The "street-level bureaucracy" theory
Focuses on the effect of workplace structure on workers' behavior
Alienation: lack of control over work pace and outcomes
- Alienation leads to job dissatisfaction and decreased commitment
High ratio of clients to workers: a cycle of mediocrity develops
- Demand of service ever-increasing, no concurrent increase in workers, diminishing quality of service , discourage clients
Role strain: confusing and conflictual goals
- The goal of promoting the general well-being of clients often conflicts with the social goal of eliminating welfare dependency