Bureaucracy Basics

In the past, organizations were commonly structured as bureaucracies. A bureaucracy is a form of organization based on logic, order, and the legitimate use of formal authority. Bureaucracies are meant to be orderly, fair, and highly efficient. Their features include a clear-cut division of labor, strict hierarchy of authority, formal rules and procedures, and promotion based on competency Today, many people view bureaucracies negatively and recognize that bureaucracies have their limits. If organizations rely too much on rules and procedures, they become unwieldy and too rigidmaking them slow to respond to changing environments and more likely to perish in the long run. But management theory doesn't view all bureaucratic structures as inevitably flawed. Instead, they ask these critical questions:

When is a bureaucracy a good choice for an organization? What alternatives exist when a bureaucracy is not a good choice?

Research, conducted in England by Tom Burns and George Stalker in the early 1960s, attempted to answer these questions. Burns and Stalker studied industrial firms to determine how the nature of each firm's environment affected the way the firm was organized and managed. They believed a stable, unchanging environment demanded a different type of organization than a rapidly changing one. Although a stable environment worked well under a bureaucracy, managers in constantly changing, innovative environments needed an organizational structure that allowed them to be responsive and creative. As a result, two distinct frameworks, the mechanistic and organic structures, were identified.

The mechanistic structure

The mechanistic structure, sometimes used synonymously with bureaucratic structure, is a management system based on a formal framework of authority that is carefully outlined and precisely followed. An organization that uses a mechanistic structure is likely to have the following characteristics:

Clearly specified tasks Precise definitions of the rights and obligations of members Clearly defined line and staff positions with formal relationships between the two Tendency toward formal communication throughout the organizational structure

Perhaps the best example of a mechanistic structure is found in a college or university. Consider the very rigid and formal college entrance and registration procedures. The reason for such procedures is to ensure that the organization is able to deal with a large number of people in an equitable and fair manner. Although many individuals do not like them, regulations and standard operating procedures pretty much guarantee uniform treatment. But those same rules and procedures, with their time-consuming communication and decisionmaking processes, tend to bog down organizations.

Mechanistic organizations are appropriate when the external environment is fairly stable. The biggest drawback to the mechanistic structure is its lack of flexibility, which may cause an organization to have trouble adjusting to change and coping with the unexpected.

The organic structure

The organic structure tends to work better in dynamic environments where managers need to react quickly to change. An organic structure is a management system founded on cooperation and knowledge-based authority. It is much less formal than a mechanistic organization, and much more flexible. Organic structures are characterized by

Roles that are not highly defined. Tasks that are continually redefined. Little reliance on formal authority. Decentralized control. Fast decision making. Informal patterns of both delegation and communication.

Because the atmosphere is informal and the lines of authority may shift depending on the situation, the organic structure requires more cooperation among employees than does a bureaucracy. One example of an organic structure is the Salvation Army. Although branches are located throughout the nation, the organization does not have a complex structure; it encourages different units to take on new challenges. The Salvation Army does not rely heavily on written rules and procedures. Therefore, this organization can create the procedures that work best as different situations arise. The Salvation Army's ability to take on new tasks and to fulfill its mission regardless of the circumstances it faces is one reason why it's a hallmark of organic organizations.
Bureaucracy Basics Bureaucracy Basics In the past, organizations were commonly structured as bureaucracies. A bureaucracy is a form of organization based on logic, order, and the legitimate use of formal authority. Bureaucracies are meant to be orderly, fair, and highly efficient. Their features include a clear-cut division of labor, strict hierarchy of authority, formal rules and procedures, and promotion based on competency. Today, many people view bureaucracies negatively and recognize that bureaucracies have their limits. If organizations rely too much on rules and procedures, they become unwieldy and too rigidmaking them slow to respond to changing environments and more likely to perish in the long run. But management theory doesn't view all bureaucratic structures as inevitably flawed. Instead, they ask these critical questions: When is a bureaucracy a good choice for an organization? What alternatives exist when a bureaucracy is not a good choice? Research, conducted in England

Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a government or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution,[1] and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape. Modern world Weberian bureaucracy An editor has expressed a concern that this section lends undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, controversies or matters relative to the article subject as a whole. Please help to create a more balanced presentation. Discuss and resolve this issue before removing this message. (October 2011)

The Weberian bureaucracy has its origin in the works by Max Weber (1864-1920), who was a notable German sociologist, political economist and administrative scholar, who had contributed immensely to the study of bureaucracy and administrative discourses and literatures, during the mid 1800s and early 1900s. Max Weber belongs to the Scientific School of Thought, who among others, discussed intensely on subject-matters, such as, specialization of job-scope, merit system, uniform principles, structure and hierarchy, to name a few. Among the scholars of his contemporaries are, Frederick Taylor (1856-1915), Henri Fayol (1841-1925), Elton Mayo (1880-1949), and later scholars, such as, Herbert Simon (1916-2001), Dwight Waldo (1913-2000), and others.[3] Bureaucratic administration means fundamentally domination through knowledge Max Weber[4] Weber described many ideal types of public administration and government in his magnum opus Economy and Society (1922). His critical study of the bureaucratisation of society became one of the most enduring parts of his work.[4][5] It was Weber who began the studies of bureaucracy and whose works led to the popularization of this term.[6] Many aspects of modern public administration go back to him, and a classic, hierarchically organized civil service of the Continental type is called "Weberian civil service".[7] As the most efficient and rational way of organizing, bureaucratization for Weber was the key part of the rational-legal authority, and furthermore, he saw it as the key process in the ongoing rationalization of the Western society.[4][5] Weber listed several precondititions for the emergence of the bureaucracy.[8] The growth in space and population being administered and the growth in complexity of the administrative tasks being carried out and the existence of a monetary economy resulted in a need for a more efficient administrative system.[8] Development of communication and transportation technologies made more efficient administration possible but also in popular demand, and democratization and rationalization of culture resulted in demands that the new system treats everybody equally.[8] Weber's ideal bureaucracy is characterized by hierarchical organization, delineated lines of authority in a fixed area of activity, action taken on the basis of and recorded in written rules,

bureaucratic officials need expert training, rules are implemented by neutral officials, career advancement depends on technical qualifications judged by organization, not individuals.[4][8] The decisive reason for the advance of bureaucratic organization has always been its purely technical superiority over any other form of organization Max Weber[7] While recognizing bureaucracy as the most efficient form of organization, and even indispensable for the modern state, Weber also saw it as a threat to individual freedoms, and the ongoing bureaucratization as leading to a "polar night of icy darkness", in which increasing rationalization of human life traps individuals in the aforementioned "iron cage" of bureaucratic, rule-based, rational control.[4][9] In order to counteract bureaucrats, the system needs entrepreneurs and politicians.[4]