Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy's Spread

Weber argued that the bureaucracy exhibited greater technical efficiency, stability, and “fairness” than other organizational forms. He and others attributed bureaucracy's spread to its superior effectiveness at coordinating large numbers of members, inputs, and outputs. Some have attributed the proliferation of contemporary bureaucracies not to efficiency but to normative pressures. When confronted by the demands of governments, regulators, suppliers, vendors, and other actors in the organizational environment, organizations tend to adopt accepted organizational forms, namely, bureaucracy. Whereas most researchers categorize the majority of modern, complex, and large organizations as bureaucracies, cross-cultural studies document the existence of other organizational forms.

Drawbacks of Bureaucracy

Although a few argue that the effects of bureaucratic structures are contingent, much research has critiqued bureaucracy as inevitably exerting undesired consequences. Most notably, Weber lamented increasing bureaucratization as subjecting individuals to an “iron cage” of control. Others warn that bureaucracies consolidate and legitimize corporate or elite control at the expense of individuals and minorities. Using their access to resources and power, leaders can redirect organizing efforts toward elite interests. Oligarchy, or “rule by a few” may thus overtake collective interests. Organizational maintenance activities such as fund-raising further divert efforts away from substantive goals.

[Page 100]Unchecked bureaucratic rationality can also generate suboptimal outcomes. Under a chain of authority, members' efforts may benefit only their immediate supervisor and unit, rather than serve larger organizational interests. Lower-ranking members may have little recourse for expressing dissenting views or protesting superiors' orders. To do their work, members may have to break the rules. If members mindlessly apply rules, then rules can become an end rather a means of reaching an end. This means-ends inversion can worsen goal displacement. Setting rules and procedures may only temporarily alleviate conflict between management and employees about appropriate activities. In addition, bureaucratic procedures can foster depersonalization. Bureaucracies ignore, or try to minimize, informal relations, or relationships among members that are not based on formal positions. They also fail to provide a group identity and meaning, aspects that some members seek. Although a division of labor and rules offer members some protection against intrusive requests by superiors and clients, they can also restrict members from applying their talents and interests. Those who labor in repetitive, assembly line work may experience their limited activity as particularly stultifying. Specification and standardization can generate “trained incapacity” or difficulties dealing with change intended to improve organizational performance.

...