Studying Management - Bureaucracy

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Studying Management Assignment

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Title: Critically discuss the pros and cons of a bureaucratic approach towards managing contemporary organizations. Use a case study of your choice to illustrate your points

Unite Title: Studying Management

Word Count: 3253

Candidate Number: 17298

Introduction

Bureaucracy is generally concerned with the task of administration and begins to spread from a few political /religious domains into government and public services, as economies become larger and more complex; it appears in private enterprises as well. The theory of bureaucracy was first formally developed by Max Weber, a German sociologist, philosopher and political economist who showed the particular concerns on “bureaucratic structures” and advocated the establishment of hierarchies, specialized division of labor, fixed and formal competence in organizations, building strong lines of authority and control with impersonality. He also emphasized the necessity of bureaucratic forms of organizations in the modern economy based on its technical efficiency and rational-legal authority (Weber, 1964). The heavy infusions of bureaucracy in organizations arose in the early 20th century due to the increased size and scope of enterprises with more administrative difficulties (Crozier, 2009). However, the external environment changed considerably in the 1980 due to the removal of boundaries and opened markets, driving the term of bureaucracy gradually act as the critique with “red-tape” and represent dozens of negative effects such as inflexibility, alienation, and low commitment because the industrial environment has changed, making bureaucracy supposedly unsuitable and difficult to quickly changing and highly demanding features of contemporary organizations (Adler, 1999). Thus, currently, bureaucracy structure has sparked off great concerns about whether it is still effective and useful for contemporary organizations. This assignment aims to critically discuss the pros and cons of a bureaucratic approach towards managing contemporary organizations. The work begins by analyzing elements and identifying the benefits of bureaucracy. Then the criticisms and arguments will be made through critical perspectives. Later some particular types of organizations that may suit bureaucratic management structures in the contemporary environment would be pointed out; this is followed by a case study of Turkish Airlines which currently uses bureaucratic control methods. Lastly, some future recommendations about bureaucracy and the conclusion will bring it to an end.

The elements and benefits of bureaucracy organizations

The basic elements of bureaucracy have been identified by Weber (1970) and he suggests that that the characteristics of bureaucracy had far-reaching advantages and would benefit the organizations with bureaucratic forms in a modern economy where official businesses are demanded to operate precisely, continuously and unambiguously. In the first place, bureaucratic organizations are characterized by the hierarchical authority which can be described as higher positions control while lower ranks follow and allow the establishment of a “chain of command” structure and “top-down” form of management (Tirole, 1986). It is especially prominent in government and military agencies such as tax bureau and police forces, where rules and orders issued by top superiors are significant, for other types of bureaucratic organizations, the hierarchy would be relatively flat but some degree of hierarchical ranking can still be found (Boyne, 1998). Although the organizational hierarchy has been criticized by restricting employees’ freedom and slowing down the decision making, it serves a number of functions, such as assisting in coordination and supervision, delineating responsibilities and motivating workers by holding out the prospect of promotion (Volti, 2011). Another characteristic of bureaucracy is the impersonality which means the allocation of privileges and the exercise of authority are linked to formal rules and positions rather than personal arbitrariness. In other words, individuals in organizations are supposed to be treated equally regardless gender, race, age and other ascribed characteristics. Directly opposite to working arrangements on the basis of ascribed statuses, favoritism or personal connections, bureaucracy recruits and promotes staffs according to their capabilities and objective assessments of performance. For instance, in current China, officials in government agencies are still selected based on their performance in civil service examinations and many private organizations like Tencent Company uses job-specific tests for the same purpose to ensure relative fairness (Bachman, 2006). The element of “impersonality” coupled with the use of rationally derived procedures has penetrated into merit-based selection and promotion, contributing to reduced patronage or other privileged treatments and the provision of relative fair working environment which have potentials to increased job satisfaction and individual commitment (Barbalet, 2000). Division of labor and specialization are also the elements of bureaucratic organizations. Galbraith (2015), an economist, highlights breaking down tasks into small components and develop employee’s’ specialized skills can create the need for coordination and make the routines or repetitive tasks finished more quickly and efficiently. The final one is the extensive use of, and reliance on, fixed rules and formalized procedures, which would bring about efficiency and predictability for to ensure stability in the organization, as employees need to follow instructions and procedures step by step in handling tasks and situations (Fincham and Rhodes, 2005).