The article “Bureaucratic Structure and Personality”, by Robert Merton, discusses the purpose and structure of bureaucracies and the pros and cons of a bureaucratic approach to management. Merton examines the nature of interpersonal interactions within bureaucracies and looks at how bureaucrats interact with their clients or constituents.

Bureaucracies are based on clear-cut divisions of integrated activities which are regarded as duties inherent in specific offices, while the offices are filed by individuals whose technical qualifications best fit the duties. Bureaucracies are set up to serve a specific purpose, such as administering social services. In order to achieve their goals, they operate according to an articulated set of highly detailed rules which regulate interaction through hierarchy and formality. These devices restrain the ability of individual bureaucrats to act impulsively or with personal motivations, contributing to the predictability of the bureaucracy.

A level of flexibility can be attained in a bureaucracy through the appointment of executive level leadership by political officials. In this way the democratically expressed will of the people will be manifest within the bureaucracy.

Below the appointed executive there are many trained and salaried experts who make decisions that are governed by the general, abstract, and clearly defined rules of the particular bureaucracy. Since these rules are general, the bureaucrat must assess each situation they face and assign it to a category in order to know what rules will determine their subsequent decisions. Most bureaucratic positions, outside of appointments, carry the expectation of life-long tenure unless the bureaucracy is downsized. The assurance of tenure, incremental salary raises, and pensions operate to ensure devoted performance of official duties and technical efficiency on the part