The Study of Bureaucratic Characteristics in the Administrative Organizations of Iran (The Case of Personnel of Governmental Organizations in Ahvaz City)

Abstract

This paper represents an attempt to study bureaucracy in the administrative organizations of Iran as a developing country. Therefore, it aims to explore how the bureaucratic characteristics are in the governmental organizations of Iran.This study was carried out through the survey method. The data research have been collected by survey from a sample 400 person taken from the staffs population of  30 governmental organizations of Ahvaz-capital of Khuzestan, a province in south west of Iran- through stratified  cluster sampling.The results showed that bureaucracy in the administrative organizations of Iran couldn’t be considered as a unitary concept. Six bureaucratic characteristics formed two high-order factors that were inversely correlated together. First factor was control including Hierarchy of authority, rule observation and formality in relationships (Impersonality). Second factor was expertise including job codification, technical competence and division of labor.In conclusion, bureaucracy in the administrative organizations of Iran is multidimensional. Also, it seems that the internal relations among bureaucratic characteristics in Iran’s governmental organizations are rather different than the results of western studies.

Keywords: Bureaucracy, Organizational structure, Control, Expertise, Administrative organizations of Iran.