Mcdonaldization and Bureaucracy
McDonaldization and Bureaucracy
While at one time bureaucracy was seen as one of the most efficient forms of organization, with its rational control and rules unfortunately not everything is as it appears. Bureaucracy does have its downfalls and also is seen as a threat to those in society by taking away their freedom and individuality by over rationalizing. Which is a common factor McDonaldization and bureaucracies share, by being rational to the extreme it seems there is a unexpected side effect of becoming irrational. More often than not resulting in negative outcomes instead of the desired. Another way of relating McDonaldization and bureaucracies is their goal for being efficient and also their respect and acceptance for their employees. Both look for the best way to produce the greatest amount of product with the lowest price, eventually resulting in quantity over quality. While their employees in the work place are accepted and respected for their individuality by fellow employees, however for the most part their individuality is not allowed. They are required to look the same, act the same, and required to hold and stand for the standard the bureaucracy and McDonaldization set instead of their own if they wanted to continue being employed. In the end Bureaucracy tried to organize the government like assembly lines did for the factories in relation to McDonaldization and the union did for employee wages. Examples include texting instead of calling someone, cooking / eating microwave dinners instead of cooking a well balanced meal, going through the self check out lanes at the grocery, drive funerals, drive thru weddings, filling your own cup at the fast food restaurants, and teachers who pass students who then graduate even though they are illiterate. These are just some of the tasks that most of us do everyday. What strikes me the most is that all of these are all tasks that allow us to be impersonal to a degree. Going to self check out instead of
While at one time bureaucracy was seen as one of the most efficient forms of organization, with its rational control and rules unfortunately not everything is as it appears. Bureaucracy does have its downfalls and also is seen as a threat to those in society by taking away their freedom and individuality by over rationalizing. Which is a common factor McDonaldization and bureaucracies share, by being rational to the extreme it seems there is a unexpected side effect of becoming irrational. More often than not resulting in negative outcomes instead of the desired. Another way of relating McDonaldization and bureaucracies is their goal for being efficient and also their respect and acceptance for their employees. Both look for the best way to produce the greatest amount of product with the lowest price, eventually resulting in quantity over quality. While their employees in the work place are accepted and respected for their individuality by fellow employees, however for the most part their individuality is not allowed. They are required to look the same, act the same, and required to hold and stand for the standard the bureaucracy and McDonaldization set instead of their own if they wanted to continue being employed. In the end Bureaucracy tried to organize the government like assembly lines did for the factories in relation to McDonaldization and the union did for employee wages. Examples include texting instead of calling someone, cooking / eating microwave dinners instead of cooking a well balanced meal, going through the self check out lanes at the grocery, drive funerals, drive thru weddings, filling your own cup at the fast food restaurants, and teachers who pass students who then graduate even though they are illiterate. These are just some of the tasks that most of us do everyday. What strikes me the most is that all of these are all tasks that allow us to be impersonal to a degree. Going to self check out instead of