what are the most common characteristics of a bureaucracy 
some of the most common characteristics of a bureaucracy include a hierarchy rules and regulations and specialization 1 the hierarchy establishes scales of power those with the most power are at the top while individuals who have the least fall at the bottom rules and regulations are typically formal and indicate how processes and functions are to be conducted specialization entails the use of training to allow people to do their jobs properly under the structure the bottom linebureaucracies are all around us from the companies for which we work to the governments that rule our world s countries they are in place to ensure that things run efficiently and by the book that is that people follow the rules whether that s to conduct health and safety checks while on the job to get a permit for a building project or to access government benefits as much as they re supposed to help keep everyone on track bureaucracies are often criticized for being cumbersome and for putting the emphasis on procedure and policy rather than efficiency regardless of how you feel about them whether it s positive or negative bureaucracies aren t going away they are in fact a part of the structure of many organizations 