This essay will explain the definition of bureaucratic control and some changes happened on it as management techniques alter. We will firstly illustrate how control changes as management move towards to human relation management. Then, the changes of controls when empowerment is imposed on management and workers become self-managed. However, no matter how bureaucratic controls have changed the controls or the rules always exist.
I will start the definition of bureaucratic control from Weber’s bureaucracy organization. According to Weber, bureaucracy is assumed the most efficient type where workers are all working under an ‘ideal’ situation. One of the characteristics of bureaucracy is that there are well developed rules, procedures and hierarchy in the business, what worker do is finish work, solve problem and behave followed by these rules (Akrani 2011). This is what we called bureaucratic control system. Droege(n.d.) states that bureaucratic controls have levels of authority, people as managers in higher level have right to set rules and procedures. In a word, bureaucratic control can be defined as organizations control workers through defined policies, rules, hierarchies, rewards or sanction system to achieve efficiency (Ganly 2010). Therefore, bureaucratic controls clarify the way to behave in an organization. However, it removes worker discretions, it is short of creative, and adaptability, what the formal rules set is the things you have to follow. Furthermore, what Weber assumed the ‘ideal’ situation is hard to achieve since workers sometimes resist to the rules. Therefore, there are some development and changes make on it.
Control systems have changed with different management techniques, which pays more attention on hum...
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Often, when the discussion of American bureaucracy is broached in conversation, those holding these conversations often think of the many men and women who operate behind the scenes within the government. This same cross section of Americans is looked upon as the real power within the federal government and unlike the other branches of government, has little to no oversight. A search of EBSCO resulted in the following definition, an organization “structure with a rigid hierarchy of personnel, regulated by set rules and procedures” (Bureaucracy, 2007). Max Weber believed that a bureaucracy was technically the most efficient form of organization, one structured around official functions that are bound by rules, each function having its own specified competence (2007). This wide ranging group of Americans has operated within the gaps, behind the scenes, all under the three core branches of government: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The division of government into three branches and separate powers gives each branch both exclusive powers and some additional power...
Max Weber, German sociologist, social theorist, and economist, explicated the theory of bureaucracy in which he details the monocratic bureaucracy “as an ideal form that maximized rationality” (Bolman & Deal, 2008, p. 48). He provided his most complete exposition of theory in his 1922 tome Economy and Society (Casey, 2004). This classic form of bureaucracy is characterized by the following (a) well-defined official functions; (b) specialization of function; (c) clearly defined hierarchy of offices; (d) rules governing performance, which require training to administer; (e) impersonal treatment of clients, in that all are treated equally; (f) merit as the basis of promotion or appointment; (g) compensation based on rank; (h) separation of personal and company assets and interests; (i) discipline and control of daily work; (j) files and record keeping for decisions, acts, and rules (Bolman & Deal, 2008; O’Connor, 2011). There are numerous shorthand versions of Weber’s theory including Harmon and Mayer (1986) in Organization Theory for Public Administration and Heady (2001) in Public Administration: A Comparative Perspective (O’Connor, 2011).
Weber characterizes bureaucracy in six ways; their must be a clear chain of command, must have determined areas of jurisdiction, power of institution, must be willing to work full capacity, officials are trained and there are general rules that are followed (“Bureacracy” 1925; 212).
While bureaucracy’s sounds like the most rational and logical way even Max Weber himself, believed it to be an ‘iron cage’ which traps individuals in systems based simply on teleological efficiency and control. Technological advances have created new forms of organisations leaving the traditional bureaucratic organisations out of date and obsolete. The control and predictability that bureaucracies bring have no place in the 21st century. Flexibility and creativity is essential in our ever changing environment. Firms confined by strict controls are less able to adapt to the ever changing
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
In this essay, the inner-workings and characteristics of a bureaucracy will be explained, using the example of Panera Bread, a plethora of examples will be used to adequately explain each characteristic. Bureaucracies are becoming more and more popular all around the world. This is because of many different reasons. First of all, bureaucracies are created to accomplish a certain goal in the most efficient manner possible (Larkin, 2015). They exhibit many specific traits; a division of labor, hierarchal levels of authority, written rules, written communications and records, impersonality, and replace ability. One company that is exhibits all of these traits is Panera Bread. Panera is a prime example of what Max Weber described as a bureaucracy.
The hierarchy of a bureaucracy breeds oligarchy; the greatest power is concentrated within a few individuals. Impersonality within the membership leads to almost dictatorship-like practices executed by the leaders of the membership. Consequently, only the leaders' ideas and interests are addressed and/or instituted and the membership is devalued.
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‘Weber emphasized on top-down control in the form of monocratic hierarchy that is a system of control in which policy is set at the top and carried out through a series of offices, whereby every manager and employee are to report to one person in top management and held accountable by that manager’ (Pfiffner, 2004, p. 1).
According to Sapru R.K. (2008) p370-371 the traditional ideal of public administration which inclined to be firm and bureaucratic was based on processes instead of outcomes and on setting procedures to follow instead of focusing on results. This paradigm can be regarded as an administration under formal control of the political control, constructed on a firmly ranked model of bureaucracy, run by permanent and neutral public servants, driven only by public concern. In emerging nations the administration was true bureaucracy meaning government by officers. In this perspective Smith (1996) p235-6 perceived that“the bureaucracy controls and manages the means of production through the government. It increases chances for bureaucratic careers by the creation of public figures,demanding public managers, marketing boards.
The specialized officials in leadership positions in a bureaucratic system often assume a coercive role that is disguised in a sacerdotal role. The hidden coerciveness of bureaucracy comes along with diminished employee autonomy, and the consequence of this is the creation of social distance between and among employees and employers. Theuvsen (2004) attests to this sentiment by stating that coercive bureaucracies are characterized by low employee autonomy, and mistrust and suspicion in the event of deviations from organizational rules and regulations that are designed to avert shirking. Du Gay (2005) presents a similar argument by mentioning that ideally, jurisdiction rules and regulations meant developed and documented for shirking prevention are one characteristic of bureaucracy. Indeed, the rules are designed as an instrument to be utilized by superiors in evaluating whether or not the employees’ actions align with regulation delineated in strictly maintained policy documents. The abrogation of individual employee autonomy in bureaucratic systems, accompanied by the creation of social distance, makes bureaucracy an irrelevant phenomenon with respect to contemporary organizational studies. This is because rules and regulation serve to not only deny employees the opportunity to respond positively and proactively to certain unique situations, but also the opportunity to recognize
Organizational structure within an organization is a critical component of the day to day operations of a business. An organization benefits from organizational structure as a result of all it encompasses. It is used to define how tasks are divided, grouped and coordinated. Six elements should be addressed during the design of the organization’s structure: work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, spans of control, centralization and decentralization. These components are a direct reflection of the organization’s culture, power and politics.
Sociologist Max Weber undertook the first study of bureaucracy in the early 1900s (Tomkins, 2005). Weber’s theory of bureaucracy holds that administrative rationality is achieved by dividing work into specialized administrative functions, assigning each function to a specific office, placing clear limits on each office’s scope of authority, organizing officials on a career basis, and requiring them to carry out directives with strict discipline and in accordance with clearly defined rules (Tomkins, 2005). According to Weber, today’s government is predicated on the theory of legal-rational authority and its corresponding administrative apparatus – bureaucratic (Tomkins, 2005). Bureaucratic Administration is defined by a set of strictly defined rules that delineate the hierarchy of authority, the rights and duties of every official, and the means by which administrative duties are carried out (Tomkins, 2005). The ideal type bureaucracy, Weber envisioned, would include the following elements: fixed official duties, hierarchy of authority, system of rules, technical expertise, career service, written documentation and a spirit of informal impersonality (Tomkins, 2005). Henri Fayol was the first of the theorists to identify management as a continuing process of evolution and Gulick expanded on Fayol’s...
Similarly in Weber’s bureaucratic approach, organizations are divided into different echelons with each varying in its degrees of influence. Each unit being commanded by the one above it, a system that promotes stability and has a predictable line of communication. Both approaches of management rely heavily on regulated control. Whether governing task scientifically of people authoritatively. A solid form of control is mus...