In research by John Meyer and Brian Rowan, what aspects of a bureaucracy were often found to be ceremonial or ritual, serving mainly to justify the way things are really done?

formal procedures

Explanation:

Based on the information provided within the question it can be said that the aspect that is being described is known as formal procedures. Like mentioned in the question this term refers to pre-set way of performing a certain event. Which is used mainly in a governments justice department to demonstrate the way that something is meant to be handled.

the answer is implicit statements