A bureaucratic organization is an organization run by the government. It has a long line of officials to contact and go through before a certain task is accomplished e.g. buying government property. On the other hand, patron- client organizations are organizations where there is a relationship between someone lower and another one higher e.g. leaders and the common citizens. In both of these organizations, there is the use of techniques and ways to perform duties using legal government money and capital though the deals are illegal.

In some ways, they both work hand in hand so that each gets a share of a targeted market. Since they mostly perform illegal businesses they lean on each others back so that no one gets caught at the end of the day.

Both of these organizations are very dynamic and flexible. They are able to go along with a particular country’s interest and fit in the market (Mallory, 2007).


The difference between these two organizations is that the bureaucratic organizations are able to defeat the patron-client organizations. This is because they are more efficient for they look at people as a group more then individuals. This gives way to more wide and firm social organizations. On the other hand patron-client organizations focus on individuals more than categories hence less efficient.

Patron- client organizations are more established and more popular than bureaucratic organizations especially in some countries. This has made it look like the bureaucratic organizations are dominating an already dominated environment.

Importance of understanding

The understanding of these two organizations will help in linking the gap between them. It will also help us know how our government and security systems are dealing with this organized crime or even how far they have been compromised by the same organizations they claim to be fighting against. All these will also enable one know how to deal with these organizations and whether they can be limited because doing away with them is almost impossible (Ryan & Rush 1997).

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