Causes and Consequences of Organizational Overload: The Bureaucratic Burden-Capacity gap

Policy accumulation has become a defining characteristic of modern democracies, but public organizations often lack the resources necessary to manage ever-expanding mandates effectively. This paper examines the consequences of a burden–capacity nexus at the organizational level. Drawing on 25 years of staffing, budget, and policy data, along with 28 in-depth interviews from two environmental agencies, the study highlights how persistent mismatches between workload and resources can jeopardize not only policy implementation but also the institutional structures that underpin organizational resilience. While underfunding and staff shortages elevate the risk of implementation failures, prolonged strain also damages internal processes, intensifies turnover, and erodes organizational expertise—making it difficult for organizations to recover. By illuminating these repercussions, the findings underscore the importance of aligning resource allocation with policy growth to ensure sustainable governance outcomes and prevent structural decline within public agencies.