bureaucratic organizations Flashcards
Small organizations pros
- greater sense of community, less hierarchical
- easy and efficient communication
- see the out come of your labor
- less specialized, variety of tasks
- easier to move up
- small probation
- less isolating
Small organizations cons
- less job security, more easily to go bankrupt
- work harder more observable, less anonymity
- Less likely to have benefits
- lower pay
- labor laws and ethics
- less diversity
Large organizations pros
- higher wage, pension
- unions, benefits, control the hours, certain things you can and cannot do
- more opportunity to grow, upgrading their skills
- higher quality, more capital and investments
Large organizations cons
- loss your now opinion, herd or pack mentality, go with the flow
- chain of command
- less room for creativity, rule bound
- anonymity, get away with things like poor performance high absentee that are less observable
- repetitive
Weber’s bureaucratic social values: rationality
use logic and empiricism to explain the causes of events; effective and efficient pursuit of goals without regard to means
-replacing family based organizations or ones that were organized around charismatic leaders
Weber’s bureaucratic social values: impersonality
the equal treatment of all
Weber’s bureaucratic social values: meritocracy
the emphasis on merit and expertise in the assignment of job positions and work tasks
- based on performance
- impersonal
- promoted for what you know, and you’re skills
bureaucratic structure
- impersonality
- meritocracy
- division of labor
- specialization of tasks
- formal rules, regulations, and procedure
- hierarchies of authority
- extensive use of written records
bureaucratic structure: impersonality
-employee or client or customer
-idea that we are treated as a number
often complain about it, don’t feel like a person
-weber: this is rational and logical because it is moving away from favouritism and bias
-ensures that we are all treated fairly
Cons
- no flexibility
- everyone has a situation that is different and they need consideration
bureaucratic structure: meritocracy
how people are hired, promoted in bureaucracies
- based on skill (merit
- tired to impersonality, don’t want to be promoting people based on their ind characteristics, instead we’ve assessed their skills
bureaucratic structure: division of labor
- Complex because they are highly specialized
- Limited to what they job description is
- very narrow
Advantages: usually are hiring people who are trained and skilled in their job
Disadvantages - may not share the same goals as their co-workers, and there can be conflict
bureaucratic structure: rules and regulations
expected to follow
can be helped b/c we know what we are supposed to be doing
bureaucratic structure: hierarchies of authorities
- Know where we fit
- who reports to who
- helps us understand the span of control people have which is linked to their authority
bureaucratic structure: extensive use of written record
- formalization
- everything is recorded
- allows bureaucracies to function on the own
- transparent
- bureaucratic (people forgetting the bigger picture)
- Loose flexibility, can be different
When does bureaucracy work?
Ex: university
- application
- degree requirements
- scheduling
- course outlines
When does bureaucracy not work?
Unpredictability
- issues are a long process to change
ex: her changing the light bulb
Critique of bureaucracy
- Dehumanizing
- Stifles human needs
- Resistance to change and innovation
- Acceptance of min levels of performance
- Rules become ends in themselves
Critique of bureaucracy: dehumanizing
weber “iron cage” - keep people locked up no creativity
-not valued as individuals
Critique of bureaucracy: stifles human needs
- Bureaucracy seems like it is dysfunctional in places like the university
- our ability to change things are often resisted by bureaucracies
Critique of bureaucracy: acceptance of min levels of performance: drawbacks
-following the rules so well, we can only do the base requirements of our performance
- ex: uni settings
- if you follow the min level you are safe
Critique of bureaucracy: rules become ends in themselves
- See they job as following the rules
- lose sight of what the larger organization is “red tape” mentality
- ex: fill the form , submit request
- harmful for relationship success
bureaucractic personality or bureaucratic ritualism
where following rules and procedures become ends in and of themselves
Mcdonaldization
used to describe contemporary bureaucracy and its consequences for workers in the 21st century
-how we break down the work process
-how we use tech to have efficiently run organizations good at controlling workers
-standardization
formalized rules and regulations
reduces uncertainty
