Dictionary

adhocrat en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /adhəˈkɹat/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ædhəˈkɹæt/ (General-American)

Etymology

From ad hoc + -crat, by analogy with bureaucrat.

Meanings

1. (qualifier:organizational theory) One who espouses or practises adhocracy.
   • The efficient manager of bureaucracy was to be replaced by a change-responsive ‘adhocrat’ (Toffler, 1970). But […] the 1950s’ tasks of management are not being replaced, but enlarged and complemented; much of the equipment of the industrial manager will remain vital to the firm’s success. Alvin Toffler (1970), Future Shock, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →OCLC
   • Mitch[ell Kapor] had become the central civil-libertarian ad-hocrat. Mitch had stood up first, he had spoken out loudly, directly, vigorously and angrily, he had put his own reputation, and his very considerable personal fortune, on the line. 2004, Kate Burns, Fighters against Censorship (History Makers), San Diego, Calif.: Lucent Books, →ISBN, page 91:
   • "Ad hocracy" challenges traditional bureaucracy by denying its basic unit, position; instead of routine, position will be changing constantly, varied as to "ad hocrat". Division of labor becomes outdated in this conjecture: everyone is a generalist and specialist simultaneously due to the explosion of knowledge. Toffler foresees the equality of workers' capabilities. Today's janitor will be tomorrow's president. Rotating the job is an indicator of an egalitarian society. 1979, Yearn H[ong] Choi, Introduction to Public Administration: Essays and Research Notes, Virginia Beach, Va.: The Donning Company, →ISBN, page 169:
   • The adhocrat is reluctant to tie his/her hands in advance, and prefers to wait and judge each case on its merits. This makes an adhocracy open not only to innovation, but also to corruption and inefficiency. 1992, Richard Veryard, Information Modelling: Practical Guidance (BCS Practitioner Series), New York, N.Y.: Prentice Hall, →ISBN, page 171:
   • In R&D and engineering, skunk works are guerrilla operations; they are the outlaws of the formal organization. They hide their work from management who may be too remote from the pulse of the market and new technology. […] Skunks are adhocrats but illegitimate adhocrats. They can be punished and rejected. They can be tacitly tolerated, […] 2002, Evert Gummesson, “RM, the Network Organization and the Network Society”, in Total Relationship Marketing, 2nd edition, Oxford; Woburn, Mass.: Butterworth-Heinemann, →ISBN, page 270:
   • There is, thus, in the professional activity of the adhocrat, or the common type of consultant, no delimitative intentionality. In opposition to this orientation, paraeconomy is conceived as a category of confrontal and delimitative thinking. 1976, Administration & Society, volume 8, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Periodicals Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 268:
   • [T]he para-economist should not be confused with what Alvin Toffler calls the adhocrat. 1981, Alberto Guerreiro Ramos, The New Science of Organizations: A Reconceptualization of the Wealth of Nations, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page 196:

Forms

Relateds

adhocratic · adhocratical · adhocratically · adhocracy

Translations (1)

pl adhokrata (Translations)