C H A P T E R 11

Bureaucracy:
A Closer Look
 Introduction -
Is small beautiful?
• Bureaucracy is merely a type of structure. In itself it is not
good or bad.
• In some situations it is efficient while in others it can be highly
efficient.
• Companies that now are organized into smaller, more
manageable units include highly successful organizations like
IBM, 3M, HP, Tata Group, etc. They have moved far away from
the bureaucratic approach.
• Although smaller companies are much more flexible and
adaptable to change in troubled periods, the way to get 1000
passengers around the world in comfort and safety is not to
put them in 1000 small aircrafts.
• That is why bureaucracy, in its efficient form, is necessary.
 Weber’s Bureaucracy
German sociologist, Max Weber, described an ideal
organization at the beginning of the 20th century as one that
would be perfectly balanced and would provide maximum
efficiency of operation. This is very closed to the term
Machine Bureaucracy, which we studied in the previous
chapter.
Weber’s ‘ Ideal Type’ Bureaucratic Model
• Division of labor. Each person’s job is broken down into
simple, routine, and well-defined tasks.
• Well-defined authority hierarchy. A multilevel formal
structure, with a hierarchy of positions or offices, ensures
that each lower office is under the supervision and control of
a higher one.
 Weber’s Bureaucracy – Contd.
• High formalization. Dependence on formal rules and
procedures to ensure uniformity and to regulate the
behavior of job holders.
• Impersonal nature. Sanctions are applied uniformly and
impersonally to avoid involvement with individual
personalities and personal preferences of members.
• Employment decisions based on merit: Selection and
promotion decisions are based on technical
qualifications, competence, and performance of the
candidates.
.
 Weber’s Bureaucracy – Contd.
• Career tracks for employees: Members are expected to
pursue a career in the organization. In return for this
career commitment, employees have a tenure; that is,
they will be retained even if they “burn out” or if their
skills become obsolete.
• Distinct separation of members’ organizational and
personal lives: The demands and interests of personal
affairs are kept completely separate to prevent them
from interfering with the rational impersonal conduct of
the organization’s activities.
Positive Qualities in Weber’s Ideal Type
• It sought to bring objectivity to employee selection by
reducing favouritism by decision makers and replacing
it with job-competence criteria.
• Knowing that employment security is given to them by
the organizations, employees can learn those skills that
have little value outside the organization but are
important for the organization’s success. e.g. Japanese
firms have some of the most loyal and productive
employees in the world.
• Policies, rules and regulations of the organization
reduce ambiguity and increase uniformity of action.
• Because of the vertical hierarchy, rules and regulations
are clear about authority and delegation.
 Summarizing Weber’s Contribution
• The central theme in Weber’s bureaucratic
model is standardization.
• The model can be divided into three groups of
characteristics:
 Those that relate to the structure & function of
the organization
 Those that deal with means of rewarding the
efforts
 Those that deal with protection for individual
members
 Dysfunctional Consequences
of Bureaucracy
• Goal Displacement: the displacement of organizational
goals by subunit or personal goals.
 The rules & regulations become more important than the
ends they were designed to serve. This results in goal
displacement and loss of organizational effectiveness.
e.g. Sales personnel in large retail outlets or Students’
Coordinators in teaching institutions.
 Achievement of subunits goals become more important
than accomplishment of organization’s goals.
e.g. A Production Manager not able to fulfill a large and very
profitable sales order because he did not want to disturb his
unit’s efficiency ratios.
 Dysfunctional Consequences
of Bureaucracy – Contd.
• Inappropriate Application of Rules and Regulations:
Blind repetition of decisions and actions , unaware
that conditions are changed.
e.g. having verification of ID cards done by NADRA after
every few years of people who possess the cards for a
very long time.
• Employee Alienation: Members perceive the
impersonality of the organization as creating distance
between them and their work. It is difficult to get
committed to the organization.
 Dysfunctional Consequences
of Bureaucracy – Contd.
• Concentration of Power: Bureaucracy generates
an enormous power in the hands of a few.
• Nonmember frustration: This relates to those
outside the organization who must deal with the
bureaucracy. Members or employees are
remunerated in terms of salaries even when
there is no work but clients and customers must
deal with all the hassles of bureaucracy without
being paid to do so.
e.g. Government Utility Companies or a Supplier.
 Is Bureaucracy a Structural
Dinosaur?
The Coming Death of Bureaucracy
Four factors as direct threat to bureaucracy
• Rapid and unexpected change
 Bureaucracy, with its well-defined chain of command
and rules & rigidities, is poorly adapted to the rapid
change the environment now demands.
• Growth in size
 Increased administrative overhead, tighter controls,
greater impersonality and out-of date rules effect
organizational growth in a negative sense.
• Increasing diversity
 Today’s activities require persons of very diverse and
very specialized competence and such type of persons
are incompatible with the bureaucratic structure.
 Is Bureaucracy a Structural
Dinosaur? – Contd.
• Change in managerial behavior
 Managers philosophy has changed as they have a new
concept of Human Beings which replaces the previous
push-button ideas.
 Managers also have a new concept of Power, based on
collaboration and reason, which replaces a model of
power based on force and threat.
 Managers also have a new concept of Organization
Values, based on humanistic-democratic ideals.
 Bureaucracies are Everywhere
• Despite the criticism directed at
Bureaucracies, you cannot ignore the obvious.
Bureaucracies are Everywhere.
• The vast majority of large organizations are
mainly bureaucratic in structure and
bureaucracy represents the most efficient way
for them to organize.
Why is the Bureaucratic Form thriving?
1. It works. Regardless of technology, environment,
and so on, bureaucracies are effective in a wide
range of organized activities.
2. Large size prevails. Organizations that succeed and
survive tend to grow to large size. We know that
bureaucracy is efficient with large size.
3. Societal values are unchanging. While individual
freedom is dominating with time, it is generally
acknowledged that freedom requires obedience to
a set of rules and regulations. Bureaucracy is
consistent with the values of order and
regimentation.
Why is the Bureaucratic Form thriving?
– Contd.
4. Environmental turbulence is exaggerated. The changes
are no more dynamic now than any other time in
history. Plus the impact of uncertainties in the
environment on the organization are substantially
reduced as a result of managerial strategies.
5. The professional bureaucracy has emerged. The
bureaucratic form has been able to adjust to its greatest
threat-the knowledge revolution-by modifying itself.
6. Bureaucracy maintains control. It is the most effective
mechanism structurally for maintaining control of large
organizations.