Bureaucracy and Modern Organization

If group is deemed a reference group, consider how this group affects or hasaffected your lifepersonally and/or professionally? If you select any organizations for youranalysis, consider Weber’s five characteristics of an ideal bureaucracy and suggest which (if any) of the characteristics are directly applicable to your organization. From personal experience, examine the positive and negative ramifications of operating within a bureaucratic structure.

What is a bureaucracy? Tolbert and Hall (2009) describe in the text, a large formal organization with the characteristics of having, a division of labor, a hierarchy of authority, a set of written rules, resources that are clearly separated from home and the organization, and group of members who are appointed according to qualifications (P. 22). These were the key elements Max Weber, a German scholar described for an ideal type of bureaucracy.

Bureaucracy structures are mass producing factories that work on a set routine schedule and require strict rules which are implemented by several managers. These types of companies are a stable work environment and employees do the same thing every day. Any company that requires a uniform standard to operate and produces mass quantities of a product will use this type of structure. An example of this type of company would be Snap On.

In sociological theories, bureaucracy denotes either a means of management, or a particular kind of organization. Such organizations tend to have homogenous characteristics, including regularized procedure, the existence of a discretionary budget, a tendency to expand their resources continuously and progressively, and impersonal relationships with much competition for political position within the organization. 'Bureau', is a French word meaning desk; thus, 'Bureaucracy' in literal sense is to manage through a desk or office, so a form of organization heavily involved with written documents or in these days their electronic equivalent. Most economic theories of bureaucracy

A bureaucracy is a large organization that is designed to achieve a common goal through a hierarchical organization. The classic perspective on bureaucracy was proposed by German sociologist, Max Weber at the beginning of 20th century. Weber developed a theory of authority structures and described organizational activity based on authority relations. He described an ideal type of organization that he called a "bureaucracy".

There are many formal organizations in the world. Two of the major structures is the Japanese system and the bureaucratic system. Both structures have their equal importance in today’s development of the world economy. Bureaucracy is an organizational model rationally designed to perform tasks efficiently. Where as the Japanese work organization model is based on collective spirit to perform the tasks. (Macionis, J. (2012). Society: The basics (12th ed., p. 527). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: PEARSON.) There are various similarities and also differences between these two major formal organizations.

To Weber bureaucratic organization is a perfect method to apply on modern polity, the modern economy, the modern technology. Bureaucratic is type of organization that is very helpful to all other form of administration. How machine production is superior to handicraft methods, you may picture it this way. Max Weber a German sociologist proposed the theory known as principle of bureaucracy. Principle of bureaucracy is a theory which is widely applied in the 19th century. On Weber’s point of view, bureaucracy is the formal system of organization designed to improve the work done that is why he suggested an ideal model for management as bureaucratic approach. Other than that, Weber also talks about the basic principles of bureaucracy and emphasis on division of labour, hierarchy, detailed rules and impersonal relations in the book the theory of social and economic organizations.

Bureaucracy is ahierarchical organization which follows strict rules and regulations in achieving desired goals and which has tendency to gain supremacy over other organizations. Famous German sociologist theorized ideal- type of bureaucracy. Max Weber thought bureaucracy is the highest efficient organization which falls under legal rational authority. Soon after the theory came out, like other theory, ideal-type bureaucracy theory encountered severe criticisms.Alvin Gouldner, Robert Merton, Phillip Selznick, Peter Blau are some of them who criticized the ideal-type of bureaucracy.

“Bureaucracy is an important and characteristic institution in modern societies.” (Dergisi, 1999) However, bureaucratic system has a long historical background in Europe and Asia. There are a lot of concepts and descriptions about bureaucracy. It can be look at from different point of views. Political scientists, sociologists, management’s scientists and economists have had studies on bureaucracy. (Dergisi, 1999)

Different scholars give definitions of bureaucracy. In the book “Managing&Oranizations” written by Clegg (2008,P.486), the concept of bureaucracy is summarized as “an organizational form consisting of a hierarchy of differentiated knowledge and expertise in which rules and disciplines are arranged not only hierarchically in regard to each other but also in parallel”. Weber (1948), who has significant influence on the formation of bureaucracy concept, considered that the formation, control and domination of any organization should be constructed from specific authority. However, LeEco Group is different.

One of the characteristics in bureaucratic organization is the division of labor as stated by Martin, J., Knopoff, K. and Beckman, C., (1998). The division of labor focuses on the practice of specialization where every individual will be assigned with different roles and smaller sets of tasks based on one’s abilities. This has proven to improve efficiency as each individuals will be performing tasks which they are most qualified for. As times goes, the individuals will eventually become more professional in performing complex tasks as they are well specialized in their roles. Moreover, one of the essentials when it comes to managing a bureaucratic organization is the establishment of formal rules. All employees from all levels of organization are expected to obey the rules at all times with no consideration of employee’s rank or status. In accordance to Bozeman, B. and Rainey, H. G. (1998), there are still managers who claims to need more rules in order to keep the organization running effectively. With the presence of these formal rules, employees tend to be more consistent in applying the rules while performing their duties. Furthermore, it is also believed that, better control in an organization gains greater efficiency as discussed by Weber cited in Button, G., Martin, D., O’Niell, J., Colombina, T., (2012). In order for an organization to function efficiently, Weber believes that the employees should be career professional as this ensures the assigned duties to be performed well regardless of the side pressures while handling the tasks and also to ensure the operation of the organization will be run smoothly. With that being said, one can conclude that bureaucratic organization does bring uncountable benefits to the

1. A Bureaucracy is an administrating group of management within the government or large institution that is comprised of a group of people with varying levels of authority. Bureaucracies are typically organized in hierarchical authority, with the manager/president of the bureaucracy at the top of the pyramid and appointed workers at the bottom. Bureaucracies are appointed to managing a certain issue, a specified department, corporation, etc. In addition, a bureaucracy follows a fixed set of rules and procedures to administer and implement in their specified department, institution, organization, etc.

Weber argues that bureaucracies as an organisational structure are technically greater than all other forms of organisations ,due to it being more rational and efficient; thus built on principles outlined by

In modern society a bureaucracy is defined as any system or government where important decisions are made by state appointed officials as opposed to elected officials. In the 1930’s, a German sociologist named Max Weber coined the term bureaucracy as an ideal way of organizing governmental agencies relating to civil service. A bureaucracy represents a governmental hierarchy in which a large number of people effectively work together towards a common goal. Weber’s belief on bureaucracies quickly spread to private organizations as an effective way to organize businesses as well.

Rhodes (2005), mentioned that (Weber, 1947), (Fayol, 1949) and (Taylor, 1947) were the significant contributors of Classical approach. They all set a bunch of principles that would be useful and helpful for the organizational works. Classical organizational theorists believed that there is a best way to design and create an organizational structure. The best way to create an organization according to Weber (1947) is ‘Bureaucracy’. The five main elements of Bureaucratic model were ‘A Staff’, ‘A division of labour’, ‘The hierarchy’,