Abstract
This chapter introduces one of the biggest contributors to negativity and toxic work environments within the community of responders: bureaucracy. The bureaucracy has been found to be a dizzying maze-like experience for emergency services responders to navigate. In addition, bureaucracy has been identified as one of the greatest contributors to responder’s stress and burnout. This chapter begins with identifying what bureaucracy is, and then moves on to discuss the problems of bureaucracy within the emergency services. At its core, bureaucracy is void of the human experience and relationships. It stands on its own as a structure of policies, procedures, and rules that over time can become more important than the guardians they’re supposed to be serving.
The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline.
—James C. Collins
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Russell, E.J. (2019). Bureaucracy Within the Emergency Services. In: In Command of Guardians: Executive Servant Leadership for the Community of Responders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12493-9_3
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