Final answer:
Bureaucracies are designed to maintain stability and uphold existing power structures, which makes initiating change challenging due to hierarchical rigidity, red tape, and the personal costs of reporting internal issues. The system's slow-moving nature, coupled with the high cost of whistleblower actions, makes blocking action easier than implementing change.
Step-by-step explanation:
Blocking action is often easier than taking action in a bureaucracy because the system itself is designed to prioritize stable operation over efficiency and rapid change. Bureaucracies, characterized by extensive red tape, intricate procedures, and hierarchical structures, inherently resist change and innovation in favor of maintaining the status quo. These characteristics stem from bureaucracies being established as large hierarchical organizations where individual initiative is often suppressed by a rigid adherence to rules and regulations. This leads to challenges in enacting substantive policy changes or reforms, especially with added complexities of organizing collective action and the high personal costs to whistleblowers within the system. Moreover, bureaucracies can be compared to large tankers mid-ocean, indicating how difficult it is to alter their course or operational approach swiftly.