The term "bureaucracy" is French in origin, and combines the French word bureau which

means desk or office with the Greek word kratos which means rule or political power. The
two terms were coined together in the mid of the 18 th century by a French economist Jacques
Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay. The historical meaning of bureaucracy was government
administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected officials. However, today
bureaucracy means an administrative system governing any large institution. The Merriam
Webster dictionary defines bureaucracy as a s ys te m of government or bus ines s that
has man y complicated rules and wa ys of doing things. Max Webber a Germany
social scientist who happens to be the proponent of bureaucracy analyzed the formation and
administration of enterprises. Webber concluded that organization have a form of bureaucracy
where there is division of labour, hierarch of authority, impersonality, written rules and
regulations etc. This stud y looks at the characteristics of bureaucrac y present
in Zambian Pri mar y and Secondar y schools in cons ideration of some
components

of bureaucrac y such

as

division

of labour, hierarch

of

authorit y, written rules and regulations, impersonalit y and emplo yment

bas ed on technical qualifications .

To start with, bureaucracy has to do with setting rules and regulations in advance on how to
do things. It is a framework designed by higher authority moving down to lower organs of an
institution. These rules and regulations in a bureaucracy are often rigid and inflexible. They
are framed in such a way that lower levels of an institution have no room of coming up with
incentives so as to enhance their ways of doing things.

Zambian primary and secondary schools exhibit a form of management purely on

bureaucratic tendencies. The hierarch of authority is seen at all levels of management in
primary and secondary schools. Hierarch in schools is characterized by downward delegation
of authority. Each superior exercises control over his subordinates. The authority flows from
top level to lower level of management. This hierarch in schools starts at a class level where
monitors and monitresses are elected in a class in order to bring sanity and maintain order.
Teachers implement orders and directives to the class through the monitor and monitress. In
addition to class management, the hierarch of authority is implemented through prefects who

are given several responsibilities on managing and controlling their fellow pupils. The
prefects make sure that all those who go against the stipulated rules and regulations of the
school are booked and reported to the teacher on duty who determines the kind of punishment
suitable for the culprits. Teachers also have a hierarch of authority. Schools have class
teachers, heads of department, senior teachers, deputy head teachers and head teachers. The
hierarch of authority begins from the lower level which in this case is a class teacher. The
class teachers report to the heads of department or senior teachers depending on the situation
and the senior teachers or heads of department finally take the matter to the head teacher the
final authority at the school.

Aside from a school environment, the entire ministry of education follows a hierarch of
authority. Hierarch in the ministry of education is characterized by downward delegation of
authority. Each superior exercises control over his subordinates. The authority flows from top
level to lower level of management. For instance, when teachers apply for study leave, the
process starts at the headmasters offices who are informed by the concerned teachers that
they intend to further their education. The teacher then makes formal applications to the
District Education Board Secretarys Office who may contact the head teacher of the
concerned school where the teacher hails from so as to prove whether the teacher applying
for leave followed the laid down procedure and rules. If the head teacher confirms that the
teacher made all the necessary arrangements and followed all the stipulated rules and
regulations, the DEBS office will forward the application to the province and keep a copy of
the application in a teachers file. The province will as well perform their duties by calling
and consulting the DEBS office concerning the same application. A copy of the application
will as well be filed here and the application forwarded to the headquarters in Lusaka. The
final decision will be arrived at in Lusaka at the headquarters which will as well channel the
reply to all levels in the hierarch up to the district. This length process consumes a lot of time
causing some teachers to abandon the entire application process. Despite being a length
process the rules and regulations help bring up a rationality of doing things. They create a
measure of objectivity by ensuring that the prescribed rules are followed which simplifies the
decision making process in routine situations.

In addition to hierarch of authority, schools also are governed by rules and regulations from
higher authority. Detailed rules and regulations regarding work behaviour and the rights and
duties of employees are laid down. Rules are designed to ensure the consistency and
predictability in work performance. Training is also provided to familiarize the teachers with
rules and administrative procedures of the ministry of education. The rules and regulations in
schools are designed by the government under the Ministry of Education and channeled to
various provinces through provincial offices. The provincial offices deliver the rules and
regulations to various districts where head teachers and their subordinates get them and have
them implemented in all primary and secondary schools. All teachers in the end follow the
same rules and regulations. It is worth noting that the rules and regulations impart
predictability and thereby ensure stability in schools. All the teachers are made to conform to
these rules which helps bring up order to cope with complexity.

Primary and secondary schools also exhibit a form of bureaucracy through division of labour.
Each teacher performs his specialized work in a predictable manner. Schools teach a number
of subjects. At primary school though there are different subjects, teachers mostly are given
one class where they teach all the subjects. There are early childhood and primary school
teachers at primary schools. The early childhood teachers are specialized in teaching lower
level grades from pre-school up to Grade Four. The primary school teachers are generally
qualified to teach from Grade One to Grade Seven. Through these specializations, one can
notice that primary schools indeed exhibit some sort of bureaucracy through division of
labour. While primary school teachers seem less emphasized on specialization and division of
labour, secondary school teachers are highly specialized and emphasized on division of
labour. Teachers at secondary schools only teach one or two subjects of their specialization.
They move from class to class in a day to teach subjects of their specialization. There are
teachers of mathematics, teachers of English, teachers of science etc.

In a bureaucratic organization all relations between subordinates and superiors are formal.
This creates a climate of impersonality where rules and regulations are given priority over the
individuals needs and emotions. This impersonal relationship is shown in schools where the
teachers have no time of informal meetings with their superiors. The head teacher meets the

teachers in meetings and discusses issues pertaining to school development and teaching. The
subordinates also ask questions and come up with suggestions as well on how the school can
be run. Any issues that are beyond the running of the school in terms of teaching and pupil
management are not considered as part of the school system.

Teachers are employed based on qualifications. Selection and promotion of teachers both in
primary and secondary schools is based on the technical qualifications they have. The current
minimum requirement for someone to be a teacher though not fully achieved by the ministry
is a diploma qualification. No one is employed to teach who has not gone through the
government designed route of learning. It must also be understood that, it is not the mere
attainment of any diploma that entails someone to teach in these schools. For someone to
teach in Zambian primary and secondary schools the requirement is that a person must
undergo a diploma study with teaching methodology courses.

In conclusion, one can say that bureaucracy exists in Zambian primary and government
schools. There is division of labour amongst teachers as they are seen teaching different
subjects as per their specialization. Teachers also report to one boss the head teacher. The
head teacher assigns and delegates authority to teachers accordingly. There are so many
written rules and regulations in schools guiding the head teachers on how to work out certain
activities. Schools also exhibit a form of bureaucracy based on impersonality. The
relationship between teachers and the head teachers are always formal and do not in any way
involves anything outside the scope of work.
employed based on technical qualifications.

Finally, teachers across the country are

References
Althusser, L., 1972. Lenin and Philosophy. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Boundless, 2015. sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/education-13/schoolsas-formal-organizations-99/bureaucratization-of-schools-557-3191. [Online]
Available at: https://www.boundless.com/
Duncan-Andrade, J., 2000. Looking forward: The purpose of education. New York: Crown
Publishers.
Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2015. Bureaucracy. [Online]
Available at: http://www.merriam-webster.com
Wikipedia, 2015. Bureaucracy. [Online]
Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucracy