Characteristics Of Bureaucracy In Max Weber's Theory Of Sociology

Max Weber was an important figure in the field of Sociology. He was the first sociologist to analyze bureaucracies and how they function in society. Realizing that “rationalization” through major organizations was inevitable, he began to analyze these organizations and was led to propose his “theory of bureaucracy”. Weber felt that these large scale organizations would not be able to function without bureaucracies. When it comes to the goals in any organization, he felt that it was absolutely necessary to have a bureaucracy in order to achieve those goals. Rationalization and bureaucracy go hand in hand because a bureaucracy is organized through rational principles. His study of bureaucratic organizations is what led him to describe the “ideal

This means that there is a clear path to how decisions are made. It is a system of super-ordination and subordination. Although one level can control the level below their level, they also have a higher level controlling them. The third characteristic is that the administrative position holds the power of authority. This means that the activities that occur within a bureaucratic organization are authorized as being official duties by those in the administrative position. They are also responsible for not only assigning duties, but making sure that those duties are bounded by certain rules that take into account many different variables. They are also are responsible for establishing the qualifications needed in an individual to perform the certain task. The fourth characteristic was in regards to keeping a record of files. If all procedures, actions, and decisions made by the administration are kept in files, it makes office management much easier. There is a system in which the documents are defined in its manner of functioning as well as its procedures. The fifth characteristic he mentions is that of expertise. This means that individuals are hired and promoted based on their ability to perform a job or task.

A good example of a bureaucracy today would be a university or even the government itself. Although many bureaucracies today exhibit many of the characteristics Weber described, there are still some that do not. Many bureaucracies display the characteristics of hierarchy of authority, specialization, formalized rules, and division of labor. However, there are many grey lines in between that. There is often incompetence, favoritism, and bending of rules in many bureaucracies that go unnoticed most of the time. Also, some individuals often misuse their position in order to have personal gain and certain rules are not clear. Also, nowadays individuals are not hired based on their qualities, as Weber mentioned. The majority of the time, individuals are hired because of impersonal reasons due to someone they know, or through a promotion which is based on their performance of a task. Another problem is the fact that communication can be very hard when everything needs to be passed down from one level to the next. An example of this is when the 9/11 attack occurred. Because there are many different federal agencies, it causes miscommunication between them because there is an overlap when it comes to having the responsibility of the intelligence received as well as the authority. The problem was that there were many pieces and bits of information but it could not be put together into one