Bureaucracy

What is bureaucracy?

A bureaucracy is a large scale organisation composed of a hierarchy of offices. In these offices, people have certain responsibilities and must act in accord with the rules, written regulations and means of compulsion exercised by those who occupy higher level positions

What are the three types of authority?

Charismatic, traditional and rational

What is a pro-forma document and an advantage?

Pro-forma with pre-defined fields - standardizes information about employees. More efficient recording and retrieval of information through standardized records Control and surveillance by monitoring information stored.

How is standardisation maintained across different offices without issues such as managers treating subordinates differently

Through set rules, policies and procedures

An example of Information processing bureaucracies (companies that exist purely to collect and pass on information)

Government- DVLA within organisations- Libraries, banks, universities

Webers work structures and relations

Hierarchy of offices Information goes up the hierarchy. Commands come down. Continuous regulated activity through an ordered system of subordination. Rules and regulations Roles divided logically and kept separate. Impersonal modes of conduct. Written documentation as basis of management and the office. Organisation is bound by procedures - its history is in the files and not in the people.

What are Bureaucratic records and paperwork

Information needed to facilitate bureaucratic rules and procedures - e.g. hours worked and absence records for pay procedures

What did max weber argue was the ideal type of bureaucracy?

Max Weber argued that bureaucracy constitutes the most efficient and rational way in which one can organize the human activity and that systematic processes and organized hierarchies help maintain order, maximize efficiency, and eliminate favouritism. However, Weber's ideal bureaucracy is only ideal if the organisation / social situation was a logically consistent whole, not affected by other institutions, concerns and interests. e.g.-not real life

Who is the theorist for bureaucracy?

Max Weber, however not an actual theorist

What does Bureaucracy generate?

a hierarchy of people not directly involved in the production process

6 of Webers Bureaucracy traits

hierarchical organisation delineated lines of authority with fixed areas of activity action taken on the basis of, and recorded in, written rules bureaucratic officials with expert training rules implemented by neutral officials career advancement depending on technical qualifications judged by organization, not individuals

Benefits of bureaucracy to employees

Equal opportunities Rules for pay, redundancy, etc. Grievance procedures Limits of power outlined Job protection Job demarcation Clear promotion/career path Clear goals and expectations

What was webers contribution to bureaucracy?

Explains new organisational forms as an integral part of evolving society Provides a morphology of organisation and management Provides a critique of bureaucracy within society Appropriated by managerialists - import of 'ideal type' and wider social implications lost

Webers bureaucracy employment relationship factors

Office as a vocation and full time undertaking Officials selected on basis of fit and qualifications Appointment, not election Separation of the 'office' and the 'office holder' - people act only in 'official capacity' Career structure through hierarchy Social status Roles guided by abstract rules

Examples of rules, policies and procedures

Pay,Absence,Grievance,Appraisal ,Recruitment and selection,Equal opportunities

Disadvantages of Webers bureaucracy

dehumanising and stifling effect of bureaucracy. The loss of magical elements (creative and spontaneous behaviour) replaced by the rational, formal, procedural