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Max Weber’s Rationalisation theory
Weber's theories
Weber theory on rationality
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According to Weber, individuals behave in all manners in social groups. From these social groups, society receives gradual changes with time. He placed much impact on sociology terming it as a factor of social well-being of people within a social organization. The social actions of people change historically as Max put it. In more considerations, he explains that the modern society, especially the Western society has become rationalized in actions. Procedures in one’s way of living lead to actions that will lead to consistency in their activities that they want to be reflected in their current society. He terms this as Formal rationality. In further explanations, he argues that the society has changed from a traditional form of alignment to a rationalized form of alignment. Weber had components of society having rationalized way of being that he divided into, efficiency, predictability, control, and calculability. In this research, these components will be a major factor that will express the functions of bureaucracies as a result of a societies’ rationalization.
In historical development,
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The entire process of rationalization in the world related to the bureaucratic world takes over wide areas as the obligation of economic necessities is enormously becoming rationalized. The modern society prevailing at the moment is greatly dependent on bureaucratic structure. And this is explained that the more the area enlarges its boundaries, the more it regains great authority despite the prevailing conditions. Bureaucratization is promoted by the qualitative expansion of the tasks involved in administration (Felwell, p.7). The increasing demands of culture and social being of the society change with the standards of living within the stratum of the state. According to Weber, the most stable type of organization is the ideal features of bureaucracy (Crowell,
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...
Max Weber, German sociologist, social theorist, and economist, explicated the theory of bureaucracy in which he details the monocratic bureaucracy “as an ideal form that maximized rationality” (Bolman & Deal, 2008, p. 48). He provided his most complete exposition of theory in his 1922 tome Economy and Society (Casey, 2004). This classic form of bureaucracy is characterized by the following (a) well-defined official functions; (b) specialization of function; (c) clearly defined hierarchy of offices; (d) rules governing performance, which require training to administer; (e) impersonal treatment of clients, in that all are treated equally; (f) merit as the basis of promotion or appointment; (g) compensation based on rank; (h) separation of personal and company assets and interests; (i) discipline and control of daily work; (j) files and record keeping for decisions, acts, and rules (Bolman & Deal, 2008; O’Connor, 2011). There are numerous shorthand versions of Weber’s theory including Harmon and Mayer (1986) in Organization Theory for Public Administration and Heady (2001) in Public Administration: A Comparative Perspective (O’Connor, 2011).
Modern Bureaucracy in the United States serves to administer, gather information, conduct investigations, regulate, and license. Once set up, a bureaucracy is inherently conservative. The reason the bureaucracy was initiated may not continue to exist as a need in the future. The need or reason may change with a change in the times and the culture needs. A bureaucracy tends to make decisions that protect it and further it’s own existence, possibly apart from the wishes of the populace. It may not consistently reflect what might be optimal in terms of the needs and wants of the people. Local governments employ most of the United States civil servants. The 14 cabinet departments in the U.S. are run day-to-day by career civil servants, which have a great deal of discretionary authority.
Organizational Institutions has three major elements of institutionalized organizations, first the organization reflects it’s institutional environmental in the behavior and structure, conferring to this elements this organizations are first and foremost in the service of the public. Therefore, complications in the organization environment are reflected as organizational difficulties instead, police departments as a example are often under pressure, and sometimes even under strict commands to hire more minorities or to cultivate the demographic in there organization. On the other hand, if the department fails to use the rational hiring procedures they can end up being sued, even though they would like to hire more educated officers instead. However, the police organization replies to these types of complication throughout, the elaborate hiring policy and formal promised that are negotiated between different organizational groups. Secondly, to keep a p...
In Plato’s republic, a philosophical account on the kallipolis (the beautiful city) is built on the perspective of Socrates and his discussion between his companions. In the republic, the city in which ones live in depends on the soul and the character of the city one lives in. In this paper the character of human nature and politics will be discussed in how a city is ought to be by the influence of human nature and politics. Firstly, the influence of human nature on politics will be looked at, for example according to Plato on behalf of Socrates; he claims that a just soul creates a just society, where it is human nature to be just, that influences in creating a just political system. Secondly, politics influences human nature, where in the republic when the discussion of guardians starts out between Socrates and the companions, there is political thought discussed between them, where Socrates wants to create the perfect guardians through specific training in all types of skills instituted to creating a perfect protector. Lastly, human nature is human soul if the soul is just the city is going to be just. It is the human nature which has created communities without any political thought put in place; it political thought that forms rules and laws. Thus, human nature is part of the individual understanding of its society that creates an understanding of how one ought to be, which in turns creates rules and laws that is essentially viewed as politics.
This essay will discuss the mainstream and critical perspectives of bureaucracy and post-bureaucracy. It will begin by examining the characteristics of bureaucracy and then compare the mainstream and the critical views. Post-bureaucracy will then be discussed using the same structure.
n the development and extension of Formal Control (characteristic of modern societies), (Rational Systems), Control through Technology), (Irrationality of Rationality).
The next theory is the modernization theory, which is the basis for the rest of the essay. The modernization theory is that since the West led the push to modernization, many components of Western culture are embedded in modern society. “As the first civilization to modernize, the West is the first to have fully acquired the culture of modernity.” This theory also heavily relies on the idea that in order to modernize, the country must Westernize and lose its traditional culture. It is then proposed that although in present day many societies are modern, it does not mean they are all the same.
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.
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
Humans act on subjective meaning and world views of humans determine their behavior. Each individual’s behavior slowly becomes patterned and regulated. Each individual’s actions altogether create a collective institution for society. The iron cage, therefore, is an unintended result of the growing rationalist thinking in western capitalist societies. Weber uses the iron cage metaphor to explain social order and society. As society developed, rationalist and efficient thinking rose and this resulted in the growth of bureaucracies. A bureaucracy is designed as the most dominant form of social organization based on efficiency, rationalism, and control. In a bureaucracy, there is a set of rules which favors rational principles directed towards a goal. The bureaucracy gave rise to the iron cage which is a metaphor for people in western capitalist societies who are trapped within a dogma of efficiency and practicality. This type of thinking limits individual human freedom and potential because they way the institution is built, it doesn’t allow humans to have a...
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 specialized officials in leadership positions in a bureaucratic system often assume a coercive role that is disguised in a sacerdotal role. The hidden coerciveness of bureaucracy comes along with diminished employee autonomy, and the consequence of this is the creation of social distance between and among employees and employers. Theuvsen (2004) attests to this sentiment by stating that coercive bureaucracies are characterized by low employee autonomy, and mistrust and suspicion in the event of deviations from organizational rules and regulations that are designed to avert shirking. Du Gay (2005) presents a similar argument by mentioning that ideally, jurisdiction rules and regulations meant developed and documented for shirking prevention are one characteristic of bureaucracy. Indeed, the rules are designed as an instrument to be utilized by superiors in evaluating whether or not the employees’ actions align with regulation delineated in strictly maintained policy documents. The abrogation of individual employee autonomy in bureaucratic systems, accompanied by the creation of social distance, makes bureaucracy an irrelevant phenomenon with respect to contemporary organizational studies. This is because rules and regulation serve to not only deny employees the opportunity to respond positively and proactively to certain unique situations, but also the opportunity to recognize
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.
Bureaucracy is an organizational design based on the concept of standardization. “It is characterized by highly routine operating tasks achieved through specialization, very formalized rules and regulations, tasks that are grouped into functional departments, centralized authority, narrow spans of control, and decision making that follows the chain of command” (Judge & Robbins, 2007, p.