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Public Administration vocabulary · Bureaucracy and Procedures

Procedure

Meaning in public administration, with examples

/prəˈsiːdʒə/nounCore term

In public administration, procedure means: An official, fixed set of steps for doing something, such as applying for a permit, handling a complaint or approving a payment.

In Turkish: usul, prosedür, işlem

How it is used

Procedures are set out, followed, simplified and sometimes breached. Staff are told to follow the correct procedure. The adjective procedural is common in legal and audit language: a procedural error.

Example sentences

  1. Please follow the standard procedure for reporting a data breach.

  2. The court cancelled the decision because of a procedural error.

Common collocations

  • follow the procedure
  • standard operating procedure
  • procedural error
  • simplify procedures
  • application procedure
  • bureaucracyA system of administration based on fixed rules, written records and a clear hierarchy of officials; in everyday speech, also slow and complicated official procedures.
  • paperworkThe routine work of preparing, filling in and filing the documents and forms needed for an official process, or those documents themselves.
  • permitAn official document that allows someone to do something that would otherwise be restricted, such as build a house, open a business or work in a country.
  • appealA formal request to a higher authority or a court to review and change an official decision, such as a refused permit, a fine or an exam result.
  • streamlineTo make a process or organization simpler and more efficient, for example by removing unnecessary steps, forms or approvals.

More terms: Bureaucracy and Procedures

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