Red Tape Information
"Red tape" is a derisive term for excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that is considered redundant or bureaucratic and hinders or prevents action or decision-making. It is usually applied to governments, corporations and other large organizations.
Red tape generally includes the filling out of seemingly unnecessary paperwork, obtaining of unnecessary licenses, having multiple people or committees approve a decision and various low-level rules that make conducting one's affairs slower, more difficult, or both.
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Origins
The origins of the term are somewhat obscure, but it is first noted in historical records in the 16th century, when Henry VIII besieged Pope Clement VII with around eighty or so petitions for the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. A photo of the petitions from Cardinal Wolsey and others, now stored in the Vatican archives, can be seen on page 160 of "Saints and Sinners, a History of The Popes", by Eamon Duffy (published by Yale University Press in 1997). The pile of documents can be viewed rolled and stacked in their original condition, each one sealed and bound with the obligatory red tape, as was the custom.
The tradition continued through to the 17th and 18th century. Although Charles Dickens is believed to have used the phrase before Thomas Carlyle,[1] the English practice of binding documents and official papers with red tape was popularized in the writings of Carlyle protesting against official inertia with expressions like "Little other than a red tape Talking-machine, and unhappy Bag of Parliamentary Eloquence". To this day, most barristers' briefs are tied in a pink-coloured ribbon known as "pink tape" or "legal tape". Government briefs are usually bound with white tape, introduced as an economy measure[citation needed] to save the expense of dyeing the tape red.
Traditionally, official Vatican documents were also bound in red cloth tape.
All American Civil War veterans' records were bound in red tape, and the difficulty in accessing them led to the current use of the term,[2] but there is evidence (as detailed above) that the term was in use in its modern sense sometime before this. This explanation was popularized by the American political drama The West Wing when the series' President, President Bartlett, told the story to his Personal Aide, Charlie Young ("The Women of Qumar").
Karl Marx wrote about the phenomenon of changing from one person in control of a complete task, to having multiple people each with specialties in specific tasks. He saw this occurring as society shifts from a Seigneurial system to a capitalist system. Although Marx drew different conclusions about this trend, it is often this abstraction among workers that is the source of red tape. This interpretation would explain why it is often perceived that the presence of red tape is increasing.[citation needed]
The words "Red Tape" have been used in many protest songs throughout the 1960s-1980s. The most famous example of this is found in Metallica's "...And Justice For All", which features Lady Justice being torn down and money falling from her balances.
Red tape reduction
The "cutting of red tape" is a popular electoral and policy promise.[citation needed]
In the United States, a number of committees have discussed and debated Red Tape Reduction Acts[citation needed]
See also
Anecdote
The hardcore punk band Circle Jerks title the last song on their first album "group sex" "Red tape".
References
- ^ p.1152, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, 17th Edition; Revised by J Ayto, 2005
- ^ Red Tape, North and South, in the Civil War
Books
- Barry Bozeman (2000) Bureaucracy and Red Tape Prentice-Hall Publishing.
- OECD (2006) 'Cutting red tape; national strategies for administrative simplification' OECD Editions, Paris.
External links
- Australian Taskforce on Reducing the Regulatory Burdens on Business – Rethinking Regulation
- Instruction creep
- Monash Centre for Regulatory Studies
- 10-Point Plan for Regulatory Reform in Ontario
- Regulatory Affairs Resources
- Unravelling the Red Tape Myths - UK
- Shortage of skilled workers knocks red tape off top of business constraints league table - Grant Thornton IBR
Categories: Slang | Organizational studies and human resource management
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