Bureaucratic theory of management

Theory :Max Weber

One of the most important thinkers in modern organizational theory,

Max Weber (1864-1920), is the 'father of the bureaucratic
management theory.' Weber was a German sociologist and political
economist that viewed bureaucracy in a positive light, believing it to
be more rational and efficient than its historical predecessors.

Definition: The bureaucratic management theory, introduced by Max

Weber stated that to manage an organization efficiently, it is essential
to have a clear line of authority along with proper rules, procedures
and regulations for controlling each business operation. Bureaucracy
refers to the possessing of control over a group of people or activities
through knowledge, power or authority.

What is bureaucracy: A bureaucracy is an administrative, government,

or social system with a hierarchical structure and complex rules and
regulations.

1. Clear organizational hierarchy

2. Clear rules decision making

Bureaucratic Management Theory

Weber's theory of bureaucratic management also has two essential

elements. First, it entails structuring an organization into a hierarchy.
Secondly, the organization and its members are governed by clearly
defined rational-legal decision-making rules. Each element helps an
organization to achieve its goals.

An organizational hierarchy is the arrangement of the organization by

level of authority in reference to the levels above and below it. For
example, a vice-president of marketing is below the company's
president, at the same level as the company's vice president of sales,
and above the supervisor of the company's social media department.
Each level answers to the level above it, with the ultimate leader of
the organization at the top.

According to the bureaucratic theory of Max Weber, bureaucracy is

the basis for the systematic formation of any organisation and is
designed to ensure efficiency and economic effectiveness.

Weber believed that there could be only three kinds of power in the
organization:

1Traditional: In traditional authority, the workers (considered as

servants) are dependent upon the leader (lord) working as their
servants and following the stated rules and regulations blindly.

2Charismatic: Under charismatic power, due to the extraordinary

personality of the managers, the workers are deeply motivated to
perform their best on the task allotted to them. However, this
charisma may fade away with the manager’s lay off, resignation or
demise.

3Legal-Rational: In legal-rational power, the workers either need to

abide by the legal rules or the naturally applicable laws. In short, all
the employee need to follow a consistent set of principles.

It is an ideal model for management and its administration to bring an

organisation’s power structure into focus. With these observations, he
lays down the basic principles of bureaucracy and emphasises the
division of labour, hierarchy, rules and impersonal relationship.

The 6 bureaucracy characteristics or principles are:

1Task specialisation (Specialization and Division of Labor)

2Hierarchical layers of authority

3Formal selection

4Rules and requirements

5Impersonal (Impersonality and Personal Indifference)

6Career orientation

Descibition:
1. Task specialisation

Tasks are divided into simple, routine categories on the basis of

competencies and functional specialisations. Every employee is
responsible for what he/she does best and knows exactly what is
expected of him / her. By dividing work on the basis of specialisation,
the organisation directly benefits. Each department has specific
powers.

As a result, there is a delineation of tasks and managers can approach

their employees more easily when they do not stick to their tasks.
Every employee knows exactly what is expected of him/ her and what
his/ her powers are within the organisation.

Every employee has a specific place within the organisation and is

expected to solely focus on his/ her area of expertise. Going beyond
your responsibilities and taking on tasks of colleagues is not permitted
within a bureaucracy.

2. Hierarchical layers of authority

Managers are organised into hierarchical layers, where each layer of

management is responsible for its staff and overall performance. In
bureaucratic organizational structures, there are many hierarchical
positions. This is essentially the trademark and foundation of a
bureaucracy.

The hierarchy of authority is a system in which different positions are

related in order of precedence and in which the highest rank on the
ladder has the greatest power. The bottom layers of bureaucratic
organizational structures are always subject to supervision and control
of higher layers.

This hierarchy reflects lines of bureaucratic communication and the

degree of delegation and clearly lays out how powers and
responsibilities are divided.3. Formal selection

All employees are selected on the basis of technical skills and

competences, which have been acquired through training, education
and experience.

One of the basic principles is that employees are paid for their
services and that level of their salary is dependent on their position.
Their contract terms are determined by organisational rules and
requirements and the employee has no ownership interest in the
company.

4. Rules and requirements

Formal rules and requirements are required to ensure uniformity, so

that employees know exactly what is expected of them. In this sense,
the rules and requirements can be considered predictable.

All administrative processes are defined in the official rules. By

enforcing strict rules, the organisation can more easily achieve
uniformity and all employee efforts can be better coordinated. The
rules and requirements are more or less stable and always formalised
in so-called official reports.

Should new rules and requirements be introduced, then senior

management or directors are responsible for this.5. Impersonal

Regulations and clear requirements create distant and impersonal

relationships between employees, with the additional advantage of
preventing nepotism or involvement from outsiders or politics. These
impersonal relationship are a prominent feature of bureaucracies.

Interpersonal relationships are solely characterised by a system of

public law and rules and requirements. Official views are free from
any personal involvement, emotions and feelings. Decisions are solely
made on the basis of rational factors, rather than personal factors.

6. Career orientation

Employees of a bureaucratic organisation are selected on the basis of

their expertise. This helps in the deployment of the right people in the
right positions and thereby optimally utilising human capital.
In a bureaucracy, it is possible to build a career on the basis of
experience and expertise.

As a result, it offers lifetime employment. The right division of labour

within a bureaucratic organisation also allows employees to specialise
themselves further, so that they may become experts in their own
field and significantly improve their performance.Advantages and
disadvantages of the Bureaucratic Theory

Advantages

1.Specialization or Expertise: In bureaucracy management, the work is

divided among the employees according to their skill, capabilities and
expertise, which results in job specialization in the organization.

2.Skill-Based Recruitment: The employees are recruited by matching

their skills and experience with that required for the vacant job
position to ensure that the right person is placed at the right job.
3.Predictability: When there is a systematic hierarchy and defined
rules and methods of performing the complicated tasks in the
organization, actions in similar situations become somewhat
predictable for the management.

4.Equality: The management remains unbiased towards the

employees and ensures a fair-judgement at the time of any issue or
problem in the organization.

5.Structure: A systematic organizational structure can be developed

through bureaucracy where the rules, regulations, methods and
procedures are pre-defined.

6.Systematic Record Keeping: This approach focuses on systematically

recording all the business transactions and operations in documents to
be used by the other employees in future.

7.Rationality: The recording of operations brings rationality, i.e.,

framing the laws, rules, regulations and procedures for future, based
on the experience.

Disadvantages:
1. One Way Communication: The bureaucracy theory emphasizes
on the passing of information, i.e., tasks, orders, rules and regulations,
from the top-level management to the bottom level; however,
feedback concerning the operational issues and other suggestions are
not taken from the employees.
2. The exploitation of Power: In a bureaucracy, managers have a
higher authority which can be misused by them to meet their interest
or to dominate their subordinates.
3. Wastage of Time, Efforts and Money: It involves the recording of
all the business transactions and operations to create documents
which require a lot of time, money and efforts of the personnel.
4. Delay in Business Decision-Making: The top-level management
keeps the decision-making authority with itself. Therefore, the lower-
level managers have to rely upon the top-level managers, even in the
case of any emergency or situations demanding immediate action.
5. Hinders Innovation and Creativity: The supervisor controls every
activity of the employees, which ultimately restrict the subordinates to
apply creativity and innovation to their work.
6. Inflexible and Rigid Methods: The bureaucracy theory does not
entertain any change or modification in the management system,
which makes it quite rigid.
Conclusion:
Bureaucracy is rooted in controlling something with the use of power
or authority; therefore, it is usually taken as a negative concept by
many of us.
But, it is not so, the concept of bureaucratic management initiates the
creation of a proper hierarchy in the organization. Here, the power or
authority is distributed among the workers according to their position
in the organization.
Every business operation is systematically penned down, and the
employees follow the stated rules and regulations.
However, in the present scenario, it is tough to have a pure
bureaucratic system in the organization. Still, a zest of it can be seen in
the management of civil department, political and government
organizations.