A formal organisation with defined objectives, a hierarchy of specialised roles and systematic processes of direction and administration. Bureaucracy is found in earlier times in history, for example in administration of agricultural irrigation systems, the Roman army, the Catholic church, but it becomes most prominent in the large-scale administration of agencies of the modern state and modern business corporations. Max Weber gave particular attention to bureaucracy and saw this form of social organisation becoming dominant in modern society due to the commitment to the value of rationalisation - the organisation of social activity so as to most efficiently achieve goals.