adhocrat meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

adhocrat

noun

UK /adhəˈkɹat/ · US /ædhəˈkɹæt/

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

Business One who espouses or practises adhocracy.

Organizational theory

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
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:

4 more examples

"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 Division of labor becomes outdated in this conjecture: everyone is a generalist and specialist simultaneously due to the explosion of knowledge.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:
[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:
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:

Related terms: adhocracy, adhocratic, adhocratical, adhocratically