Bureaucracy and formal organizations chapt 7 ss
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The document discusses rationalization of society and the rise of formal organizations and bureaucracies. It describes how Karl Marx and Max Weber viewed the shift from traditional ways of thinking to an emphasis on efficiency. Formal organizations are designed to achieve objectives through a bureaucratic structure with hierarchies, rules, and impersonality. However, bureaucracies can lead to issues like alienation and inefficiency. Attempts have been made to humanize corporate culture and address diversity, but conflicts remain. New technologies also allow greater control and monitoring of workers.
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Bureaucracy and formal organizations chapt 7 ss
- 1. Bureaucracy and Formal Organizations Important Text is now in Blue…
- 3. The Rationalization of Society • The term rationalization of society refers to a transformation in people’s thinking and behaviors • one that shifts the focus from following time- honored ways to being efficient in producing results.
- 6. The Rationalization of Society • Karl Marx attributed rationalization to capitalism itself • Marx said that the development of capitalism caused people to change their way of thinking
- 7. The Rationalization of Society • Max Weber developed the term “Rationalization of Society”, traced this change to Protestant theology, which he said brought about capitalism. • The Crazy religious approach to Capitalism
- 8. The Rationalization of Society
- 9. Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies • Formal organizations are secondary groups designed to achieve specific objectives. • Their dominant form is the bureaucracy • According to Weber: A bureaucracy consists of a hierarchy, division of labor, written rules and communications, and impersonality and replaceability of positions-characteristics that make bureaucracies efficient and enduring. •
- 11. The Mcdonalization of Society
- 12. Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies • The dysfunctions of bureaucracies include alienation, red tape, lack of communication between units, goal displacement, and incompetence (Peter Principle) • Goal displacement occurs when an organization adopts new goals after the original goals have been achieved and there is no longer any reason for it to continue.
- 13. Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies • In Weber’s view, the impersonality of bureaucracies tends to produce alienation among workers—the feeling that no one cares about them and that they do not really fit in. • Marx’s view of alienation is somewhat different— workers do not identify with the product of their labor because they participate in only a small part of the produc- tion process
- 14. Escaping Bureaucratic Boredom: “No pants subway day”
- 15. Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies • voluntary associations are groups made up of volunteers who organize on the basis of common interests. • These associations promote mutual interests, provide a sense of identity and purpose • They help to govern and maintain order, mediate between the government and the individual, give training in organizational skills, help provide access to political power, and pave the way for social change.
- 16. Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies • Sociologist Robert Michels noted that formal organizations have a tendency to become controlled by an inner circle that limits leadership to its own members. The dom- inance of a formal organization by an elite that keeps itself in power is called the iron law of oligarchy.
- 17. Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies
- 18. Humanizing the Corporate Culture • Humanizing a work setting means to organize it in a way that it develops rather than impedes human potential. Among the attempts to make bureaucracies more humane are work teams and corporate day care.
- 19. Humanizing the Corporate Culture
- 20. Humanizing the Corporate Culture • Employee stock ownership plans give workers a greater stake in the outcomes of their work organizations, but they do not prevent worker–management conflict. • Conflict theorists see attempts to humanize work as a way of manipulating workers.
- 21. Working for the Corporation • Within corporate culture are values and stereotypes that are not readily visible. • Self-fulfilling stereotypes are at work: People who match a corporation’s hidden values tend to be put on career tracks that enhance their chance of success, while those who do not match those values are set on a course that minimizes their performance.
- 22. Grappling with Diversity in the Corporation • more than half of the U.S. workforce minorities, immigrants, and women, dealing with diversity in the workplace is becoming unavoidable. • Most large companies have diversity training to help employees work successfully with others of different backgrounds.
- 23. Technology and the Control of Workers • Maximum-security society-is the use of computers and surveillance devices to monitor people, especially in the workplace. This technology is being extended to monitoring our everyday lives.
- 24. Technology and the Control of Workers
- 25. Global Competition • Of the corporations now in global competition, only the most efficient will survive. • That a corporation knows how to apply lessons in efficiency to others does not mean that it knows how to apply them to itself.
Editor's Notes
- Rationality, the acceptance of rules, efficiency, and practical results as the right way to approach human affairs, is a characteristic of industrial societies. Historically, the traditional orientation to life is based on the idea that the past is the best guide for the present; however, this orientation stands in the way of industrialization.
- Rationality, the acceptance of rules, efficiency, and practical results as the right way to approach human affairs, is a characteristic of industrial societies. Historically, the traditional orientation to life is based on the idea that the past is the best guide for the present; however, this orientation stands in the way of industrialization.
- Rationality, the acceptance of rules, efficiency, and practical results as the right way to approach human affairs, is a characteristic of industrial societies. Historically, the traditional orientation to life is based on the idea that the past is the best guide for the present; however, this orientation stands in the way of industrialization.
- Because capitalism was more efficient—it produced the things in greater abundance and it yielded high profits—people changed their ideas.
- Weber believed that religion held the key to understanding the development of capitalism. He noted that capitalism emerged first in predominantly Protestant countries. In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Weber proposed that a set of behaviors rooted in Protestantism led to the development of capitalist activity and the rationalization of society. Weber argued that because of the Calvinistic belief in predestination, people wanted to show they were among the chosen of God. Financial success in life became a sign of God’s approval; however, money was not to be spent on oneself. Rather, the investment of profits became an outlet for their excess money, while the success of those investments became a further sign of God’s approval. Because capitalism demanded rationalization (the careful calculation of practical results), traditional ways of doing things, if not efficient, must be replaced, for what counts are the results.
- Weber believed that religion held the key to understanding the development of capitalism. He noted that capitalism emerged first in predominantly Protestant countries. In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Weber proposed that a set of behaviors rooted in Protestantism led to the development of capitalist activity and the rationalization of society. Weber argued that because of the Calvinistic belief in predestination, people wanted to show they were among the chosen of God. Financial success in life became a sign of God’s approval; however, money was not to be spent on oneself. Rather, the investment of profits became an outlet for their excess money, while the success of those investments became a further sign of God’s approval. Because capitalism demanded rationalization (the careful calculation of practical results), traditional ways of doing things, if not efficient, must be replaced, for what counts are the results.
- Weber’s characteristics of bureaucracy describe an ideal type—a composite of characteristics based on many specific examples. The real nature of bureaucracy often differs from its ideal image.
- Weber’s characteristics of bureaucracy describe an ideal type—a composite of characteristics based on many specific examples. The real nature of bureaucracy often differs from its ideal image.
- Weber’s characteristics of bureaucracy describe an ideal type—a composite of characteristics based on many specific examples. The real nature of bureaucracy often differs from its ideal image.
- Red tape, or the strict adherence to rules, results in nothing getting accomplished. A lack of communication between units means that they are sometimes working at cross purposes; sometimes one unit “undoes” what another unit has accomplished because the two fail to inform one another what each is doing. Bureaucratic alienation, a feeling of powerlessness and normlessness, occurs when workers are assigned to repetitive tasks in order for the corporation to achieve efficient production, thereby cutting them off from the product of their labor. To resist alienation, workers form primary groups within the larger secondary organization, relating to one another not just as workers, but as people who value one another. The alienated bureaucrat is one who feels trapped in the job, does not take initiative, will not do anything beyond what she or he is absolutely required to do, and uses rules to justify doing as little as possible. Bureaucratic incompetence is reflected in the Peter principle—members of an organization are promoted for good work until they reach their level of incompetence. If this principle were generally true, then bureaucracies would be staffed by incompetents and would fail. In reality, bureaucracies are highly successful.
- All voluntary associations have one or more of the following functions: to advance the particular interests they represent (e.g., youth in Scouting programs). to offer people an identity and, for some, a sense of purpose in life. to help govern the nation and maintain social order (e.g., Red Cross disaster aid). Some voluntary associations have the following functions: to mediate between the government and the individual. to train people in organizational skills so they can climb the occupational ladder. to help bring disadvantaged groups into the political mainstream. to challenge society’s definitions of what is “normal” and socially acceptable.
- They become a small, self-perpetuating elite. Some are disturbed because when an oligarchy develops, many people are subsequently excluded from leadership because they don’t reflect the inner circle’s values or background
- They become a small, self-perpetuating elite. Some are disturbed because when an oligarchy develops, many people are subsequently excluded from leadership because they don’t reflect the inner circle’s values or background
- Humanizing a work setting refers to efforts to organize the workplace in such a way that it develops rather than impedes human potential. Corporate attempts to make work organizations more humane include the following: Work teams; within these groups workers are able to establish primary relationships with other workers so that their identities are tied up with their group; the group’s success becomes the individual’s success. Corporate day care facilities at work; these ease the strain on parents, leading to reduced turnover, less absenteeism, and shorter maternity leaves.
- Humanizing a work setting refers to efforts to organize the workplace in such a way that it develops rather than impedes human potential. Corporate attempts to make work organizations more humane include the following: Work teams; within these groups workers are able to establish primary relationships with other workers so that their identities are tied up with their group; the group’s success becomes the individual’s success. Corporate day care facilities at work; these ease the strain on parents, leading to reduced turnover, less absenteeism, and shorter maternity leaves.
- Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s organizational research demonstrates that the corporate culture contains hidden values that create a self-fulfilling prophecy that affects people’s careers. The elite have an image of who is most likely to succeed. Those whose backgrounds are similar to the elite and who look like the elite are singled out and provided with better access to information, networking, and “fast track” positions. Workers who are given opportunities to advance tend to outperform others and are more committed. Those who are judged outsiders and experience few opportunities think poorly of themselves, are less committed, and work below their potential. The hidden values of the corporate culture that create this self-fulfilling prophecy are largely invisible.
- Data gathered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission indicate diversity training has little, and in some cases a negative, effect. It depends on the type of program. Specifically, those aimed at setting goals for increasing diversity and holding managers accountable tend to be successful.