Weber believed that bureaucracy created stable, and predictable actions and outcomes because it allowed organizations to work in a rational manner, like a machine, and helped account for the fact that humans had only limited intelligence. Though Weber discussed the perfect model of an organization, bureaucracy allows for even imperfect organizations to function in a more reliable and predictable way because it’s structure controls how individuals behave.
One of the aspects of bureaucracy is that it creates fixed division of labor. The benefit of fixed division of labor is that it allows humans to become specialized at what they do as they can learn from their experiences and gain more in depth knowledge on the topic. When individuals work with similar environmental uncertainties on a constant basis they obtain a better understanding of how to deal with those uncertainties. They often use their experiences to deal with the situation in ways that worked for them previously. In addition when there are assigned jobs, it is easier to hold specific individuals accountable for their tasks. This allows the organization to quickly find who caused a certain problem and fix it. Accountability leads to people being more likely to work in the best interest of the organization, as they know that there could be repercussions for not doing so. People will use the techniques that they have previous experience with and that they know work in order to not make a mistake and be held accountable. And so they will work in a stable and predictable manner. When the people in the organization work in a stable and predictable manner the organization is likely to work in the same way. Accountability also helps in solving problems and quickly getting the ...
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...irm as an Adaptive Institution.” Pp. 117-134 in A Behavioral Theory of the Firm. London: Blackwell, 1992 [1963].
Freeland, Robert F. “IV. 6 Aspects of Bureaucracy- Weber.” University of Wisconsin-Madison. Lecture.
Alvin Gouldner. Excerpt from Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy, 1954, pp. 59-85.
Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch, excerpts from Organization and Environment. Cambridge: Harvard Business School, 1967, pp. 1-20; 23-53; 84-108.
Charles Perrow. Excerpt from “The Neo-Weberian Model: Decision-Making, Conflict, and Technology.” Chapter 4 from Complex Organizations, 3rd ed., 119-131.
Charles Perrow. “Why Bureaucracy?” from Complex Organizations, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986, pp. 1-48.
Herbert Simon. 1976 [1945]. “The Psychology of Administrative Decisions.” Chapter 5 (pp. 79-109) from Administrative Behavior. New York: Free Press.
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...
The prime directive and raison d’être of the bureaucracy is to act as a bulwark against the forces of chaos, irrationality, and disorganization that constantly jeopardize an organization (Casey, 2004). In this sense, bureaucracy can be seen as necessary to the survival of groups. It is, however, a term that is vilified in popular culture, used pejoratively even by some researchers, and reviled as nearly blasphemous and certainly anti-democratic by many reform-minded persons. To the Weberian observer, in contrast, bureaucracy is not only as equal to all other organizational forms, but is ...
Once set up, bureaucracy is inherently conservative. The reason the bureaucracy was initiated may not continue to exist as a need in the future. The need or reason may change with a change in the times and the culture needs. A bureaucracy tends to make decisions that protect it and further it’s own existence, possibly apart from the wishes of the populace. It may not consistently reflect what might be optimal in terms of the needs and wants of the people.
Robbins, S. P., & Coulter. M. (2014). Management (12th ed.). Retrieved from: Colorado Technical University eBook Collection database.
Pinchot, Gifford, and Elizabeth Pinchot. The End of Bureaucracy & the Rise of the Intelligent Organization. San Francisco: Berrett, 1993: 180.
Mullins, L. J. (2005). Management and organizational behavior (7th ed.). Harlow, England: Prentice Hall/Financial Times.
Weber’s uses his theory of Bureaucracy to point out that it is what society is becoming and how it creates social older in society. This theory is
Power refers to the possession of authority and influence over others. Max Weber defined power as “the probability that one actor in a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his or her will despite resistance , regardless of the basis on which this probability rest ” (Seeing politics Differently, 2012). Power has circulated from personal forces like expertise or charm or impersonal ones, such as, positions in an organization. Class and status are very efficient for shaping people capacities to exercise and resist power. The author in the book “ Seeing Politics Differently” is trying to explain to us how power has been distributed and negotiated in our society today through materials, culture , social factor and institutions,
Humans act on subjective meaning and world views of humans determine their behavior. Each individual’s behavior slowly becomes patterned and regulated. Each individual’s actions altogether create a collective institution for society. The iron cage, therefore, is an unintended result of the growing rationalist thinking in western capitalist societies. Weber uses the iron cage metaphor to explain social order and society. As society developed, rationalist and efficient thinking rose and this resulted in the growth of bureaucracies. A bureaucracy is designed as the most dominant form of social organization based on efficiency, rationalism, and control. In a bureaucracy, there is a set of rules which favors rational principles directed towards a goal. The bureaucracy gave rise to the iron cage which is a metaphor for people in western capitalist societies who are trapped within a dogma of efficiency and practicality. This type of thinking limits individual human freedom and potential because they way the institution is built, it doesn’t allow humans to have a...
Max Weber was an important figure in the field of Sociology. He was the first sociologist to analyze bureaucracies and how they function in society. Realizing that “rationalization” through major organizations was inevitable, he began to analyze these organizations and was led to propose his “theory of bureaucracy”. Weber felt that these large scale organizations would not be able to function without bureaucracies. When it comes to the goals in any organization, he felt that it was absolutely necessary to have a bureaucracy in order to achieve those goals. Rationalization and bureaucracy go hand in hand because a bureaucracy is organized through rational principles. His study of bureaucratic organizations is what led him to describe the “ideal
Bureaucracy is an organizational design based on the concept of standardization. “It is characterized by highly routine operating tasks achieved through specialization, very formalized rules and regulations, tasks that are grouped into functional departments, centralized authority, narrow spans of control, and decision making that follows the chain of command” (Judge & Robbins, 2007, p.
She conveys that business administration should avoid troublesome internalization by using an integrative technique. Unfortunately, Follett does not elaborate further on the context of what might this integration method appear to be. She changes the direction of her focus back onto the preparation of giving orders. Now, giving orders is a significant component to management but Follett should have provided additional information revolving the integration of management and the giving of orders. Fairholm suggests, “they misunderstand the evolving nature of authority derived from changing social structures, and because they have missed opportunities to tie in research procedures and focuses from intellectual interests such as psychology, sociology, history, and political science, not just scientific management, Weberian bureaucracy, and the like.” (Fairholm. 2004). Follett provides psychological perspectives, however maybe she misunderstands other perspectives, why further development is needed for her to examine. Follett later admits there is additional psychological, learning about the development of habits and the preventative measures of giving orders greatly surpasses than what she can explain in this article. It would be interesting if, she has examined and considered other theories and philosophies surrounding giving orders and
Empowerment is another feature of post bureaucracy. It represents organizations awarding power and authority to those lower in the organizational hierarchy (Knights & Willmott, 2007). To some extent empowerment could be beneficial to a organization because empowerment would allow the workers to work...
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...
In this case, power has been given to the police to arrest people and investigate into their cases hence Weber called this process a social action. For Max Weber, social action has been a way to bring people together. “Weber claims that subjective attitude constitutes social action only so far as they oriented to the behavior of others. For example, religious behavior is not social if it is simply a matter of contemplation or solitary prayer. Weber, M. (1978). Economy and society. Berkeley: Univ. of California Pr. He claimed that people can be in the closet to perform their religious act which will not hinder anyone and at the same time can be in a public to perform the same act which will hinder people. He was trying to explain how certain actions and conditions