Motivation In The Public Organization

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Recommended: Chapter 16 motivating employees

Motivation In The Public Organization

Managing today’s public organization is much more complicated than it was ten to twenty years ago. The external environment is changing faster than organizations can move to meet the changing demands. The ideology behind the bureaucracy or public organization is much like that of our United States Constitution, designed for stability and endurance. For this reason, the public organization has operated internally under strict guidelines while resisting change. These ideas have passed through generations of bureaucrats as, "the way things are done." In this manner, organizations hire specialists to perform routine procedures to provide some good, product, or service to the community. Employees are expected to conform to the standards of the organization without trying to implement their own changes.

Background: The Bureaucracy

Dr. Foraker Smith defines bureaucracy in its simplest form as "a large organization." The American Heritage Dictionary defines bureaucracy as "government marked by diffusion of authority among numerous offices and adherence to inflexible rules of operation." These definitions are based on Max Weber’s ideological structure of an effective and efficient organization. To get a clearer understanding of Weber’s viewpoint, lets break down bureaucracy further taking its earliest meaning; bureau meaning "a writing desk or writing table with drawers" and cracy meaning "government; rule." Using the latter definition, I believe we can surmise Max Weber view of bureaucracy to be rule from a desk.

Defining the term of bureaucracy is important in speculating the original intent of its creator, Max Weber. Weber derived his view of bureaucracy from the Middle Ages where the k...

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