Sociology Plus
Displacement of Goals Definition
Displacement of goals is a term used by Robert Merton to describe the situation in which individuals within an organization cease to focus on its overall aims and attend only to the immediate task in front of them. The organization’s broader goals are thereby displaced by narrow, immediate ones.
Bureaucratic Formalism
Merton argued that this displacement leads to formalism among bureaucrats, in which adherence to the rules becomes more important than achieving the purposes the rules were meant to serve. Following procedure correctly turns into an end in itself, so that the means of the organization eclipse its ends — a recognized pathology of bureaucratic organization.