Is Bureaucracy Irrational? Reflect Critically
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Is bureaucracy irrational? Reflect critically
In sociological theories, bureaucracy denotes either a means of management, or a particular kind of organization. Such organizations tend to have homogenous characteristics, including regularized procedure, the existence of a discretionary budget, a tendency to expand their resources continuously and progressively, and impersonal relationships with much competition for political position within the organization. 'Bureau', is a French word meaning desk; thus, 'Bureaucracy' in literal sense is to manage through a desk or office, so a form of organization heavily involved with written documents or in these days their electronic equivalent. Most economic theories of bureaucracy establish the internal mechanisms and decisional characteristics of the organizations in question. According to German sociologist Max Weber, in modern society we, the mankind, live within ‘an iron cage of rationality’ which has been thrust upon us by bureaucracy becoming indoctrinated into organizational structure. Individuals are being increasingly trapped by the bureaucratic features of instrumental rationality, perhaps hindering our substantive rationality.
Weber defined rationality is various ways, concluding that there are in fact four types of rationality. The first, which he called instrumental rationality, is related to the expectations about the behaviour of other human beings or objects in the environment. These expectations serve as means for an individual to attain end results, ends which Weber noted were "rationally pursued and calculated." It characterizes organizations, specifically bureaucracies. This leads to "universally applied rules, laws and regulations that characterize instrumental rationality in the West… particularly in the economic, legal, and scientific institutions, as well as in the bureaucratic form of domination." (Ritzer 1996). Rational-legal forms of authority such as the contemporary legal and
Is bureaucracy irrational? Reflect critically
In sociological theories, bureaucracy denotes either a means of management, or a particular kind of organization. Such organizations tend to have homogenous characteristics, including regularized procedure, the existence of a discretionary budget, a tendency to expand their resources continuously and progressively, and impersonal relationships with much competition for political position within the organization. 'Bureau', is a French word meaning desk; thus, 'Bureaucracy' in literal sense is to manage through a desk or office, so a form of organization heavily involved with written documents or in these days their electronic equivalent. Most economic theories of bureaucracy establish the internal mechanisms and decisional characteristics of the organizations in question. According to German sociologist Max Weber, in modern society we, the mankind, live within ‘an iron cage of rationality’ which has been thrust upon us by bureaucracy becoming indoctrinated into organizational structure. Individuals are being increasingly trapped by the bureaucratic features of instrumental rationality, perhaps hindering our substantive rationality.
Weber defined rationality is various ways, concluding that there are in fact four types of rationality. The first, which he called instrumental rationality, is related to the expectations about the behaviour of other human beings or objects in the environment. These expectations serve as means for an individual to attain end results, ends which Weber noted were "rationally pursued and calculated." It characterizes organizations, specifically bureaucracies. This leads to "universally applied rules, laws and regulations that characterize instrumental rationality in the West… particularly in the economic, legal, and scientific institutions, as well as in the bureaucratic form of domination." (Ritzer 1996). Rational-legal forms of authority such as the contemporary legal and
References: Bauman, (1989): Modernity and The Holocaust. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press 1989 Coser, L Haralambos M, Holborn M (2004), Sociology: Themes and Perspectives Collins Educational; Sixth edition edition Kaku, R, Harvard Business Review; Jul/Aug97, Vol Martin et al. (1998), An Alternative to Bureaucratic Impersonality and Emotional Labor: Bounded Emotionality at the Body Shop, Cornell University, Johnson Graduate School, Gale Group Morrison, Kenneth Michels, Robert (1949) First Lectures in Political Sociology. Trans. Alfred De Grazia. University of Minnesota Press. Mises, Ludwig von (1944) Bureaucracy, Yale University Press Ritzer, G (1996)The McDonaldization of Society. Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks Weber, Max (1947) The Theory of Social and Economic Organization Weber, M. (1948). From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, translated, edited and with an introduction by H. H. Gerth and C. W. Mills. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.