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RESEARCH AND RED TAPE: MAKING THE BUREAUCRACY

WORK

By Jo Haygood-Guerrero (WarGoddess)

An essay on RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONAL


STRUCTURES submitted to the Faculty of Research Development and
Management, University of the Philippines Open University, 2005.
(Image courtesy of blog.wired.com)

From what was emphasized in the RDM Reader “Systems Analysis of


Research Organization” by J.C. Reyes and G. L. Tala, an effective
research organization follows a development bureaucracy set-up. To be
workable, an RDO should provide an internal organizational climate
that is conducive to proliferation of creative energies while maintaining
a level of bureaucracy. In which case, an RDO is better presented in a
matrix structure showing a clear relationship among departments,
divisions or sections and their functions during the research process.

As loose-structured organizations, those executing a particular task


(personnel) have more freedom during the research process, allowing
flexibility and avoidance of rules or protocol that might impede the flow
of “creative juices” and consequently, hinder the assigned personnel or
the research organization as a whole to produce required outputs. Also,
being informal in structure, research organizations could easily
influence or affect the action of others. For example, it could request
support personnel from other departments, if necessary to perform
particular functions based on their personal attributes. RDOs must also
show a division of function in its structure, with each department
functional, ready to act as support system for the completion of a
research project.

In the real world where bureaucracy is characterized by red-tape and


corruption, employing these variations in the structure of research
organizations could be quite impossible. It could be possible only if the
people who are implementing the system stop acting “crazy” and
authority-conscious but rather client-oriented, dynamic, flexible and
facilitative.

There is no other best organizational structure but the bureaucracy.


Bureaucracy is the only structure which follows a set of rules and
principles and accountability of the person (including the red tapes and
other but connotation). But whether it should be loose or close,
normative or personal, formal or informal, even democratic or not will
depend on the organizational culture and the management style of the
one in-charge of the organization. The kind of organizational structure
also depends on the nature and purpose of its existence. As part of the
functions of management, organizing must conform to the mission,
vision and goal of the organization. Careful planning must be done
because once the structure is established it is very hard to change or
replace it.

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