Limits to bureaucratic growth: The density dependence of organizational rule births

The study reported here uses a population ecology approach to examine wheth er bureaucratic rules breed more rules. Hypotheses about the birth rate of bureaucratic rules are derived and tested with time series data on rule pro duction in a large U.S. research university. Results show that the rate of rule production declines with the number of rules in a rule population over time. The results support organizational learning theories: by expanding t he number of rules, organizations increasingly respond to environmental cha llenges in a programmed way, reducing organizational experiences with new s ituations, inhibiting organizational learning, and thereby eliminating a ma in impetus for making more rules. Radical bureaucratization theories, howev er, are not supported.(.)