Classical Organization Theory

Theory of Bureaucracy
Max Weber
 Max Weber, a German sociologist
 Born on April 21, 1864 in Prussia
 One of the leading scholars and he is one of the
founder of modern sociology
 Accomplished much economic work in the style
of the youngest German Historical School
 His most famous economic work was produce in
1905 – name The Protestant Ethic & The Spirit of
Capitalism
 Other publications:
i. Economy and Society, 1914
ii. Politics as a Vocation, 1918
iii.General Economic History, 1923
iv. The Methodology of the Social Sciences, 1949
 He emphasized on the ‘actions’ of
individuals.
 His works and approaches influences other
scholars in sociology.
 Since his death in 1920, his own writings are
best remembered for his studies of
Protestantism in relation to the rise of
capitalism, bureaucracy, religion, music and
industry.
 Organizational communication (OC)
a) Similar & distinct from other types of
communication.
b) OC has sources & receivers who are engaged
in the decoding & encoding of messages.
c) OC related with competencies of individuals,
their fields of experiences, the
communicative context & the effect or
results of interactions.
(Shockley-Zalabak, P, Fundamentals of Organizational
Communication, 2002, p28)
 OC – process through which organization are
created and in turn create & shape events.
The process can be understood as a
combination of process, people, messages,
meaning & purpose.
 (Shockley-Zalabak, P, Fundamentals of
Organizational Communication, 2002, p28)
o OC - “(the) field that conceptualizes
organization as symbolically achieved
cooperation”
 (Carlone, D & Taylor, B, “Communication
Theory” 8, Aug 1998, p.339)
 An organization can be viewed as a
mechanism that plans & accomplishes the
activities to reach its goals, where an
individuals making up the structure are the
enablers.
 There are many theories that can be applied
in the organization. One of them is the
classical theory by Max Weber which simply
known as the B Theory.
 What is bureaucracy?
 It comes from a combination of two French
words:
 bureau – office
 cratic – rules
 The term bureaucracy has origins in the field
of sociology.
 Sociologist Max Weber laid the foundations
for modern discussion and understandings of
bureaucracy
(in Macionis, John J, Society: The Basic, 6th ed.)
 In our common sense and negative reactions,
bureaucracy is like – hierarchical and
layered, rule-driven and insensitive to any
individual needs and complexities.
 In reality and practices until today, any
complex organizations still have these
qualities which advocated and promulgated
as the ideal organization by Weber.
 Weber posits that it is the best way for the
organization to manage the complexity of
work of individuals with a common aim.
 Thus, Weber defines an organization as a
system of purposeful, interpersonal activity
designed to coordinate individual tasks.
(Weber, M, The Theory of Social and Economic
Organizations, 1947, p.151)
 Weber outlines his theory in capacity of
authority, specialization and regulation.
 History – during French Revolution 1750
 The Process of Industrialization in Europe (early 1800)
----------------------------------------------------------
 Weber produced a great quantity of work and human
institutions – better known as theory of bureaucracy
 This theory has give impact on social change (e.g.-
authority, specialization)
 Get influence from Adam Smith (Capitalist Theory)
 It fall under classical theory
 To explain the impact of human behavior on the
development of organization
 Bureaucratic organization is the answer for managing
the organization
 3 main elements
Authority
Specialization
Regulations
 Authority
 Comes with power.
 Authorized formally by the organization.
 The organization effectiveness depends on
the extent to which management is granted
legitimate power by the organization.
• Example: you will obey your boss because
the organization grants your boss the
legitimate authority to give orders.
 Rational-legal authority – a rational system
by force of rule in the organization.
• Example – When you “report” to someone in
the organization, you understand that the
individual has the authority to ask and tell
you what to do.
• The way to organize rational-legal authority
is by hierarchy which carefully defined by
the regulation. So, only the head of the
organization has authority overall.
 Bureaucratic authority – employees in the
organization do not share ownership of the
organization.

 Specialization
 Division of labor occurs.
 Each person have their job task in the
organization.
 In large organization, division of labor is
extensive.
 Regulation
 Any of organizational coordination is possible
through the implementation of a common set
of regulations that govern everyone’s
behavior.
 In doing so, the organization rules should be
rational and are designed to achieve the
organizations’ goals.
 So, careful records must be kept of all
organizational operations.
 Theory of B was aimed to help organization
learn how to accomplish their goals in spite
of any individual goals workers may have
 It exist in both govt. & private sectors
 Government Sector (rigid, process, rules and
time taken)
 Private Sector (less rigid, faster decision making)
– but still exist
 NGO’s – (committee, sub committee, etc)
 Strength
 Clear structure of the organization
 Division of labor into spheres of influences
 Clear norms of rules
 Selection to office is by technical qualification
 Discipline & control
 Precision – quality is prime
 Promotion by Seniority (experience/ability)
 Weaknesses
 Iron cage of control – over control
 Red tape
 Decision – long process
 Resistant to change
 Hierarchy – many levels
 Irrational
 Inhumane (workers is like machine)
 Create difficulties among the public
 Time taken too long
 Encourage corruption & malpractices.
 Although still prevalent in the management
today, a counterpoint has been the human
relations movement, which advocates vesting
much power in ordinary employees.
 No other good system to replace bureaucracy
 This theory don’t say much about
communication per se, but Weber’s
principles did lay down a base of powerful
assumptions that affected the image of
communication in organizations.
 Weber’s model follows a top-down,
mechanistic view of how the organization
should coordinate their activities to achieve
common goals, especially in large
corporations.