Public Administration And Organization Theory: The Structural Foundation By Paul Barker's Outline

Paul Barker 's, "Public Administration in Canada" defines the roles of different administrative structures in Canada. In the second chapter. "Public Administration and Organization Theory: The Structural Foundation," Barker addresses Max Weber, a German scholar, and his approach to the classical Bureaucratic Theory. Bureaucracy 's main purpose is to achieve a high level of efficiency. Bureaucratic structures contain a hierarchical structure, specialization of labour, merit based employment and promotion, full time employment, unbiased or unprejudicial decisions, documentation and employment separated from personal life. Weber also believed bureaucracy was also detrimental for society. It overwhelms leaders and is a mind numbing experience for

Taylor, a mechanical engineer, who desired to arrange human and mechanical resources in the factory so as a result, there would be minimal waste. He concluded that employees have the natural tendency to do little as possible, work was arranged in a weak manner and the effect of soldering employees. To increase productivity, scientific principles should be implemented instead of soldiering individuals. The solution was to develop scientific specification that would be based on physical and mental capabilities of the worker, select sufficient and acceptable employees for the task, use financial incentives and reject principle of piecework and have a clear division between management and labour. Barker references time and motion studies that were conducted by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, which also address how productive one can perform certain tasks in little time as possible. Critics claim that Taylor did not show concern for the workers, he claimed scientific management was the only successful way and did not take into account that if workers would eventually reject the entire concept if given a heavy workload, especially in a monotonous

Chest Barnard, president of the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, writes how important good communication systems are to see an organization thrive in his book, The Functions of the Executive. One must encourage workers to contribute to the organizations by inducing them to do so. Barker states that Barnard view workers as docile, uninspired creatures and lacked sensitivity. Barker discussed Abraham Maslow 's, a sociologist, Hierarchy of Needs who states that people are motivated by physiological, safety, belongingness and love, esteem and self-actualization needs. To motivate workers, management must be sensitive the needs of the workers. The next theory discussed in Barker 's, "Public Administration in Canada," is Douglas Macgregor 's Theory X and Y. Theory X states people need to be threatened, lazy and need to closely supervised to do the work required. In contrast, Theory Y claims employees are self-motivated, independent and able to fulfill their job roles on their own. Organizational humanism is often criticized since these theories are seen as a way to manipulate employees to get employers their desired goals. Many people label organizational humanism as "Country Club" management since organizational humanist set these elegant standards for the work