Bureaucracy Essay Example
Bureaucracy came about at the end of the 19th century when organisations were beginning to industrialise and needed a way to manage vast divisions of labour.(reference-example) A key contributor towards the bureaucratic theory is Max Weber (who is he), who was a German sociologist, and his key ideas are rationality and ‘’the one best way”
“Bureaucracy does not have a human face- it makes everyone a number.”(Clegg 2008 page 491).Max Weber focused on this form of impersonality keeping his management theories “without regard for persons”,which he deemed as necessary to maintain high order in large organisations. Webers theories were concentrated on rationality and having “the best way” to do things. He had 4 key principles of bureaucracy that relate to dehumanisation which are; division of labour and specialisation, hierachy of authority, formal rules and procedures and impersonality (according to chapter 10 the challenge of finding an appropriate structure).
Division of labour involves jobs being delegated into simple, routine, specialised and well defined tasks to insure that effort and attention is focused (reference).
Hierachy of authority- a tier structured hierachy where authority is used to advance and achieve the organisations goals in a controlled situation where employees may not hold the same objectives as the organisation. This shows dehumanisation as employees are under conditions that disallow them to think for themselves and possibly conflict their own values and goals. This strips the employee of their freedom to make their own choices and in turn takes away the individualism of the employees as well as the managers whom are also under the control of someone with a higher position in the hierachy. This hierachy formalises the organisation as employees are under
An organisation will work toward a common objective, and that objective may conflict wi
Bureaucracy is dehumanising because it sets rules and regulations
Human are not seen as
“Bureaucracy does not have a human face- it makes everyone a number.”(Clegg 2008 page 491).Max Weber focused on this form of impersonality keeping his management theories “without regard for persons”,which he deemed as necessary to maintain high order in large organisations. Webers theories were concentrated on rationality and having “the best way” to do things. He had 4 key principles of bureaucracy that relate to dehumanisation which are; division of labour and specialisation, hierachy of authority, formal rules and procedures and impersonality (according to chapter 10 the challenge of finding an appropriate structure).
Division of labour involves jobs being delegated into simple, routine, specialised and well defined tasks to insure that effort and attention is focused (reference).
Hierachy of authority- a tier structured hierachy where authority is used to advance and achieve the organisations goals in a controlled situation where employees may not hold the same objectives as the organisation. This shows dehumanisation as employees are under conditions that disallow them to think for themselves and possibly conflict their own values and goals. This strips the employee of their freedom to make their own choices and in turn takes away the individualism of the employees as well as the managers whom are also under the control of someone with a higher position in the hierachy. This hierachy formalises the organisation as employees are under
An organisation will work toward a common objective, and that objective may conflict wi
Bureaucracy is dehumanising because it sets rules and regulations
Human are not seen as