Film Analysis: The Final Offer

In the documentary “The Final Offer” shows a factory in Canada purchased by the GM plant. Weber’s social dynamic is more of institutional insight and sees bureaucracy as an inner working of a company. The documentary over a GM company specifies a working class in Canada that has different levels of power within the organization. Therefore Weber’s view of bureaucracy doesn’t work within this system for many different reasons as will be discussed in this essay.

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).

An example of the restrictions in a community goes back to the Handbook where it specifies “no outside activities…” and “cannot elicit funds from subordinates” (Federal Handbook 2011; 15) they stipulate what life has to be like outside the job. Once it is created as a bureaucracy it is “indestructible”(Federal Handbook 2011; 19), they’re set up in a way that if a strike commences it would end very quickly.

The documentary “The Final Offer” talks about the workers of GM and the negotiations during the 80’s for new pay raises. The process of negotiations in this factory was through the head of management who handles all the financials, also the factory is large therefore the labor is organized, and is also in need for collective consciousness because its more of a worker vs. company. Tensions arouse more when deals kept getting worse through the deals being offered and the representatives of the workers being unsatisfactory. Weber’s theory of bureaucracy is not adequate to this certain example as many of the goals aren’t clear within the GM factory (Toro-Tulla 2015; Marx..). There’s no clear chain of command with clear chain of appeal throughout the union and the factory and the workers as there are different representatives and no insight to the connections. Weber also discusses bureaucracy as an inner working but doesn’t speak on the outer factors that could interfere with the interworking of a bureaucracy.

In Gouldner’s “Patterns of Bureaucracy” he structures bureaucracy emerging when one group or other wants rules and the other party does not resist, and also isn’t derived from efficiency.

Gouldner sees bureaucracy as a factor of producing conflict as it can come from unilateral imposition of rules, non-legitimacy of rules; enforcement violates the social statues of groups being punished (Gouldner, 1955; 20). The accuracy is foreshadows in Gouldner with the documentary, as the punishment with a representative by Rodger Smith fight over payments to stay per hour and was punished by the continuous backfire of both sides (Gouldner, 1955; 18). The documentary has challenges as it doesn’t show discussion the outside parties also in play, it discuses interaction within two parties but not the workers.

Another example of this was the floor as workers were getting aggressive and on some occasions they would go to the bathroom at the same time to stop production (Gouldner 1955; 213). “Patterns of Bureaucracy” sheds light on punishment bureaucracy in two subtypes of the punishment bureaucracy with disciplinary pattern and grievance pattern (Gouldner 1955; 202). Punishment bureaucracy shows the sources of conflict in many ways, an example is “When a worker was absent without an excuse”(Gouldner 1955; 219) and is overseen by someone who is excused from the rule, as he is a supervisor which makes power very

clear.

In the final overview there’s no theory that fits the entire world neatly. Both Weber and Gouldner have different aspects on bureaucracy. Gouldner speaks on the outcome of it becoming destruction when Weber sees it as an advantage on both sides. The outcome of the GM deal was success for the workers side and it increased a lot of jobs coming into Canada although it did affect the work within the USA. Throughout this essay the conclusion was made that there is no “right” or “wrong” answer to which theory of bureaucracy fits this specific event as Gouldner and Weber both have flaws, as not one theory is correct.