Bureaucracy and Organizational Commitment in Lagos State Civil Service

Bureaucracy is believed to be a means through which rationalization is applied to the organization of human activities, and it is based on the postulation that the management can create control, predictability, and certainty in the work place. However, bureaucracy involves unnecessary delay in decision-making, high level of rigidity, goal displacement, red tape, compartmentalization of activities, too much paper work, among others. This study investigated the effects of bureaucracy on organizational commitment in Lagos State Civil Service. The survey research design was utilized, through the administration of questionnaire, for the collection of factual data that are measurable and quantifiable. Weber’s theory of bureaucracy was adopted for this study. The study supports the idea that bureaucracy has a seed of its own destruction because its (bureaucratic) principles force the human to substitute his sense of right and wrong (while performing his daily tasks) with decisions, rules, and instructions imposed by higher supervisors who might be away from the real social context and its necessities. Three research hypotheses were formulated and tested. Findings revealed that bureaucratic management style has a contributing effect on the employees’ commitment in an organization. This is because employees’ commitment is hampered by bureaucratic culture in the organization. This study recommends, among others, that bureaucratic management style and practices should be eliminated to allow for dynamism, creativity and productivity on the part of the employees or Civil Servants.