Bureaucratic Style

Albert Einstein once said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” In a bureaucracy, writers sometimes overlook the first part of Einstein’s good advice. To the reader, it sometimes seems that writers are trying to make everything as complicated as possible. Unfortunately, that is not usually a good way to keep the reader reading or to get things done efficiently.

It is easy enough to recognize bureaucratic style. It is generally unreadable, unclear, and difficult to understand. Read through the example below; see if you can determine what factors make this document bureaucratic in its style.