Bureaucracy

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Recommended: Discuss the features of Max Weber’s bureaucracy

Bureaucratic institutions were formed as a way to manage large-scale collective action, to increase organization and coordination. Max Weber is known for his analysis of the bureaucratic institution. In the Weberian sense, bureaucracies are composed of a hierarchical structure of authority in which command flows downward and information flows upward, a division of labor composed of specialized tasks, a consistent set of rules, a large amount of impersonality, advancement through demonstrated merit and overall specified goals.

By definition, bureaucratic organization may not seem to be a bad thing. However, in practice, bureaucracies are known to have a negative effect on all its participants. As defined by Samuel Kernell and Gary Jacobson, "The model bureaucracy is, in short, a purposive machine with interchangeable human parts." Bureaucracies are dehumanizing, they train for obedience, and stifle creative thought. The characteristics of bureaucratic organization that have the worst effect on its participants and most compromise efficiency are its hierarchical structure in which all the power resides at the top and the specialization of tasks.

The complex and elaborate hierarchical structure of bureaucracies is what leads to the massive amounts of paperwork or "red tape" for which bureaucracies are known. When control is dictated from the top down and information is relayed from the bottom up, problems of principal-agent loss arise. Information has the potential to become clouded and misconstrued, or even lost for that matter, which greatly compromises efficiency. To reduce principal-agent loss and increase efficiency, the free flow of information between all levels should be promoted. With this, workers would not have to go through a "middle man" to contact someone higher in the hierarchical structure. Not only would this increase efficiency but also increase the quality of communication. Also, the top level in the bureaucracy should not have all the power. The top should have more power, but the power and authority should be distributed which would also help cope with principal-agent loss.

Another characteristic of bureaucratic organization that compromises efficiency is the division of specialized labor. When all the tasks are specialized and everyone is trained to do one specific thing, there is no allowance for free riding. If one person, or many people for that matter, decides to slack off (which is simply human nature), what then happens?

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