Bureaucracy

From Geography

Max Weber used the term bureaucracy vastly throughout his work and has even been said to have made it the popular term it is in today's society. A highly developed division of labour and specialization of tasks is one of the most fundamental features of bureaucracy thus, Weber's ideal bureaucracy is characterized by hierarchical organisation and he demonstrated this by showing in an organisation who would take control when the current leader died etc. Weber seen bureaucracy as the most efficient form of organisation and although he saw it as a key part of rationalising western society he also saw it as a threat to individual freedoms as it is would to control through rules and rational control. Weber said to maintain a balance and keep freedom bureaucrats needed to be opposed somewhat through entrepreneurs and politicians. Many sociologists,like Weber see the development of bureaucratic organisations as necessary for the emergence of any modern civilization.

Another famous organizational expert, Mintzberg, saw bureaucracy as an important contributor in organizational development. He created five idealtypes of organizations, of which two are linked to bureacracy. The first is the machine bureacracy. This type of organization works 'automatically'. There is the same set of actions that have to be repeated over and over again, for example a factory. The other idealtype is called professional bureaucracy. This type of organization has a lot of experts as employees and work is not at all a standard set of rules. The employees have a very big amount of freedom in choice and have most of the time more knowledge about the work than the managers do. An example would be a hospital, where the doctors can be seen as the experts.

References

Hemels, J.M.H.J. and Van Tuyll - Van Serooskerken, W.L.A. (1995). "Bureaucratie en Bureaucratisering". Bohn, Stafleu en Van Loghum, Houten.

Campbell, T (1981) Seven Theories Of Human Society; Oxford; Claredon Press

Unknown Author (unknown Date) Encyclopedia Britannica. Bureaucracy [electronic version]

Kilcullen, R.J (1996) http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au. MAX WEBER: ON BUREAUCRACY [electronic version]

Edited BY: --IrisVanDiest --IrisVanDiest 15:23, 20 October 2012 (CEST)

PUBLISHED BY: --SamanthaHazlett 19:09, 1 October 2011 (UTC)