Weber’s bureaucracy
Management Assignment 1� Academic Essay
TASK:
Write a 2000 word essay in which you discuss and critically analyse claims that Weber�s bureaucracy
can contribute to increased efficiency and effectiveness in today�s organisations.
Introduction
Management in any given organization requires use of the skills of management that aim
to maximize on the output of the organization. The management is faced with myriads of
problems that require concrete approaches in order to arrive at solutions without many
disruptions. One of the articulate measures embraced by managers is the adoption of Max
Weber’s bureaucracy. Max Weber’s bureaucracy touches on the hierarchical order of offices in a
bid to have effectiveness of the decisions made as well as their implementation.
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The main point of interest in the Max Weber’s bureaucracy is the power and authority in
the organizations. This is appropriate because, these are the focal points in an organization and
their usage or misuse thereof, can determine the competitive advantage of the given organization.
This paper analyses the contribution of Max Weber’s bureaucracy to the efficiency and
effectiveness in today’s organizations. It analyses how this bureaucracy increases in the
efficiency and effectiveness of organizations by considering its impact where it has been
adopted. In so doing, references have been reviewed so as to come up with the ideas adopted by
other scholars. Some views against the effectiveness of this bureaucracy have also been
highlighted.
Max Weber’s bureaucracy
Max Weber was much concerned with the modern large scale organizations. The main
point of focus in his argument is the utilization of power and authority in the organizations in an
effort to achieve higher outputs and increase the competitive advantage of the organization.
Sager & Rosser (2009) note that; realizing the many setbacks experienced by managers in the
execution of duties especially in the large scale organizations, Max Weber thought that the
solution lies in the adoption of bureaucracy. He advocated for the ranking of offices in
hierarchical order. In line to the hierarchical ordering of the offices, there should also be
impersonal rules to guide the engagements in those offices. The holders of those offices are
guided by the impersonal rules as well as the jurisdictions and duties associated with such
offices. The essence of this is that, the power is in the office not in the incumbents of the office.
The other crucial point in the Max Weber’s bureaucracy is the appointments of the
holders of the offices. According to the bureaucracy, the appointment of the office incumbents is
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done in regard to the specialized qualifications. This means that, the consideration that is made in
the appointment of the employees is their specialized qualification and not other factors such as
their charisma. The principles of this bureaucracy have been adopted in large scale organizations.
Its application has not just been in the business organizations, this bureaucracy has been adopted
even in other organizations not related to business for instance political organizations.
The bureaucracy has helped organizations in a myriad ways. Stark (2014) maintains that;
the crucial aspects of organizations have gained much assistance in terms of their execution with
the adoption of bureaucracy. For instance, in the large scale organizations, there has been
efficient planning following the adoption of bureaucracy. Mobilization and centralization of
resources has also been possible following bureaucracy systems. Where it has been adopted,
there have been great outputs. It is those observed outputs that have made bureaucracy to be
lauded as the most effective form of administration.
Hierarchical offices
One of the outstanding features of Max Weber’s bureaucracy is the aspect of hierarchical
offices. This denotes the ranking of offices such that there are the top offices, middle and the
bottom offices. The ranking of the offices is done in accordance with the power and the authority
associated with the office bearers. The power and the authority are distinctively associated with
the office such that, outside the office, the office bearer does not carry the prescribed power and
authority. Spicer (2015) clarifies that; the hierarchical ranking of the offices yield efficiency and
effectiveness in the organization because of the executed supervision of the lower offices by the
higher offices. The tying of the offices with the authority and power ensure that the higher
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offices have substantive power to supervise he lower offices. This ensures that the duties
prescribed are carried out in good time and with the maximum effort required.
The supervision of the lower offices by the higher offices following the hierarchical
ranking ensures that there is correction of any misdeeds in the shortest period of time. This
brings a lot of efficiency and effectiveness in the undertakings of the organization. This
hierarchical ordering of the office ensures the subordination in the employees such that execution
and supervision of duties is done smoothly. The attributes of the hierarchical ordering of the
offices have been adopted not only in business organizations. Political parties and ecclesiastical
organizations have also adopted the hierarchical ranking of offices. This follows the efficiency
associated with the hierarchical ordering of the offices.
The adoption of the hierarchical order of offices does not entail that the upper office
holders take the work of the lower order offices. It only denotes the execution of power and
authority as well as the deliberations of supervision. Van der Voet (2014) acknowledges that; the
lauded aspect of the hierarchical ranking of the offices that is associated with the efficiency and
effectiveness of this method of administration is the separation of the private life from the office
engagements. This form of administration advocates for total separation of the office bearers’
private life from that of the office. It calls for total embrace of the official duties without
consideration of the officer’s private life. It does not encourage the mixing of private life with
the engagements of the office. This increases the efficiency and the effectiveness both from the
management and the office bearers’ point of acting.
The impersonal part of the bureaucracy ensures that individuals are not guided by
personal intuitions and their private interrelationships. This aspect of the bureaucracy entails the
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guiding of the office bearers as well as the workers, by the impersonal rules. This means that, the
rules are already stipulated and there is no question about them. They are there to be followed.
The upper offices are charged with the duty of ensuring that the lower offices follow the
impersonal rules. Hutchinson & Bouchet (2014) maintain that; the notion of impersonality in the
rules elicits effectiveness and efficiency. This is very much unlike the cases of democracy where
the rules are made by the people. Under such circumstances, the workers are likely to associate
the rules with those who contributed them. It therefore becomes easy for them to refute them and
go against them. However with the impersonality associated with bureaucracy, the workers do
not associate the rules with an individual. They are stipulated rules which must be followed. This
spirit ensures that the rules are followed without question. Such impersonal rules have proved to
be very effective in ensuring that there is the subordination of the lower office bearers to the
upper office incumbents. With this subordination, supervision becomes easier and duties are
performed with a lot of effectiveness.
For instance in a production organization, the impersonal rules ensure that workers arrive
at the work station in the stipulated time. They also carry out their duties without much
questioning of the related links. Those who are charged with the duty of ensuring that there are
raw materials do so in good time. Those charged with production operations will also do without
questioning how others are executing their jobs. Impersonal rules as an aspect of bureaucracy
minimizes time wastage. There have been observed wastage of much time when organizations
embrace the democratic way of management. Consideration of the different peoples’ opinions
subject organizations to wastage of a lot of time. Impersonal rules in bureaucracy overcome this
challenge by ensuring that the workers follow set rule. However, this does not denote that the
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workers cannot air their suggestions. They can do so but not in a direct way or expect the
suggestion to be implemented with immediate effect.
Specialized qualification appointments
Jo & Rothenberg (2014) observe that; the principles of Max Weber’s bureaucracy touch
on the appointment of the office incumbents following their specialized qualification. In line
with his aspect, there has been continued consideration of the specialized qualification of the
employees in organizations. When the employees are given duties in which they have
specialized, it becomes easier for them to do the duties in an efficient manner. Following
familiarity with the issues touching on their duties, they find it easy to do their jobs. This
contributes efficiency and effectiveness in the organization. Goals of the organizations are easily
reached at.
The consideration of the specialized qualifications of the employees continues to be of
great concern not only in the business organizations but also in the other areas such as politically
oriented organizations. The appointment of the specialized qualified personnel emanate from the
impersonal rules of the bureaucratic systems of management. When the appointment of
personnel is supposed to be according to the specialized qualification, it is not questioned in the
bureaucratic systems. The involved people will have to follow the procedures of coming up with
the specially qualified person to fill the posts. According to Farell & Moris (2013) when the
posts in an organization are filled by people with specialized qualification, there is efficiency and
effectiveness following higher output due to the familiarity of the issues dealt with in the
organization.
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The principles of bureaucracy as denoted by Max Weber yield effectiveness and
efficiency in organizations through the notable achievements. The principles such as hierarchical
offices, impersonal rules as well as appointment according to the specialized qualification lead to
better planning in the organization. With the hierarchical offices, every office incumbent is
aware of the part that the play in planning. They therefore do the planning without the
misgivings associated with other styles of administration. For instance in democratic
management, there could be misgivings in the planning because whatever is planned is subject to
be withdrawn following the disagreements of such ideas by other workers. In the bureaucracy
system, each office has their own boundaries in planning and execution of duties.
The principles also help in the mobilization and division of resources. Al-Wagdani
(2010) discloses that; the impersonality notion associated with bureaucracy ensures that there is
evenness in the acquisition and distribution of the resources. This is because; the effects of
subjectivity and peoples’ ideas do not interfere with the activities of acquisition and distribution
of the resources.
Point against
There has been much lauding of the bureaucracy system of administration in the
organizations especially the business and politically oriented ones. However, this system of
management cannot be said to be exclusively perfect. There are some weak points associated
with it. These points may, in given situations contribute to lack of efficiency and effectiveness in
the organizations. For instance, the aspect of failure to address the individual particulars may go
a long way in eroding the effectiveness and the efficiency associated with the bureaucracy.
Bureaucracy does not engage in the individual particularities.
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Bartels (2009) assert that; bureaucracy does not consider the individual private life in the
stipulation of duties. This may lead to the employees’ disconnection of the private life and the
work callings. When workers feel that the management is not giving much care to what happens
to their individual life, they feel demoralized especially when the employees would have wished
for some sort of assistance from the organization in order to arrive at some solution. This leads to
unhappy workers who may be very ineffective and less efficient in their undertakings. This
emanates from the feeling that the organization is just using the employees as vessels of
achieving its goal without realizing their value as human beings.
Conclusion
The bureaucracy system of management that originated with Max Weber has gone great
depths in assisting the managers of today’s organizations to achieve effectiveness and efficiency.
Its main principles touching on hierarchical ranking of offices, impersonal rules as well as
appointment according to specially has realized efficiency and effectiveness in the modern day
organizations. However, there are a few misgivings associated with this noble system of
administration. This mainly touches on the inability of bureaucracy to give attention to the
individual particularities, hence employees feel not valued.
References
Al-Wagdani, AM 2010, ‘A Reconstruction of Max Weber’s Theory of Bureaucracy. (English)’,
Journal Of King Abdulaziz University: Arts & Humanities, 18, 1, pp. 1-46, Academic
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Bartels, KR 2009, ‘The Disregard for Weber’s Herrschaft’, Administrative Theory & Praxis (M.E.
Sharpe), 31, 4, pp. 447-478, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 April
2015.
Farrell, C, & Morris, J 2013, ‘Managing the neo-bureaucratic organisation: lessons from the UK’s
prosaic sector’, International Journal Of Human Resource Management, 24, 7, pp. 1376-
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