The ritual of reorganization in a public bureaucracy

Cultural aspects of complex organizations have recently captured the attention of scholars, yet empirical studies in this area remain rare. This paper explores the paradox that reorganizations are common in modern bureaucracies even though they have been found to have few instrumental effects. The present study of a state regulatory agency found that while reorganization had little instrumental consequence, it did provide the context for a power struggle between the administrative and occupational spheres of authority. In fact, reorganization proved to be a highly ritualized arena for significantly altering the agency's informal structure by replacing an entrenched dominant subculture. By examining the symbolic and ritualistic nature of this process, this paper looks beyond the ineffectual manifest functions of reorganization to uncover its power latent functions.Donald D. Stull is Associate Professor of Anthropology and a research associate with the Institute for Public Policy and Business Research at the University of Kansas. Steven Maynard-Moody is Associate Professor of Public Administration in the Division of Government and Director of the Policy Analysis Program in the Institute for Public Policy and Business Research at the University of Kansas. Jerry Mitchell is Assistant Professor of Public Administration, Baruch College, City University of New York. Support for this research was provided by a grant from the General Research Fund of the University of Kansas. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Denver, Colorado, in November 1984. We wish to thank F. Allan Hanson for his critique of an earlier version of this paper. We are grateful for the patience and openness of those working in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.