Are universities always disorganized? I've been a faculty member at two universities.  Both have been very "disorganized," generally speaking. By "disorganized," I mean things like: Faculty are not formally hired until after the semester begins (due to administrative failure to sign contracts on time); courses are scheduled in rooms that are far too small for the number of students enrolled; facilities are poorly maintained (e.g., it's not uncommon for windows to break or heat to stop working in a room and not be fixed for months); HR departments don't answer email or even phone calls; pay checks are sometimes late or inaccurate, etc.

Is this a common experience at most universities, or just the ones where I've taught? Both of the places where I have been are well-known institutions -- not elite schools, but ones that are prestigious enough, and which you wouldn't expect to be poorly run.

For that matter, does this type of stuff happen in non-academic jobs, too? I have only ever worked in academia, so I don't have a lot of perspective on just how much disorganization is normal for a workplace bureaucracy. I kind of suspect academia might be a special case because it's run in large part by administrators (department heads, deans) who typically have no actual management training. But I suppose managers in the corporate world might have little idea what they are doing, too.

These are both private universities in the United States, by the way.
I worked at three different Universities in Germany and I can not confirm such a level of disorganization. Of course we are having problems because we are public entities, which means e.g. that we can not freely decide where to invest or to shift money from cost center A (e.g. personal) to cost center B (buildings), or hire as many people as we like, or pay the wages we thing are appropriate, but those problems are minor issues compared to the ones described.

It is correct that many management positions are held by amateurs (like me ;-) ), but this is manly the academic part (research, dean, ...), but our "true" administration is in the hands of professionals lead by the head of administration (in Germany "Kanzler") who usually has a management background and expertise.