The "Skill Bureaucracy" and Intraorganizational Control

Abstract

The incompatability of a bureaucratic organization and its professional occupational groups has attracted considerable attention. This article examines the orientation and behavior of one such professional group, the personnel of the electronic data processing department, in the organizational context of American local government. This department is an example of a "skill bureaucracy"—a unit which provides services to clients, has a relative monopolyu within areas of both service provision and technical expertise, and has an external, professionalized reference group. Data from nearly 500 local governments suggest that the premises which guide the behavior of this skill bureaucrac-are primarily its own rather than those of its super ordinates or its clients. The EDP unit has a distinctive perspective regarding its on role responsibilities, anchored in the standards of its professional group. This skill bureaucracy is remarkabl' expansionist, and is autonomous in its operations.