Management and Weber
Drawing on Weber’s ideal type, critically consider the relevance of bureaucratic administration to the management of twenty-first century organizations.
Max Weber was a German sociologist in the twentieth century; he was famous for his classical management theory. Weber classified three different types of authority, traditional, charismatic and legitimate authority. Traditional authority is based on traditions and customs that the leader has the legitimate right to use authority. Charismatic authority is the belief that the leader whose mission and visions will inspire others. Legitimate authority is based on formal, system of rules. In the 1930s, Weber introduced that the bureaucratic form as being the ideal way of organizing government agencies. This soon became popular in both the private and public sectors. Weber believes that the development of rational forms to be the most important characteristics in the development of Western society and capitalism. He considered the traditional and charismatic forms as irrational. Rationality is based on reasoning, calculation and logic. One of the many types of rationality includes the formal rationality. The notion of formal rationality is important to the emergence of industrial capitalism as capitalism values reason, calculation and precision, science and logic. Formal rationality is a form of rationality that characterizes bureaucratic organizations. Bureaucracy refers to the execution of tasks that are governed by official administrative and formal rules of an organization. Weber’s bureaucratic management theory focuses on dividing organizations into hierarchies with authorities and control.
The ideal type is extreme, empirically based and yardstick for comparison. Weber has 6 major principles for his ideal type of management style. Firstly, the organization has a formal hierarchical structure, which refers to the ranking system within in the management. A hierarchical structure management style also suggests a
Max Weber was a German sociologist in the twentieth century; he was famous for his classical management theory. Weber classified three different types of authority, traditional, charismatic and legitimate authority. Traditional authority is based on traditions and customs that the leader has the legitimate right to use authority. Charismatic authority is the belief that the leader whose mission and visions will inspire others. Legitimate authority is based on formal, system of rules. In the 1930s, Weber introduced that the bureaucratic form as being the ideal way of organizing government agencies. This soon became popular in both the private and public sectors. Weber believes that the development of rational forms to be the most important characteristics in the development of Western society and capitalism. He considered the traditional and charismatic forms as irrational. Rationality is based on reasoning, calculation and logic. One of the many types of rationality includes the formal rationality. The notion of formal rationality is important to the emergence of industrial capitalism as capitalism values reason, calculation and precision, science and logic. Formal rationality is a form of rationality that characterizes bureaucratic organizations. Bureaucracy refers to the execution of tasks that are governed by official administrative and formal rules of an organization. Weber’s bureaucratic management theory focuses on dividing organizations into hierarchies with authorities and control.
The ideal type is extreme, empirically based and yardstick for comparison. Weber has 6 major principles for his ideal type of management style. Firstly, the organization has a formal hierarchical structure, which refers to the ranking system within in the management. A hierarchical structure management style also suggests a
Bibliography: Max Weber - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2011. Max Weber - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber. [Accessed 17 October 2011] Bureaucracy — Max Weber 's six characteristics of the bureaucratic form. 2011. Bureaucracy — Max Weber 's six characteristics of the bureaucratic form. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bustingbureaucracy.com/excerpts/weber.htm. [Accessed 17 October 2011].