Bureaucracy

Professor:
Mohammed Alazzawi.
 Maximilian Carl Emil Weber
(Max Weber)
 Maximilian Carl Emil Weber
(Born: April 21, 1864 in Erfurt,
Germany – Died: June 14, 1920
in Munich, Germany from
Pneumonia) was a German
political economist and
sociologist who was considered
one of the founders of the
modern study of sociology and
public administration. He began
his career at the University of
Berlin, and later worked at
Freiburg University, University of
Heidelberg, University of Vienna
and University of Munich. He
was influential in contemporary
German politics, being an
advisor to Germany's
negotiators at the Treaty of
Versailles and to the
commission charged with
drafting the Weimar
Constitution.
 Weber’s Six Major Principles
 A formal hierarchical structure.
 Management by rules.
 Organization by functional specialty.
 An "up-focused" or "in-focused" mission.
 Purposely impersonal.
 Employment based on technical
qualifications.
 Predisposition to grow in staff "above the
line."
 What is bureaucracy?
 Weber perceived bureaucracy as a threat to basic
personal liberties; he also recognized it as the most
efficient possible system of organizing. He predicted
the triumph of bureaucracy because of its ability to
ensure more efficient functioning of organizations in
both business and government settings. Weber
identified a set of organizational characteristics.that
could be found in successful bureaucratic
organizations.
 Rules and standard procedures enabled
organizational activities to be performed in a
predictable, routine manner. Specialized duties
meant that each employee had a clear task to
perform. Hierarchy of authority provided a sensible
mechanism for supervision and control. Technical
competence was the basis by which people were
hired rather than friendship, family ties, and
favoritism, which dramatically reduced work
performance. The separation of the position from the
position holder meant that individuals did not own or
have an inherent right to the job, which promoted
efficiency. Written records provide an organizational
memory and continuity and over time.
 Although bureaucratic characteristics carried to an
extreme are widely criticized today, the rational
control introduced by Weber was a significant idea
and a new form of organization.
 Origin of Bureaucracy
 The word Bureaucracy stems from the
words “bureau” used from the early 18th
century in Western Europe not just to refer
to a writing desk, but to an office or
workplace, where officials worked. The
original French meaning of the word
Bureau was the baize used to cover desks.
 Bureaucracy
 Bureaucracy is the structure and set of
regulation in place to control activity,
usually in large organizations and
government. It is characterized by rule
following procedures, formal division of
responsibility, hierarchy and impersonal
relationships. In practice the interpretation
and execution of policy can lead to informal
influence.

 Bureaucracy is a concept in sociology and

political science referring to the way that
the administrative execution and
enforcement of legal rules are socially
organized.
 Max Weber on Bureaucracy
 Max Weber has probably been one of the most
influential users of the word in the social science
sense. He is well-known for his study of
bureaucratization of society; many aspects of
modern public administration go back to him.

 Weber described the ideal type of Bureaucracy in

positive terms, considering it to be more rational
and efficient from of organization than the
alternatives that preceded it, which he characterized
as charismatic domination and traditional
domination. According to his terminology,
Bureaucracy is part of legal domination. However,
he also emphasized that Bureaucracy becomes
inefficient when a decision must be adopted to an
individual case.
 The key characteristics of
Bureaucracy
 Specification of jobs with detailed rights,
obligations, responsibilities, scope of
authority.
 System of supervision and subordination.
 Unity of Command.
 Extensive use of written documents.
 Training in job requirements and skills.
 Application of consistent and complete
rules (company manual).
 Assign work and hire personnel based on
competence and experience.
 A True Bureaucratic Story!
 Let’s say it was a large telephone company, and one day
someone counted up the number of copiers in the 25-story
building, and found that there were 118 copiers spread
throughout the entire central office building. Eager to be
"efficient" and desiring to be a hero, this person presented
a proposal to management to replace the 118 different
kinds and sizes of machines with 2 "power copiers" in a
copying department. The proposal showed how the new
copying department could be run by two operators and a
supervisor. It would use less space, and would save each
secretary in the organization an estimated 14 minutes per
day, which was the equivalent of 16 people saved, etc., etc.
 So, without knowing it, the organization was off and
running with a perfect example of optimizing a sub-
function.
 The company installed the copying department on the
seventh floor, picked up all 118 copiers and began saving
money.
 The first day in operation, the copying department was
besieged by secretaries (and other people) who wanted
copies made, and there was a long line. Secretaries were
waiting up to an hour to place their orders for copies.
Within a day or two, everyone was aware that there were
problems. So, they decided that all secretaries would
"mail" their requests to copying, via inter-company mail,
and the mail room would bring the finished copies back
when they were done.
 The first problem with that was that the mail room was
only making two trips a day around the building, so turn-
around on copies went to a minimum of two or even three
days. So, they decided to add four people to the mail
room, and double the number of trips around the building.
This brought turnaround to two days "guaranteed."
 Well, it turns out that two days was too long for certain
"emergency" items, and for certain "high level" people, so
a red tag was established to give certain items 24-hour
turnaround. By now, however, there were two more
people in the copying department. One was organizing
inputs so the operators could keep on copying, and the
other person took the outputs and addressed them to the
people who needed them.
 The next problem was that things started getting lost.
People would send things to copying and never get
anything back. And, other people were getting copies
they hadn’t ordered.
 So, the copying department decided to add a series of
controls to ensure nothing got lost, and a time stamp,
because people were complaining that they weren’t
getting a two-day response.
 This all required two more clerical people in the copying
department to handle the complicated forms that were
introduced so that nothing ever got lost.
 By now, secretaries and their bosses were up in arms.
They didn’t trust the copying department with anything
important, so for important items, they would stop by
quick copy shops on the way home. And, a couple of
departments pooled their petty cash to buy home-style,
inexpensive copiers that they would use for urgent items.
 Pretty soon, the accounting department became aware of
the new "outside" copying costs, and individual
departments were attempting to assign the outside
copying costs to the copying department.
 The copying department then went to war (with their own
customers!). They got a senior VP to issue a mandate
that all personal copiers would be taken out immediately,
citing some vague danger of liability or safety violations.
In addition, the mandate stated that all "outside" copying
would cease, and that the company would not pay for it.
 In an attempt to mollify the angry customers, the senior
VP authorized a full second shift of operators and clerical
people in the copying department, with a new guarantee
of 24-hour turnaround time for everybody.
 Well, I could go on with this story, because things actually
got worse than this. By the end, every manager of any
stature had a personal copier at home. There was a 24-
hour quick copy shop down the street that would make
copies, but issue invoices for "office supplies," that
quickly became one of the top ten copy shops in the
country for the franchisee.
 And, worse than all of that, meetings couldn’t be called
on anything less than a one-week schedule to ensure
that everyone got notified, and copies of the agenda
were prepared, etc.
 Now, you might think that all of this chaos would
generate somebody who would say, "this isn’t working,
let’s go back to the old way." But no. Sadly enough, this
was a very bureaucratic organization (as if you hadn’t
guessed), and the powers that be were reluctant to
admit they had made a mistake, so they just persisted.
 What finally solved the problem was another bright
young "efficiency" person who examined the situation
and prepared another proposal to management. By now
there were 17 people full time in two shifts in the copy
department. The new proposal suggested that the 17
people department be disbanded, and replaced by 94
optimally situated copiers (of the same brand, size, and
capability, because standardization was highly prized).
The justification was the net savings of over $100,000
per year. So, in this case, the centralized copying
department was disbanded, the 94 optimally-situated
copiers were installed (all of the same size, brand and
capability), and once again the organization was able to
resume its normal work in a normal way.
 The Seven principles of
Bureaucracy
1. Official business is conducted on a continuous
basis
2. Official business is conducted with strict rules.
3. Every official’s responsibilities and authority are
part of a vertical hierarchy of authority, with
respective rights of supervision and appeal.
4. Officials do not own the recourses necessary for
the performance of their assigned functions but are
accountable for their use of these resources
5. Official and private business and income are strictly
separated.
6. Offices cannot be appropriated by their incumbents
(inherited, sold, etc.)
7. Official business is conducted on the basis of
written documents.
 Bureaucratic Control
 Bureaucratic control is the use of rules, hierarchy of
authority, written documentation, standardization and
other bureaucratic control uses the bureaucratic
characteristics defined by Weber and illustrated in the
UPS case. The primary purpose of bureaucratic rules
and procedures is to standardize and control employee
behavior.
 Within a large organization, thousands of work
behaviors and information exchanges take place both
vertically and horizontally. Rules and policies evolve
through a process of trial and error to regulate these
behaviors. Some degree of bureaucratic control is used
in vertically every organization. Rules, regulations and
directives contain information about a range of
behaviors.
 To make bureaucratic control work, managers must
have the authority to maintain control over the
organization. Weber argued that legitimate, rational
authority granted to managers was preferred over other
types of control (i.e. favoritism or payoffs) as the basis
for organizational decisions and activities. Within the
larger society, however, Weber identified three types of
authority that could explain the creation and control of
a large organization.
 The goal of Bureaucratic control is employee
competence.
 The Bureaucratic Official
 Is personally free and appointed to
his position on the basis of conduct.
 Exercises the authority delegated to
him in accordance with impersonal
rules, and his loyalty is enlisted on
behalf of the faithful execution of his
official duties.
 Appointment and job replacement
are dependent upon his technical
qualification.
 Administrative work is a full-time
occupation.
 Work is rewarded by a regular salary
and prospects of advancement in a
lifetime career.
 Machine Bureaucracy
 Is typical of a large well-established
companies in simple, dynamic
environment. Work is highly
specialized and formalized, and
decision making is usually
concentrated at the top.
Standardization of work process is
the primary coordinating mechanism.
This highly bureaucratic structure
does not have to adapt quickly to
changes because the environment is
both simple and stable. examples
include large mass-production firms
such as Container Corporation of
America, some automobile
companies and providers of services
to mass -markets, such as insurance
companies.
 Professional Bureaucracy
 Usually found In a complex and stable
environment, the professional
bureaucracy relies on standardization of
skills and the primary means of
coordination. There is much horizontal
specialization by professional areas of
where the expertise is. The only means
of coordination available to the
organization is standardization of skills.
Those of the professionally trained
employees.
 Although it lacks in centralization, the
professional bureaucracy stabilized and
controls its tasks with rules and
procedures developed in the relevant
profession.
 Hospitals, Universities and consulting
firms are examples.
Bureaucracy in a changing world
 The world is rapidly changing, however, and the
machinelike bureaucratic system of the industrial age
no longer works so well as organization face new
challenges. With global competition and uncertain
environments, many organizations are fighting
against increasing formalization and professional
staff ratios.
 The problems caused by over-bureaucratization are
evident in the inefficiencies of some U.S government
organizations. Some agencies have so many clerical
staff members and confusing job titles that no one is
really sure who does what. Richard Cavanaugh, once
an aide to President Jimmy Carter, reports his
favorite federal title as the “administrative assistant
to the assistant administrator for administration of
the General Services Administration”.
 Many business organizations, too, need to reduced
formalization and bureaucracy. Narrowly defined job
descriptions, for example, tend to limit the creativity,
flexibility, and rapid response needed in today’s
knowledge-based organization.
 One sales consultant tells a story of giving a
presentation on a new media product to a company
whose managers admitted it was exactly what they
needed, but the extensive formalization and precise
job descriptions in the organization meant no one
had the authority to make the purchase for that type
of product.
 The Bureaucratic culture
 The bureaucratic culture has an internal focus and a
consistency orientation for a stable environment. This
organization has a culture that supports a methodical
approach to doing business. Symbols, heroes, and
ceremonies support cooperation, traditional, and following
established policies and practices as ways to achieve
goals. Personal involvement is somewhat lower here, but
that is outweighed by a high level of consistency,
conformity, and collaboration among members. This
organization succeeds by being highly integrated and
efficient.
 Today, most managers are shifting away from
bureaucratic culture because of need for greater flexibility.
However, one thriving new company, Pacific Edge
Software, has successfully implemented some elements
of a bureaucratic culture, ensuring that all its projects are
on time and on budget. The husband-and-wife team of
Lisa Hjorten and Scott Fuller implanted a culture of order,
discipline, and control from the moment they founded the
company.
 The emphasis on order and focus means an employee
can generally go home by 6:00 P.M rather than working
all night to finish an important project. Hjorten insists that
the company’s culture isn’t rigid or uptight, just careful.
Although sometimes being careful means being slow, so
far Pacific Edge has managed to keep pace with the
demands of the external environment.
 Advantages of Bureaucracy

 Precision.
 Speed.
 Clarity in communication.
 Reduction of friction.
 Reduction of personal costs.
 Disadvantages of Bureaucracy

 Multiplication of administrative
functions
 Vertical structure
 Many levels of management
 Much paperwork, routine and "red
tape"
 Impersonal officials working to a
fixed routine without necessarily
exercising intelligent judgment.
 Each department has its own agenda, and
departments don’t cooperate to help other
departments get the job done.
 The head of a department feels responsible
first for protecting the department, its people
and its budget, even before helping to achieve
the organization’s mission.
 There is political in-fighting, with executives
striving for personal advancement and power.
 Ideas can be killed because they come from
the "wrong" person. Ideas will be supported
because the are advanced by the "right"
person.
 People in their own department spend much
of their time protecting their department’s
"turf."
•People in other departments spend so much time
protecting their "turf" that they don’t have time to do the
work they are responsible to do.
• They are treated as though they can’t be trusted.
• They are treated as though they don’t have good
judgment.
• They are treated as though they won’t work hard unless
pushed.
• Their work environment includes large amounts of
unhealthy stress.
• The tendency of the organization is to grow top-heavy,
while the operating units of the organization tend to be too
lean.
• Promotions are more likely to be made on the basis of
politics, rather than actual achievements on the job.
 Information is hoarded or kept secret and used as
the basis for power.
 Top managers are dangerously ill-informed and
insulated from what is happening on the front lines
or in "the field."
 Data is used selectively, or distorted to make
performance look better than it really is.
 Internal communications to employees are
distorted to reflect what the organization would like
to be, rather than what it really is.
 Mistakes and failures are denied, covered up or
ignored.
 Responsibility for mistakes and failure tends to be
denied, and where possible, blame is shifted to
others.
 Decisions are made by larger and larger groups, so
no one can be held accountable.
•Decisions are made based on the perceived desires
of superiors, rather than concern for mission
achievement.
• Policies, practices and procedures tend to grow
endlessly and to be followed more and more rigidly.
• Senior managers become so insulated from the
realities of the front line that they may use
stereotypical thinking and out-of-date experience in
making decisions.
• Quantitative measurements are favored over
qualitative measurements, so the concentration is
on quantities of output, with less and less concern
for quality of output.
• Both employees and customers are treated more
as numbers than people. Personal issues and
human needs are ignored or discounted.
 Conclusion
 Bureaucracy is often accused of robbing
the human spirit and robbing organizational
participants of their freedom and dignity by
eliminating official business love, hatred
and all purely personal, irrational and
emotional elements.

 However bureaucratic rules and

procedures are likely to persist in all
organizations, so it is important to consider
both their enabling and coercive features.
They not only enable organizational actors
to get certain things accomplished, but can
also be used by subordinates as strategic
weapons against superordinates. Meaning
that it can be used as a tool of
manipulation and control.
 References
 Management 7th edition by Ricky W. Griffin.
 Organizational Behavior managing people and organizations 7th
edition by Gregory Moorhead and Ricky W. Griffin.
 Organization Theory tension and change by David Jaffee.
 www.analytech.com/mb021/bureau/htm.
 www.busting-beaucracy.com/excerpts/weber/htm
 www.riseofthewest.net/thinkers/weber03.htm
 www.maxwideman.com/issacons3/iac/tsld005/htm
 http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_advantages_and_disadvantag
 www.das.state.ne.us/personnel/nkn/oegresources/weber.htm
 www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/max_weber
 www.en.wiki.org/wiki/bureacracy