Webers Bureaucracy (1864-1920)

Weber was a German sociologist who was very sensitive to the abuses of power by people in managerial positions. In order to reduce these abuses of power Weber proposed an organizational system that would be run by rules and regulations commonly known as Bureaucracy. Under Bureaucracy an effective organization had a hierarchical structure based on the formal authority and where people were guided by rational rules and regulations rather than the arbitrary acts by those in management. Weber believed that such rested on the following basic principles:

• managers should strive for strict division of labour and each position should be   staffed by an expert in that area, there should be a consistent set of rules that all employees must follow in performing their jobs (the rules must be impersonal and rigidly enforced),

• there should be a clear chain of command

• everyone should report to one and only one direct superior

• communication should always follow this chain and never bypass individuals,

• business should be conducted in an impersonal way (managers must maintain an appropriate social distance from their subordinates and not play favourites,

• Advancement within the organization should be based on technical expertise and performance rather than seniority or favouritism,

Legal authority and power—authority and power rest in the institution of office. The power an individual holds is legitimised in the office and does not personally belong to him.

An Evaluation of the Classical Organization Theories (also known as Classical Administrative Theories)

The classical administrative theories of Fayol and Weber have had a lot of impact on management even today. Many current textbooks in management are organized around Fayol's theoretical framework. Fayol's main contribution included the concepts of the Universality and transferability of managerial skills. Even today it is widely accepted that management skills apply to all types of group activity. The concept that certain identifiable principles underlie effective managerial behaviour and that these principles can be taught also continues to have validity today. Another contribution of these theories is that today many complex organizations are managed by the bureaucratic rules proposed by Weber. These theories however have certain limitations

• First these theories assumed that all organizations can be managed by the same set of rules and regulations. They failed to appreciate the difference between various organizations for example you cannot run a government department on the same rules used in a social organization like a club or a private company.

• Secondly, the classical approach can be effective under a stable environment, but with frequent changes (rampant today) it proves ineffective as conditions require modifications in management principles and bureaucratic rules. Following outdated rules and principles can be counterproductive.

• Third the classical theories undervalued the human element in organizations. It saw people as passive and capable of reacting only to organizational rules and economic incentives. It ignored such qualities as attitudes, emotions, creativity and initiative. It failed to accommodate the fact that people are capable of going against rules. In a bid to cover these inadequacies in the classical theories the human relations movement and the behavioural science approaches were developed.