchical levels are responsible for part of the red tape observed at lower hierarchical levels, which implies that an organization with many managerial layers will slow down decision making and result in additional perceived red tape. Similarly, Turaga and Bozeman () asked public managers to identify an important decision that they were involved in and to indicate the level of red tape associated with this decision. One of the study's main findings is that more hierarchical organizations have more red tape in decisions.…”

“…Increased levels of hierarchy are often the result of a need for more managerial control, which may turn into over‐control and lead to perceived red tape (Bozeman and DeHart‐Davis ; Bozeman and Feeney ). Furthermore, more hierarchical organizations are characterized by a multitude of internal stakeholders that are required to participate in decision‐making processes, thus slowing down decision making and resulting in perceived red tape (Turaga and Bozeman ). Again, impressions of red tape are expected to be affected by how the organization is structured more generally.…”

Explaining Variation in Perceptions of Red Tape: A Professionalism-Marketization Model

“…Measurement of red tape is typically based upon managers' perceptions of the prevalence of the concept in general. However, one stream of work does utilize perceptions of task delays (see, for example, Turaga and Bozeman 2005). Most of these studies do not provide a panoramic view of red tape.…”