Max Weber - Bureaucracy

Max Weber (1864-1920) – Interpretive Sociology

Bureaucracy

Max Weber discussed the concept of Bureaucracy in the context of social power and prestige. According to Weber, bureaucracies are goal-oriented organizations designed according to rational principles in order to efficiently attain their goals. Indeed bureaucracy is an administrative organization in which the distribution and classifications of the power is of particular kind. It is hierarchical. He has enumerated several features of bureaucracy. These are as follows –

1. Importance of impersonal rules: The bureaucratic set-up is strictly governed by rules and regulations. These rules and regulations are impersonal and impartial. This lends permanence and continuity to the bureaucratic functioning. In bureaucracy no person is indispensable. Thus, it is the laws and not person that make the bureaucracy work.

2. Clear and specified functions: In bureaucratic set-up each member whether low or high in the hierarchy has his functions determined and specified. There is clear and unambiguous division of labour in bureaucracy. The more able and efficient person occupy higher wrungs in the hierarchy.

3. Hierarchy of positions: In bureaucracy there is a hierarchical arrangement of posts and positions. In bureaucracy there is one chief functionary and under his there are several assistants, each of whom has, in turn, many more assistants under him.

4. A Bureaucracy has rules of control: In bureaucratic set-up the superior officer exercises control over his juniours. However, this control is not due to personal qualities of the officers but is on account of rules and regulations.

5. Separation between administrators and proprietors: In a bureaucratic set up the owner of an enterprise is not necessarily the highest officer. Indeed if an organization requires highly technical personal the owner may have no role in the actual operations of that organization.

6. Lack of monopoly: In bureaucracy no person has monopolistic control and therefore no person is indispensable. If need be, any person can be replaced or transferred.

7. Rules, decisions and commands are written: In bureaucratic set-up all rules, regulations and decisions are reduced to writing in order to avoid ambiguity and misuse. To write down all laws and decisions is very necessary for smooth functioning of bureaucracy.

Weber’s ideas on bureaucracy have had a profound influence on the fields of sociology, organizational theory, and public administration. His analysis provided a framework for understanding the structure and dynamics of bureaucratic organizations and their impact on society.