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Advantages and Disadvantages of Bureaucracy (1) The rise of bureaucracy, as socio-political phenomenon, has been strongly associated with the increased rates of division of labor, which can be thought of as the trademark of nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Industrial Revolution created preconditions for the process of manufacturing to become more efficient, because it brought about the notion of production specialization, which it its turn, allowed capitalists to rationalize this process. Emil Durkheim was the first economist to recognize the beneficial aspects of division of labor; as such, that allows more rational structuralization of society. We can say that it was Durkheim who laid the philosophical foundation for the emergence of very new social class, consisting of nonelective governmental workers, whose primary task was to impose laws and regulations, upon the society, in order to maintain its metaphysical functionality. However, it was not up until Max Weber came up with the theory, which describes the rise of bureaucracy from functional perspective, that the existence of bureaucracy became the subject of sociological research. In this paper will analyze bureaucracy as a tool of managing peoples organizational behavior, while focusing on the positive and negative aspects, associated with the existence of bureaucratic apparatus. (2) The best proof of bureaucracy's vitality is the fact that the majority of commercial and non-commercial organizations in the world still exploit hierarchical structuralization, as the main principle, upon which they base their functioning.
The beginning of Industrialization in 19 th century resulted in great diversification of goods and services. At the same time, the main indication of manufacturing vitality, associated with Industrial era, was a quantitative factor. It was becoming clear to the most prominent economists of the time that, even though the hierarchical principle of organizing society could not be disposed with, it would have to be rationalized, in order for society to exploit its full potential. Max Weber suggested that the new economic realities of 19 th century, allowed the transformation of the notion of authority. Since ever-increased rate of manufacturing specialization was affecting social dynamics in every country of the world, associated with Industrial revolution, it was only natural for this notion to become rationalized. According to Weber, it was only the matter of time, before peoples perception of authority would correspond to the rational considerations, on their part, rather then to their irrational respect towards charismatic leader.
In his Essays in Sociology, Max Weber provides us with the insight on why bureaucracy is superior to any other form of social organization: From a purely technical point of view, a bureaucracy is capable of attaining the highest degree of efficiency, and is in this sense formally the most rational known means of exercising authority over human beings. It is superior to any other form in precision, in stability, in the stringency of its discipline, and in its reliability. It thus makes possible a particularly high degree of calcul ability of results for the heads of the organization and for those acting in relation to it (Weber, p. 145). In other words, the existence of bureaucracy, as form of management, corresponds to the inner workings of Western mind, which strives to rationalize the surrounding reality, in order to exercise control over it.
This leads us to understanding of the most important advantage, related to existence of bureaucracy, as the tool of management practices bureaucracy allows to attain the highest degree of operating efficiency, within organization, because it utilizes the notion of instrumental rationality. This type of rationality emphasizes on the importance of doing things right, when any other considerations, associated with the process, are being referred to as irrelevant. Bureaucracy is very effective, when it comes to managing manufacturing processes or social relations, which are marked with the high degree of specialization and which utilize quantitative factor, as the mean of organization and control. For example, when it comes to assembling the car, workers who participate in the process, do need to know all the specifics of car manufacturing. They only have to be a professionals in their narrow filed of excellence. Some workers specialize in manufacturing cars bodies, others install wind-chills, and electrics install wiring.
Since the process of hiring only allows professional workers to get a job, it is already being assumed that their work is going to be associated with high quality. Therefore, quality does not to be a subjected to the strict control, on the part of plants managers. However, they need to make sure that every employee meets its own production quota, on daily basis. This is when bureaucracy, as the tool of managing organizational behavior, comes in handy. Ideally, bureaucrats should not be concerned about anything else but executing their professional duties, which can only be possible when they choose in favor of impersonal mode of behavior, when it comes to dealing with subordinates.
It is important to understand that im personalization of bureaucracy, at which contemporary criticism of this form of management is directed, also represents its main strength. As the article Max Weber and the Idea of Bureaucracy, which can be found on the site of Science Encyclopedia, states: The adoption of the bureaucratic form by theorists of liberal government has its roots in the legal protection of natural (rational) rights for all. In fact, embedded in the rationalization structure of bureaucracy is the elimination of particularism (Science Encyclopedia). The bureaucratic form of management is especially effective during the times of social upheavals. For example, during WWII, workers in Soviet factories were only being paid symbolical salaries, while being subjected to a very strict control. In fact, workers used to be assigned to a particular factory, without the right to seek job elsewhere, as if they were slaves.
If they were late showing up at work by 10 minutes, they would automatically be sentenced to 25 years in GULAG, as enemies of the state. We can say that the Soviet economy was the embodiment of all evils, associated with bureaucracy. Nevertheless, it is because Soviet economy was completely bureaucratized that allowed USSR to win the war with Germany. Therefore, it would be wrong to refer to bureaucracy as an obsolete form of management, as it often being done by those who suggest that workplace needs to be turned in some sort of kindergarten, where employees should only be concerned about celebration of diversity, as their foremost priority. It is the fact that bureaucratic style of management imposes certain obligations on people involved in organizational process, which became the subject of recent criticism, on the part of progressive sociologists and economists. In his book In Praise of Bureaucracy: Weber, Organization, Ethics, Paul Du Gay makes a very good point, when he suggests that: Business ing people typically consists in assigning the performance of a function or activity to an individual or group which is then regarded as being accountable for the efficient conduct of that function of activity.
By assuming active responsibility for these activities and functions, these individuals or groups are in effect assuming and confirming a certain kind of identity or personality (Du Gay, p. 65). The reason why bureaucratic form of management is being associated with organizational ineffectiveness, in recent years, is not that it contains some fundamental fault, in its very essence, but that people who hold bureaucratic jobs are simply incapable of using their rationale, when it comes to making decisions, because their existential mode is defined by irrationality. In its turn, this corresponds to their biological makeup. The bureaucracy is the system of management, which relies on the quality of its composing elements. As we have mentioned earlier, one of the strengths of bureaucracy is the fact that it requires people with executive power to become completely impersonalize d, when they make decisions that affect others. This is the most important precondition for the establishment of social fairness, in every particular organization.
However, as practice shows, in multicultural societies, it is simply impossible for many people that represent bureaucracy to adopt a rational approach for dealing with issues, because their racial affiliation suggests their inability to operate with abstract categories. The components of a system define systems effectiveness, as whole, and not the other way around. Another beneficial aspect of bureaucracy derives from the fact that, very often, only with this managerial style it is possible to enforce rules and regulations. Only very naive people believe that employees are capable of managing themselves, especially when they are preoccupied with celebration of their uniqueness. In fact, the practice shows that the administrative methods of managing organizational behavior are becoming popular again. We cannot seriously discuss the decline of Industrialism, as the essential part of nowadays economic realities.
Western manufacturing companies simply move their production lines to the countries of Third World, where bureaucratic style of management is being utilized with even greater efficiency. The process of Globalization is accompanied by the continuous division of labor, when productions quantitative factor defines competitiveness and commercial success fulness. Even in U. S. , there are many companies that rely on implementation of bureaucratic means of control, in order to manage workers organizational behavior. The best example is the case of Wal-Mart. This company does not entitle its managers with making executive decisions.
Companys employees are forbidden from attempting to unionize themselves. They are expected to simply follow the instructions that are being passed down to them from Wal-Marts main office. Nevertheless, it does not prevent Wal-Mart from being considered as one of the most successful commercial operators in America and the whole world. This proves once again that it is much too early to refer to bureaucratic style of management as being obsolete. The post-bureaucracy, as the model of organization, is largely based upon the wishful thinking of people who think that application of such fashionable but meaningless terms as empowerment, consultative participation or active self-mobilization can serve as...
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Research essay sample on 19 Th Century Division Of Labor
