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Autonomy is regarded as an important dimension of professionalism. A number of investigators claim that bureaucratic organization limits professional autonomy. This study was undertaken to determine empirically the validity of this claim. The relationship between bureaucratic structure and degree of professional autonomy within the client-professional relationship was examined by systematically comparing the perceived autonomy of professionals in three types of bureaucratic settings, nonbureaucratic, moderately bureaucratic, and highly bureaucratic. The data revealed that those professionals associated with the moderately bureaucratic setting are most likely and those in the highly bureaucratic setting are least likely to perceive themselves as autonomous. These findings do not support the contention that bureaucracy is necessarily detrimental to professional autonomy.
Gloria V. Engel (Sun,) studied this question.