Exemplification Essay: The Dehumanization Of Bureaucracy

Did you hear that joke about the guy in a cubicle? Neither did anyone else. Bureaucracy efficiency comes with a cost of alienation and not allowing connections and ideas to flow through each sector of a bureaucratically run business. Max Weber, known founder of modern sociology, defines flaws in bureaucracy and how it has the ability to dehumanize the people in a company. Weber’s quote about bureaucracy is depicted through peter’s job experience at InterTech through the impersonality, hierarchy of authority, and the written records. Impersonality in bureaucracy is common because people are viewed as cogs in a machine that are easily replaceable. In the movie, the efficiency counselors did not care about the lives they were ruining when they were firing people. When Weber stated, “nothing but these little cogs” he is describing how bureaucracies can replace and remove people, in order to achieve the optimum efficiency (Weber). Describing the people at InterTech as little cogs is dehumanizing; the way the consultants have no consequence for their actions is an example of the impersonality at InterTech. The lack of care for …show more content…
The TPS report cover page that peter did incorrectly is an example of the excessive record keeping. Weber refers to this excessive record keeping as “Egyptian records” which can be construed as an advanced time-consuming record keeping technique (Weber). Peter’s job before his promotion is dedicated to these TPS reports and keeping records for the InterTech. The amount of red tape at InterTech is an example of a dysfunction of bureaucracy: it is too difficult to do many actions without being tied up in stacks of paperwork. The copious amounts of detailed records each organization has to take can slow the production of work and can be time-consuming and