...Criticism for Max Weber’s Bureaucracy Written by Dr. Wasim Al-Habil College of Commerce The Islamic University of Gaza Beginning with Max Weber, bureaucracies have been regarded as mechanisms that rationalize authority and decision-making in society. Yet subsequent theorists have questioned the rationality of bureaucracies. Which features of modern-day public bureaucracies are rational? Which are not? Buttress your argument with citations from organization and/or public administration theories. Introduction: Max Weber’s work about bureaucracy, translated into English in 1946, was one of the major contributions that has influenced the literature of public administration. However, Van Riper (1997) argues that the work of Weber on bureaucracy has no influence on American PA until the 1950’s. The word bureaucracy is derived from two words; “bureau” and “Kratos.” While the word “bureau” refers to the office the Greek suffix “kratia or kratos” means power or rule. Thus we use the word “bureaucracy” to refer to the power of the office (Hummel, 1998, 307). “Bureaucracy” is rule conducted from a desk or office, i.e. by the preparation and dispatch of written documents and electronic ones. Bureaucracy is borrowed by the field of public administration (PA) from the field of sociology. It was borrowed by PA in much a similar way that practices of business were borrowed from the field of business administration and economics. Weber (1946) presents bureaucracy as both...
Words: 4935 - Pages: 20
...Drawing on Weber’s ideal type, critically consider the relevance of bureaucratic administration to the management of twenty-first century organizations. Max Weber was a German sociologist in the twentieth century; he was famous for his classical management theory. Weber classified three different types of authority, traditional, charismatic and legitimate authority. Traditional authority is based on traditions and customs that the leader has the legitimate right to use authority. Charismatic authority is the belief that the leader whose mission and visions will inspire others. Legitimate authority is based on formal, system of rules. In the 1930s, Weber introduced that the bureaucratic form as being the ideal way of organizing government agencies. This soon became popular in both the private and public sectors. Weber believes that the development of rational forms to be the most important characteristics in the development of Western society and capitalism. He considered the traditional and charismatic forms as irrational. Rationality is based on reasoning, calculation and logic. One of the many types of rationality includes the formal rationality. The notion of formal rationality is important to the emergence of industrial capitalism as capitalism values reason, calculation and precision, science and logic. Formal rationality is a form of rationality that characterizes bureaucratic organizations. Bureaucracy refers to the execution of tasks that are governed by official administrative...
Words: 1708 - Pages: 7
...Criticism for Max Weber’s Bureaucracy Written by Dr. Wasim Al-Habil College of Commerce The Islamic University of Gaza Beginning with Max Weber, bureaucracies have been regarded as mechanisms that rationalize authority and decision-making in society. Yet subsequent theorists have questioned the rationality of bureaucracies. Which features of modern-day public bureaucracies are rational? Which are not? Buttress your argument with citations from organization and/or public administration theories. Introduction: Max Weber’s work about bureaucracy, translated into English in 1946, was one of the major contributions that has influenced the literature of public administration. However, Van Riper (1997) argues that the work of Weber on bureaucracy has no influence on American PA until the 1950’s. The word bureaucracy is derived from two words; “bureau” and “Kratos.” While the word “bureau” refers to the office the Greek suffix “kratia or kratos” means power or rule. Thus we use the word “bureaucracy” to refer to the power of the office (Hummel, 1998, 307). “Bureaucracy” is rule conducted from a desk or office, i.e. by the preparation and dispatch of written documents and electronic ones. Bureaucracy is borrowed by the field of public administration (PA) from the field of sociology. It was borrowed by PA in much a similar way that practices of business were borrowed from the field of business administration and economics. Weber (1946) presents bureaucracy as both...
Words: 4936 - Pages: 20
...1. Biography Max Weber, a prominent German sociologist born on 21th April 1864 in Erfurt, was the eldest son among his seven younger siblings. His father, Max Weber Sr is a famous politician and his mother Helene Weber was a devout Calvinist who practiced a more tolerant theology (Radkau 2009). In 1882, Weber’s law studies were interrupted due to his conscription into the military. Thereafter, Weber continued his studies in Berlin and begun his career as a lawyer. Weber married his distant cousin, Marianne Schnitger in 1893, and moved to Freiburg where he was appointed as a professor in the University. Weber resigned and subsequently became an editor. He published his masterpiece “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” which focuses on the relationship between different religious ideas and economics. Weber feels that the modern system stems from rational capitalism and attempted to explain how the process occurred. In Weber’s perception, money is not the main driving force that inspires man to work hard; religious convictions can also influence their thinking (Weber 1904). Weber’s theory of bureaucracy is modeled on the rationalizing of organizations. Some characteristics of bureaucracy are division of labor and managerial hierarchy (Wren & Bedeian 2009). Bureaucracy, being the most efficient way of managing an organization has its disadvantages. Viewed like an “iron cage”, individuals feel trapped with no room for creativity where rules and regulations...
Words: 742 - Pages: 3
...MAX WEBER By: JD Mojica Life and career Max Weber was born on April 21, 1864, the eldest of seven children, and grew up in a cultured bourgeois household, ruled by a strong authoritarian father. At University in Heidelberg, Weber studied economics, medieval history and philosophy as well as law. A period of military service brought him under the care of his uncle, Hermann Baumgarten, a historian, and his wife. Both uncle and aunt acted as mentors to Weber, the former as a liberal who treated him as an intellectual peer, the latter as a person who impressed him with her deep sense of social responsibility towards her charitable work. Both offered a stark contrast to Weber's father, who treated his son with patronizing authoritarianism. It was probably during this formative period that Weber developed an aversion to the way people then most often gained positions of power and authority through nepotism and accident of birth - factors he considered were lacking in legitimacy. He started to think of ways to free the individual as much as possible from personal judgments or from judgments which were clouded by emotion or self-interest. After periods as a legal scholar at Heidelberg and then at the University of Berlin, Weber became professor of political economy, first at the University of Freiburg in 1894, and then at the University of Heidelberg in 1897. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism was first published in 1904, and in 1919, Weber became Professor of Political...
Words: 990 - Pages: 4
...time of Max Weber and his sociological research on bureaucracy during the Pre-World War I era, public administration has played a major role in the ever shifting relationship between the individual and the community. This altered our essential concepts of the public and private monarchy within social life during the twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, the contemporary liberal democratic impulse towards both an unfettered individualism and a strong restricted civic community or culture has developed major challenges to Weber’s ‘modern’ approach to public administration. From former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s declaration that “the era of big government is over” in 1995, to recent proclamations within international theories of a new world order cemented by a ‘global’ civil society, ‘bureaucracy’, as the foundation of the contemporary nation-state, has been challenged on a theoretical and practical level. It is from this exemplar that democratic administration theory has largely emerged. Responding to the new challenges of traditional bureaucracy and their subsequent ‘hollowing out of the State’ as an effective institution, democratic administration theory has attempted to construct a new basis of administrative rule in which both the ‘expert’ and ‘client’ becomes leveled in their discourse through democratic and even radical reform of the administrative process itself. This newfound principle of political rule is in stark contrast to Max Weber’s belief...
Words: 634 - Pages: 3
...time of Max Weber and his sociological research on bureaucracy during the Pre-World War I era, public administration has played a major role in the ever shifting relationship between the individual and the community. This altered our essential concepts of the public and private monarchy within social life during the twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, the contemporary liberal democratic impulse towards both an unfettered individualism and a strong restricted civic community or culture has developed major challenges to Weber’s ‘modern’ approach to public administration. From former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s declaration that “the era of big government is over” in 1995, to recent proclamations within international theories of a new world order cemented by a ‘global’ civil society, ‘bureaucracy’, as the foundation of the contemporary nation-state, has been challenged on a theoretical and practical level. It is from this exemplar that democratic administration theory has largely emerged. Responding to the new challenges of traditional bureaucracy and their subsequent ‘hollowing out of the State’ as an effective institution, democratic administration theory has attempted to construct a new basis of administrative rule in which both the ‘expert’ and ‘client’ becomes leveled in their discourse through democratic and even radical reform of the administrative process itself. This newfound principle of political rule is in stark contrast to Max Weber’s belief...
Words: 282 - Pages: 2
...Zero-Tolerance in Memphis The Memphis School District had a transformational change happen, when Superintendent Willie Herenton left his position to become the first black mayor of Memphis, the school district hired Dr. Gerry House, in 1992, from the outside because they felt that her experience in a school district that had already been restructured would lead Memphis school reform. It was noted in that case written by Ferrero (1998) that school board thought she could unite “progressive white and African-Americans, based upon an unassailable intellectual vision of high quality schooling” (p. 4). There was escalating violence against staff in the Memphis School District. They adopted the National Gun-Free School Act into their Student Code of Conduct and later added battery of school personnel and drugs possession as a Zero-Tolerance offense. The teachers looked at the revised policy and as a tool to get what they considered as problem students out of their classroom so they could concentrate on teaching the students that wanted to learn. This caused a conflict between Superintendent Gerry house and the Memphis Teachers Association. Superintendent Gerry House put incremental changes in place with her “Basics Plus” plan that allowed the schools to choose one of eleven school improvement models by 1999. The School Boards adoption of Zero-Tolerance reversed a long tradition of keeping...
Words: 2161 - Pages: 9
...America's great transition from a feudalistic to an Industrialized society was spurred by an economic growth of the 19th century. The changes in American society as well as American business practices would be vast .The perspective of our Sociological founding Father Max Weber and his analysis of another change in American Society; his view points on modernity, the rise of capitalism as well as Bureaucracy make tangible points to set the stage for a crisis in America that takes in 2008. Weber predicted that in a crisis Bureaucracy will only fail if there is mismanagement, incompetence and/or abuse of its organizational system. He predicted to fix a system that has went array one would have to balance the effects of Bureaucracy to the peoples needs/desires for capitalistic gain. Karl Emil “Max” Weber was born in Prussia in the mid-1800's. Max Weber, (2006) German sociologist. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2015. During this era, the Industrial revolution was in full swing brushing off the ideals of a traditional economy and embracing the new ideas of Modernity. Weber was not unaffected by these ideas and described the emergence of modernity, through the rise of capitalism. Weber noted that the this new economic system yielded old leadership he described as the charismatic, Authoritative and Traditional leadership. He outlined that Capitalism would bring a prosperity the likes people have never experienced. The positive affects of Capitalism he noted were an increased knowledge...
Words: 1442 - Pages: 6
...Organizations as Rational Systems Prepared by Anna Lin, 9041816 This paper introduces Rational System Perspectives in relations to four promin ent schools of organization theory; which are Taylor’s scientific management, Fayol’s general principles of management, Weber’s theory of bureaucracy and Simon’s discussion on administrative behavior. Rational System Perspectives There are two key elements characterizing rational systems: 1) Goal Specificity Specific goals support rational behavior in organizations by providing guideli nes on structural design, which leads to specify what tasks are to be performe d and how resources are to be allocated. 2) Formalization Formalization is an attempt to make behavior more predictable by standardizing and regulating. Formalization provides stable expectation, which is a precond ition to rationality. Selected schools The author related rational system perspectives to four schools of organizatio nal theories. Taylor’s Scientific Management (1911) Taylor Scientifically analyzed tasks performed by individual workers and disco vered the best procedure that would produce the maximum output with the minimu m input of resources. His attempts (to rationalize labor at level of the indiv idual worker )led to changes in the entire structure of work arrangement. Ther efore, efficiency improved. His four principles includes: 1) Develop a science for each element of an individual’s work. 2) Scientifically select and train...
Words: 1244 - Pages: 5
...appear in a "hierarchical development order". States progress from charismatic authority, to traditional authority, and finally reach the state of rational-legal authority which is characteristic of a modern liberal democracy. However in this paper, we will try to agree with Max Weber’s statement that, legal – rational authority is the most rational type of authority, while giving reasons to our argument. In English, the word 'authority' can be used to mean power given by the state (in the form of Members of Parliament, Judges, Police Officers, etc.) or by academic knowledge of an area (someone can be an authority on a subject). The word "Authority" with capital "A”, refers to the governing body upon which such authority (with lower case "a") is vested ( Arendt, 1961: 53). However, authority is often used interchangeably in governments with the term "power". However, their meanings differ. Authority refers to a claim of legitimacy, the justification and right to exercise power (Spencer, 1970: 258). For example, while a mob has the power to punish a criminal, for example by lynching, people who believe in the rule of law consider that only a court of law to have the authority to order capital punishment. Max Weber, in his sociological and philosophical work, identified and distinguished three types of legitimate domination that have sometimes been rendered in English translation as types of authority, because domination isn't seen as a political concept in the first place. Weber...
Words: 1986 - Pages: 8
...supporting the many people affected by the disease. Based in Washington D.C., the ALS Association is comprised of a headquarters, association chapters at the local level, and a national network of certified treatment facilities. In existence for more than a quarter of a century, the organization was thrust in the spotlight and subjected to increased scrutiny with the wildly successful “ALS ice bucket challenge” that swept social media in 2014. Is the ALS a disciplined Weberian bureaucracy or an organic grassroots organization challenging hierarchy and bureaucratic rules as detailed in the Neo-Weberian model articulated by Charles Perrow? Analysis of the organization, along with the wild popularity and financial gain from the ice bucket challenge, reveals that the organization is a dynamic combination of both Weber’s ideal type bureaucracy and a collection of passionate individuals whose autonomous freedom catapulted the association’s funding and visibility. German sociologist Max Weber considered bureaucracy an ideal type- the most efficient and rational form- for the structure and management of organizations. He claimed that...
Words: 1800 - Pages: 8
...SBUS10040 Foundations of Management Thought Bachelor of Commerce International, University College Dublin Tutorial CRN: 74866 Tutor Name: Carolin Grampp Student Name: Brian Allen Student Number: 12459812 Submission Deadline: 7th November 2013 Essay Title: critique scientific management-as promoted by Frederick Taylor- and rational legal bureaucracy-as described and analysed by Max Weber- highlighting how they are both outcomes of enlightenment thinking. Your essay should draw on the assigned readings, as appropriate, from week two to week seven. Word count: 1000 “By submitting your work via this SafeAssign link you declare that all materials included in this submission are product of your own work and that due acknowledgement have been given in the text and in the bibliography to ALL sources, be they printed, electronic or personal. You also declare that you will not facilitate plagiarism by making your work available to others through hard copy distribution or other means. Furthermore, you declare that the submitted material has not been submitted for grading purposes in the past, be it for this module or other modules that you have undertaken as part of your studies.” Date: 6/11/13 Signature:Brian Allen Reflection: In general I found myself more capable...
Words: 1537 - Pages: 7
...McDonaldizaton - Irrationality of rationality (i) To what extent is Ritzer’s McDonaldizaton a realisation of Max Weber’s “irrationality of Rationality”? To first answer this question we must understand some key underlying concepts. Rationality is the idea that humans are utility maximisers and as a result will make all decisions in an effort to generate the most benefit from them. A Bureaucracy is an organisation that takes on these traits to maximise their gains and be completely efficient. They do this through a number of steps; * Specialisation: Bureaucracies assign individuals to highly specialised duties, this maximises efficiency, these specialised duties are made as easy and unskilled as possible to make sure it can be done quickly and repeatedly to maximise output. * Hierarchy: Arrange personnel in vertical hierarchy of offices thus each person is supervised by a higher up. * Rules and Regulations: Cultural and tradition holds no sway, operations are guided by fixed rules and regulations. Ideally the bureaucracy seeks to operate in a completely predictable fashion. * Technical competence: Officials are expected to have technical competence to carry out duties, this is rational as technology maximises efficiency and work output by eliminating human error and unflinching performance of repetitive tasks. * Impersonality: Rules take precedence over personal feeling. Uniform treatment of clients and workers as personal feelings can get in the...
Words: 709 - Pages: 3
...UREAUCRACY: WEBER’S THEORY The literal meaning of bureaucracy is “rule by desks or offices, or government with a small desk.” A bureaucracy comprises of a great number of non-elected government officials that are concerned with administrative work and policy-making. Many big organizations and governments depend on bureaucracies to operate; they need consistent rules and procedures. Governmental agencies such as homeland security demonstrate best how bureaucrats function and what they do. (Blau, 1956) During the time of the great German sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920), organizations were run in a casual manner. Max Weber searched for means to create a more official structure in organizations. According to him, organizations that were run like families were less successful because authority was misplaced. He believed that workers were loyal to their superiors as opposed to organizations. Organizations that are more structured, authoritative, and rigid were Max Weber’s ideal of a fully rational bureaucracy; he imagined them to be that way. His ideal organizations were those that were able to turn regular workers into coherent decision makers that will serve clients with fairness and competence. According to Weber, the following are characteristics of a fully rational bureaucracy: (Weber, 2009) Hierarchy: a clear-cut chain of command characterizes the level of power within organizations. People who occupy positions of authority will oversee and guide those who hold lower...
Words: 1252 - Pages: 6
