German sociologist Max Weber was the first person to formally study bureaucracy. In his 1921 book “Economy and Society,” Weber conveys that a well-built bureaucracy is a highly capable form of organization. But he also described the dangers of uncontrolled bureaucracies as they can remove individual freedoms and leave people in what he described as an “iron cage” of irrational and inflexible rules.

• How can an uncontrolled bureaucracy develop?
• How can they be mitigated?
• Who do they harm and why does it matter?
• How do we recognize these failings in our organization?

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