Public Administrators should not be restricted to only laid down rules in the discharge of their duties as espoused by Max Weber; they should have some amount of discretion in their duties in which they have sworn to uphold. Public administrators must rely on the professional opinion of others when making their decision before using their judgement in making the right decision. Max Weber writing showed the political function of administrative powers and authority that exemplify the Sociology behind bureaucracies. In Weber’s writing about the bureaucratic types of organizations he stated that, “Public administrator needs to be run much like a machine production (Roth & Wittich, 1978). Also, as indicated in the textbook, Max Weber view is that …show more content…
In these movies public administrators take advantage of their authority to perform illegal acts on the public and its citizens. In Demolition Man played by Sylvester Stallone, he destroyed public and private property, and goes beyond the law to apprehend the criminals. In Training Day played by Denzel Washington, he uses his position as a police officer to take drugs and money from the criminals, to assault the criminals and some innocence citizens, and to force his partner to use drugs. These examples show why public administrators should have some amount of discretion in their duties. However, public administrator’s discretion can lead to abuse of power. For example, what if a small business wanted to display a sign outside their store which is bigger than the law allows, so the public administrators would reject the small business request for the sign. But, a bigger business wanted to display the same sign with the same length and width, but the bigger business has contributed to Fireman fund for the Fireman’s Academy Afterschool Program and have contributed to the local law enforcement agency to help purchase new vehicles. Therefore, public administrators would allow the bigger business to display the sign. This will make the smaller business suspect that the administrators have abused their
Often, when the discussion of American bureaucracy is broached in conversation, those holding these conversations often think of the many men and women who operate behind the scenes within the government. This same cross section of Americans is looked upon as the real power within the federal government and unlike the other branches of government, has little to no oversight. A search of EBSCO resulted in the following definition, an organization “structure with a rigid hierarchy of personnel, regulated by set rules and procedures” (Bureaucracy, 2007). Max Weber believed that a bureaucracy was technically the most efficient form of organization, one structured around official functions that are bound by rules, each function having its own specified competence (2007). This wide ranging group of Americans has operated within the gaps, behind the scenes, all under the three core branches of government: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The division of government into three branches and separate powers gives each branch both exclusive powers and some additional power...
Weber characterizes bureaucracy in six ways; their must be a clear chain of command, must have determined areas of jurisdiction, power of institution, must be willing to work full capacity, officials are trained and there are general rules that are followed (“Bureacracy” 1925; 212).
Hall, Daniel E. Administrative Law: Bureaucracy in a Democracy. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2012. Print.
Wilson described public administration as “the most obvious part of the government; it is government in action; it is the executive, the operative, the most visible side of government, and is of course as old as government itself.” Furthermore, public administration is efficient and detailed implementation of public law. Every particular application of general law is a demonstration of administration.
One of the most cited and accurate definitions of “discretion” is that offered by Kenneth Culp Davis (1969) “a public officer has discretion whenever the effective limits on his power leave him free to make a choice among possible courses of action or inaction”. The lack of resources in some situations means that not every infringement on the law will be enforced and that even if the relevant law was precise there would still be...
To the social problem of stealing, possible reasons to why people may steal: 1) The Strain
Weber believed that bureaucracy created stable, and predictable actions and outcomes because it allowed organizations to work in a rational manner, like a machine, and helped account for the fact that humans had only limited intelligence. Though Weber discussed the perfect model of an organization, bureaucracy allows for even imperfect organizations to function in a more reliable and predictable way because it’s structure controls how individuals behave.
Organizations in today’s world need to adapt and overcome many obstacles that are predictable as well as unpredictable. Max Weber outlines the five basic principles of bureaucracy which are as follows: The Division of Labor, Hierarchy of Authority, Written Rules and Regulations, Impersonality Principal, and Technical Qualifications. These basic principals were designed to maximize productivity and assert authority over subordinates in the workforce. (Weber, 1968) In present day the basic principles of Weber’s bureaucratic design are still visible in just about every organization. The only variable is to what extent they are applied.
Weber’s uses his theory of Bureaucracy to point out that it is what society is becoming and how it creates social older in society. This theory is
Similarly in Weber’s bureaucratic approach, organizations are divided into different echelons with each varying in its degrees of influence. Each unit being commanded by the one above it, a system that promotes stability and has a predictable line of communication. Both approaches of management rely heavily on regulated control. Whether governing task scientifically of people authoritatively. A solid form of control is mus...
The study of public administration only continued to grow over the course of the next two decades. As the study of public administration expanded, so did the development of s...
Sociologist Max Weber undertook the first study of bureaucracy in the early 1900s (Tomkins, 2005). Weber’s theory of bureaucracy holds that administrative rationality is achieved by dividing work into specialized administrative functions, assigning each function to a specific office, placing clear limits on each office’s scope of authority, organizing officials on a career basis, and requiring them to carry out directives with strict discipline and in accordance with clearly defined rules (Tomkins, 2005). According to Weber, today’s government is predicated on the theory of legal-rational authority and its corresponding administrative apparatus – bureaucratic (Tomkins, 2005). Bureaucratic Administration is defined by a set of strictly defined rules that delineate the hierarchy of authority, the rights and duties of every official, and the means by which administrative duties are carried out (Tomkins, 2005). The ideal type bureaucracy, Weber envisioned, would include the following elements: fixed official duties, hierarchy of authority, system of rules, technical expertise, career service, written documentation and a spirit of informal impersonality (Tomkins, 2005). Henri Fayol was the first of the theorists to identify management as a continuing process of evolution and Gulick expanded on Fayol’s...
Traditional public administration is traced back to the works of scholars like Max Weber, Woodrow Wilson and Fredrick Taylor. This form of administration was mostly influenced by Max Weber with his bureaucratic model and theory. Max Weber was a well-known sociologist born in Germany in the year 1864. He came up with his bureaucratic model as a way to try to improve management in organizations. ‘Weber emphasized on top-down control in the form of monocratic hierarchy that is a system of control in which policy is set at the top and carried out through a series of offices, whereby every manager and employee are to report to one person in top management and held accountable by that manager’ (Pfiffner, 2004, p. 1).
According to Sapru R.K. (2008) p370-371 the traditional ideal of public administration which inclined to be firm and bureaucratic was based on processes instead of outcomes and on setting procedures to follow instead of focusing on results. This paradigm can be regarded as an administration under formal control of the political control, constructed on a firmly ranked model of bureaucracy, run by permanent and neutral public servants, driven only by public concern. In emerging nations the administration was true bureaucracy meaning government by officers. In this perspective Smith (1996) p235-6 perceived that“the bureaucracy controls and manages the means of production through the government. It increases chances for bureaucratic careers by the creation of public figures,demanding public managers, marketing boards.
According to Villanueva (2013 internet source)Public administration involves government officials or public officials that apply particular policy and approaches inside a specific sphere or level of government, normally in the local level of government. Public administrators must ensure and promise that all facets of a particular policy or approach in a state are fulfilled and applied in the correct way.