Bureaucratic Management
Max Weber gave the theory of Bureaucratic Management in 1915. Bureaucracy is a specific form of organization defined by complexity, division of labor, professional management, and hierarchical management control. Weber's theory has two essential elements - organizational hierarchy and rules-based management. Weber made a distinction between authority and power and advocated that authority must be given to the most competent and qualified people.
Bureaucratic management as one of the schools of classical management emphasizes the need for organizations to function based on professional management and hierarchical management control.
Weber (1864-1920), was a contemporary of Fayol and was one of the major contributors to the management school of thought. He observed that nepotism, which is the hiring of relatives in the organization, based on their relationships with owners and regardless of their professional competence, capabilities, and qualities was prevalent in most organizations. Weber (1915) felt that nepotism was not the right way of running an organization, was grossly unjust, and eventually hindered both the progress of individuals as well as growth or organizations. He, therefore, identified the characteristics of an ideal bureaucracy. According to Weber, bureaucracy represents the most efficient organizational design. Taylor emphasized the separation of planning and doing tasks.
Bureaucracy word is derived from the German word 'bur' and means “office”, referred to organizations that operated on a rational basis. According to Weber, "bureaucracy is a highly structured, formalized, and impersonal organization. In other words, it is a formal organization structure with a set of rules and regulations". Many leaders follow the bureaucratic leadership style.
Advantages of Bureaucracy
Nowadays, the term "bureaucracy" is used to denote excessively complicated administrative procedures with multilayered systems and processes. Clubbed with rigidness in operations with mountains of paperwork, procedures, and rules bureaucratic model is believed to slow down an organization's capacity to achieve stated goals. However, the bureaucratic characteristics of organizations outlined by Weber have certain advantages.
- It helps remove ambiguities and inefficiencies that characterize many organizations.
- Undermine the culture of patronage that he saw in many organizations.
- Competence and creativity thrive within a bureaucracy as bureaucracy demands a higher level of education and self-direction.
- The structure of bureaucracy creates more job security and provides a better work-life balance to the employees.
- In a bureaucracy impersonal relationships are formed, equality is respected and provides everyone an equal opportunity to succeed.
- In a bureaucracy, specific roles and duties are assigned that enable managers to supervise work and facilitates a team-based environment.
- It encourages specialization and promotes problem-solving and cost efficiencies by putting the best people at the best jobs.
Sources of Power
Weber also made a distinction between authority and power. Weber believed that power educes obedience through force or the threat of force which induces individuals to adhere to regulations. According to Max Weber, there are three types of power in an organization:-
- Traditional Power
- Charismatic Power
- Bureaucratic Power or Legal Power
Features of Bureaucracy:
- Division of Labor.
- Formal Hierarchical Structure.
- Selection based on Technical Expertise.
- Management by Rules.
- Written Documents.
- Only Legal Power is Important.
- Formal and Impersonal relations.
Suggested Reading and Resources
Related Links
You May Also Like
-
Hawthorne Studies - Leadership
The Hawthorne studies were conducted on workers at the Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company by Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger in the 1920s. This study established the behavioral change that happened due to an awareness of being observed, resulting in active compliance with the supposed wishes of researchers, because of special attention received, or positive response to the stimulus being introduced.
-
Management Principles by Fayol
Henri Fayol (1849-1925), a French industrialist and a prominent European management theorist, developed a general theory of management. Fayol outlined the fourteen principles of management.
-
In this study of power, Raven identified five bases of power as coercive, reward, legitimate, referent, and expert. The 5 Types of Power can help you decide when it is appropriate to use a particular type of power in important situations. Leadership involves authority and it is very important for leaders to understand what type of power they're using.
-
Team Foundation in Forming Stage
This is the first stage of team development. This is the stage when the foundation of the team is laid. During the Forming stage, team members have a high dependence on their leader for guidance. Learn the practical strategies you can use during this stage to help your team develop into a highly effective performing team.
-
All the teams are dynamic in nature and they take time to come together, they form, develop, and grow in stages, over a period of time. Teams go through five progressive stages: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning. In this article, we want to introduce you to these stages of team development and certain strategies that you can use to help the team grow and develop in each of these stages.
-
There are four major factors in leadership called Leader, Follower, Communication, and Situation. The success of the leader is dependent on how the leader is effectively able to communicate and motivate followers to perform desired tasks using the appropriate leadership style best suited for the given situation. Interdependencies and dynamics of these four factors of leadership must be considered by a leader to be effective.
-
There are four characteristics of leadership that help us to understand the character of leadership as a concept. 1. Leadership is a process, 2. Leadership involves influence, 3. Leadership always occurs in a group context and 4. Leadership involves goal attainment. These are the four components that make up the character of the 'leadership' term and help us to define the leadership concept. All of these components of leadership have common characteristics.
-
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory that explains that people are motivated by five basic categories of human needs. These needs are physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. There is a little scientific basis for this concept of a hierarchy of needs.
-
Modern Approaches to Management
The modern approaches to management look at organizational management in the current context. They take a holistic approach and look at organizations as a collection of interrelated parts influenced by both internal dynamics and also the larger external environment. These modern management theories have played a significant role in the evolution of management studies.
-
Process & Stages of Creativity
Creative ideas do not come just like that. There is a process to it. There are a number of techniques of creativity to support the generation of ideas but the widely practiced ones are brainstorming and lateral thinking. Most innovations are not so much the product of sudden insights as they are the result of a conscious process that often goes through multiple stages. The creative process can be divided into four stages of preparation, incubation, evaluation, and implementation.
