Bureaucracy and decision-making process in public organisation: University of Jos in focus

Abstract

Devising University policies is the central piece in Education management that must at alltime be delegated to people who are well acquainted with its operations as well as intendant with best practices. The top echelon must be populated by administrators who have a good mix of ‘the town and the gown’ knowledge and experience. University administration requires swift decision-making procedure, timely execution of decision made as well as effective monitoring of the execution of the decision(s) made. This is because of the peculiar business of manufacturing and dissemination of knowledge being transacted in the university which must be carried out with utmost due diligence, competence and timeliness. However, because of the sizes of Nigerian Universities, large workforce as well as complex managerial procedures which results in bureaucratic bottlenecks are in involved in decision making. This no doubt, slows down the speed with which decision are reached or executed. University of Jos is not
insulated from the ill of slow decision-making procedure which of course, has affected its efficiency. This paper traces lapses in the administrative structure of the university which has resulted in bureaucratic bottlenecks. This paper adopts the triple theories of bureaucratic management, systems theory and iron triangle as framework of analysis. It adopts the secondary data analysis and archival study as the research methods; hence it relies mainly on secondary sources for data collection and analysis. The paper accomplishes that poor governance arrangements, such as the bureaucratic procedures in most public and private institution of higher education, have been associated with interrupted academic life especially in the public institutions. Hence it recommends among others that democratic styles of decision making should be encouraged so as to promote industrial harmony in the University.