WORD FOR THE DAY

Your word for today is: adhocracy, n.

adhocracy, n.

[‘A flexible and informal style of organization and management, characterized by a lack of bureaucracy. Also (depreciative): bureaucracy characterized by inconsistency and lack of planning.’]

Pronunciation: Brit. /adˈhɒkrəsi/,  U.S. /ædˈhɑkrəsi/
 
Forms:  19– ad hocracy,   19– ad-hocracy,   19– adhocracy.
 
Etymology:Blend of ad hoc adv. and bureaucracy n.; compare -cracy comb. form, -ocracy comb. form.
 
 Business.
 
  A flexible and informal style of organization and management, characterized by a lack of bureaucracy. Also (depreciative): bureaucracy characterized by inconsistency and lack of planning.
 
1966  D. McC. Smyth ‘Ad-hocracy’ or Meaningful Democracy Individual Canad.? 1 Ad-hocracy results from the lack of a disciplined, coherent examination of the needs of individuals and the society which together they comprise.
 
1970  A. Toffler Future Shock vii. 113 We are..witnessing the arrival of a new organizational system that will increasingly challenge, and ultimately supplant bureaucracy. This is the organization of the future. I call it ‘Ad-hocracy’.
 
1980 Daily Tel. 30 Dec. 20/3 In an article published by Playboy magazine, he said President Carter was so inconsistent in his policy making that the administration amounted to ‘ad hocracy gone mad’.
 
1990 Village Voice (N.Y.) 16 Oct. 73/4 Something called ‘adhocracy’—which, following Japanese models, would involve workers, managers, and executives in little work teams with a single task.
 
2003  S. Kolahmeinen in  T. Heiskanen  & J. Hearn Information Society & Workplace v. 86 The environment of adhocracy is complex and dynamic, including high technology and temporary projects, and the form is common, especially in young industries such as the information sector.

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