Max Webers Ideal Type Bureaucracy: A Theoretical Review

Max Weber is considered as the founding father of organization theory mainly due to his ground
breaking theory of bureaucracy which has been remained a dominant form of organization since
its inception. He presented his ideas of bureaucracy in his work Economy and Society in 1922.
The bureaucratic form of organization was hailed as a benchmark of success and development in
the organizational literature and it was perceived as a symbol of the most efficient and highly
successful organization in the field of management. Historically need for a new organizational
model was felt after Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century to manage enormous number
of people dealing with a large number of functions in the organizations. As a result of this
remarkable industrial growth in the world unprecedented complexities and challenges in the
realm of organization and management were emerged. In this regard, Max Weber provided an
ideal form of bureaucracy to deal with such complexities in a rational and scientific manner.
Max Weber envisaged organizations that would be managed on an impersonal, rational
basis. The ideal form of Weberian bureaucracy contains six elements (Hall, 1963) of
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

A division of labor based upon functional specialization

A well-defined hierarchy of authority
A system of rules covering the rights and duties of positional incumbents
A system of procedures for dealing with work situations
Impersonality of interpersonal relations
Promotion and selection for employment based upon technical competence

In Webers view, the existence of qualified career officials, a structured hierarchy, and clear, rule
based specifications of duties and procedures made for precision, speed, clarity, consistency, and
reduction of costs (Rainey, 2009).He believed that an organization based on rational legal
authority would be more efficient and adaptable to change because continuity is related to formal
structure and positions rather than to a particular person, who may leave or die. He saw the
spread of such organizations as part of a movement toward more legal and rational forms of

authority and away from authority based on tradition or charisma. According to him, rationality
in organizations meant employee selection and advancement based on their fitness and
competencies rather than on other innate personal characteristics like sex, race or family
background. The bureaucratic organization depends upon rules and written records for continuity
(Samson & Daft, 2003). The managers depend not on their personalities for successfully giving
orders but on the legal power invested in their managerial positions. Therefore the importance is
of the impersonal authority not a particular person enjoying this authority.
The later theoretical advancement and progress in the field of organization and
management provided several other forms of organization. With this development in the
literature of organization theory and success of other organizational models engendered a wave
of unending criticism on the very basic assumptions and concepts of theory of bureaucracy. As a
result the term bureaucracy has been given a negative connotation in todays world of
organizations and is linked with an organization having a plethora of rules and regulations and
red tape. Despite such an intensive criticism, the form of bureaucracy is still prevalent globally
especially among the organizations which are considered most important in any country of the
world like civil service and army.
Max Weber tried to mechanize the human relationships in the organizations after the
pattern of machines and their parts. As a complex machine works according to its specific design
that follows a set of rules, so the same can be made true in the case of human behavior in the
modern organizations which are the of complex composites of numerous functions and massive
resources. In this regard, this form of organization has its distinctive features which make it an
unavoidable choice for the organization with a large size. The cause of its relevance for the large
size of organizations is its high level of control and coordination. This provision of advantage,

however, is not free of cost rather it causes of dehumanization of organizations or stahlhartes

Gehuse the term used by the Max Weber and has translated as Iron Cage in English.
Moreover concentration of a large portion of powers (often unregulated) at the higher levels of
the organizations makes them inflexible and to control one complex organization tends to
generate another (Downs, 1964). The adoption of Webers elements of bureaucracy there will be
an evolution of an iron cage, which will be a technically ordered, rigid, dehumanized society.

Downs, A. (1964). A Theory of Bureaucracy.

Hall, R. H. (1963). The Concept of Bureaucracy: An Empirical Assessment.
Rainey, H. G. (2009). Understanding and Managing Public Organizations.
Samson, D. A., & Daft, R. L. (2003). Historical Foundations of the Learning Organization. In D.
A. Samson, & R. L. Daft, Management.