Max Weber, a German social historian, is considered to be the founding father of bureaucracy and defines bureaucracy as the ideal and rational method of organisation, hence the most efficient way of conducting business. Weber built his model on four factors: functional specialisation, hierarchy of authority, a system of rules and impersonality (Weber, 1947) and formulated the concept of bureaucracy as a response to the inadequacies found in earlier forms of organisational structure. Weber believed that these were unable to provide precision, continuity and efficiency and therefore unsuited to adapt to the rise of a capitalist market economy (Shepard, 2010). The general public does not share Weber’s view, instead bureaucracy has become synonymous
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The very rigid organisational structure creates a very narrow perspective on organisational design and efficiency and one could argue that a bureaucratic organisation operates like clockwork in an entirely predictable standard way. This suggests that people within the organisation are merely parts in a well oiled machinery and that employees may suffer from motivational issues due to having to abide by formal rules. As a result there is little personal commitment to the organisation that may lead to employees not feeling stimulated by their work. The level of motivation within the workforce is highly important as it is linked to key factors such as job satisfaction, sense of achievement and responsibility. A poorly motivated workforce is for example unlikely to care about customer service; irrespective of the customer 's issue they will adhere to the rules and will not go to any lengths in order to satisfy the customer. It must be said that this allows for consistent treatment of all customers, however each customer is an individual and situations do change (Bennis, 1967; Blau, Meyer 1978; Grey, 2007). Robert Merton (1952) and Michel Crozier (1965) argue that the concept of goal displacement is a major theoretical and practical issue. Over time employees conform to the rigid formal structure of a bureaucracy in …show more content…
Grey (2007) argue that part of the reason to why Weber observed an increase in bureaucratic organisations could be that his studies were conducted in a time where there was phenomenal growth in the size of organisations and the bigger the company the greater the need for a more formal structure. The Aston Studies proposed that large organisations have a greater statistical probability of recurrent events and are more likely to work in specialised functions following standardised rules thus “it will score highly on structuring of activities and have many of the appearances of bureaucracy”(Pugh and the Aston Group, 1996 p13). For large organisations it would appear to be rational to adopt the bureaucratic model as their size will otherwise become a disadvantage in the pursuit of fulfilling the organisation 's desired goals, moreover it would be impossible to administer the organisation without the specialisation and expertise bureaucracy brings (Pugh and the Aston Group 1996). Furthermore, sometimes size is a consequence and not the cause of bureaucracy; when an organisation sets up a new department there is an increase in the division of labour, one of the factors of bureaucracy, leading to an increase
The very rigid organisational structure creates a very narrow perspective on organisational design and efficiency and one could argue that a bureaucratic organisation operates like clockwork in an entirely predictable standard way. This suggests that people within the organisation are merely parts in a well oiled machinery and that employees may suffer from motivational issues due to having to abide by formal rules. As a result there is little personal commitment to the organisation that may lead to employees not feeling stimulated by their work. The level of motivation within the workforce is highly important as it is linked to key factors such as job satisfaction, sense of achievement and responsibility. A poorly motivated workforce is for example unlikely to care about customer service; irrespective of the customer 's issue they will adhere to the rules and will not go to any lengths in order to satisfy the customer. It must be said that this allows for consistent treatment of all customers, however each customer is an individual and situations do change (Bennis, 1967; Blau, Meyer 1978; Grey, 2007). Robert Merton (1952) and Michel Crozier (1965) argue that the concept of goal displacement is a major theoretical and practical issue. Over time employees conform to the rigid formal structure of a bureaucracy in …show more content…
Grey (2007) argue that part of the reason to why Weber observed an increase in bureaucratic organisations could be that his studies were conducted in a time where there was phenomenal growth in the size of organisations and the bigger the company the greater the need for a more formal structure. The Aston Studies proposed that large organisations have a greater statistical probability of recurrent events and are more likely to work in specialised functions following standardised rules thus “it will score highly on structuring of activities and have many of the appearances of bureaucracy”(Pugh and the Aston Group, 1996 p13). For large organisations it would appear to be rational to adopt the bureaucratic model as their size will otherwise become a disadvantage in the pursuit of fulfilling the organisation 's desired goals, moreover it would be impossible to administer the organisation without the specialisation and expertise bureaucracy brings (Pugh and the Aston Group 1996). Furthermore, sometimes size is a consequence and not the cause of bureaucracy; when an organisation sets up a new department there is an increase in the division of labour, one of the factors of bureaucracy, leading to an increase