Both public and private organizations recognize the need to organize their activities in order to improve efficiency and productivity. There are different ways of organizing a large number of people to work collectively towards the achievement of a common goal. In the primary reading, Max Weber provides a model of organizing activities, employees and the administration to achieve efficiency. He names it bureaucracy. It refers to a model of administration that emphasizes on the use of departments and bureaus to achieve the goals of an organization. The model of bureaucracy dates back to the early 19 th century although it existed in a rather fragmented way in the pre-modern world. Nonetheless, Weber elaborates the concept and defines functions, roles and characteristics of bureaucracy and bureaucrats. Bureaucrats represent the employees and managers of an organization who hold specific qualifications and specialize in their duties and roles. This essay seeks to analyze the characteristics of bureaucracy and bureaucrats as highlighted in the primary reading. Characteristics and the Nature of an Official Position First, Weber (2009, p.197) articulates that a bureaucratic structure is typical of hierarchical structures. In other words, a bureaucratic political system has few officials as the structure goes up. Junior employees and subordinates occupy the bottom of the hierarchy while the managers and senior management team occupy the top of the structure. Second, Weber (2009, p. 197) says that all bureaucrats ought to possess specific skills and expertise to fulfill the goals of an organization. This implies that office holders (employees or managers) have specialized in their duties and roles. Third, a bureaucracy is typical of papers and shelves as the name suggests. In other words, employees work with written documents that are placed in shelves and desks. Bureaucracy reflects numerous offices of the modern organizations that similar to bureaus. Fourth, Weber (2009, p. 197) points out that the major function of an office is to increase efficiency and productivity of the organization. To that end, an office is fully developed when the employees and the managers are able to streamline their activities towards improving the efficiency of the organization (Weber 2009, p. 197). Finally, Weber (2009, p. 198) postulates that the most important objective of a bureaucrat is to ensure that employees and members of staff ought to follow the set rules and regulations of the office (bureau). The employees can learn the rules and regulations through training and guidance on their specific roles within the structure. Weber (2009, p.198) characterizes the nature of the position of a leader in a bureaucracy. First, the office holders should possess a vocation or a calling for the leadership roles and have an intrinsic motivation to perform at different capacities within the system. Second, leaders must recognize that leading other people is a duty rather than a role. They should not focus on compensation packages as is with other laborers in the market. Further, Weber (2009, p. 199) articulates that a bureaucratic leader serves the interests of the office with undivided loyalty. This implies that the modern bureaucratic leaders are loyal servants of the impersonal office (bureau). Hence, they serve the