Individuals with higher authority have greater power of bureaucracy and therefore greater responsibilities such as coordinating and organizing the work of those with lower ranks. Where does the power of decision-making rest according to this reading in an organization? The power of decision-making rests according to the reading in those individuals with a high level of authority or those that hold a superior and top level position in an office. Then the individual who has the top rank or hierarchical position in entitled to handle the running of the office by making critical
Weber’s Bureaucratic Principles: A Critical Overview Introduction In this paper, Max Weber’s contribution in modern bureaucracy has been critically discussed. Weber came up with the idea of principles of bureaucracy based on existing legal-rational authority in the society. His ideal type principles of bureaucracy are hierarchical structure, impersonal relation within the organization, capacity building of the employees, formal rules and regulations, management by written order and well division of labor. Critiques think that Weber’s bureaucratic model has significant limitation with its application in modern administration given that this model emphasizes on “dehumanization” of employees, process rather than the result, rules rather than
Policy decisions made by the president, the Congress, or the Supreme Court are most likely to be implemented by bureaucrats. The concept of bureaucracy as “ideal” in the government was advanced by Max Weber (Lazo). To Weber, a bureaucracy depends upon certain elements, including a hierarchical authority structure, task specialization, and extensive rules, which allow similar cases to be handled in similar ways. Bureaucracies are created to solve problems. People become bureaucrats because they are motivated
He elucidates further that the people who control and protect the elite/ruling class hold top positions such as "cabinet ministers, MP's; senior police'; military officers and top judges (Miliband, 1969). However, in answer to Miliband, Poulantzas (1969, 1976) provided his own theory that suggested the power in a 'state' lay with the construction of society rather than an personage basis. He confers that there is a "factor of cohesion of a social formation" therefore suggesting that a 'state' is indispensable in order for the function of a capitalist society. Poulantzas also conversed that, while the 'state' did indeed protect the interests of the elite and ruling classes, the make-up of the 'state' did not necessarily consist of members of the ruling class (Poulantzas, 1976). Marxist theory of the 'state' and capitalism has been supported and both criticised throughout the decades, however, there is clear evidence within today's societies that a 'state' does indeed exist, one need only observe the United Kingdom of present day.
"Gramsci, in effect, took over an idea that was current in the circles of the Third International: the workers exercised hegemony over the allied classes and dictatorship over the enemy class." According to Cox, in Northern Europe, in the countries where capitalism had first become established, bourgeois hegemony was most complete. The second strand leading to the ideas of Gramscian hegemony observed in the writings of Machiavelli and helps further expand the potential scope of application of this concept. Gramsci analyzed what Machiavelli wrote, especially in "The Emperor", on the issue of creating a new state. Cox wonders: is the concept of Gramscian hegemony applicable at the international or world level?
The features of modern bureaucracy along with major characterizations given by Weber, help us understanding the functioning of organisations today. Max Weber, a German sociologist, first popularized the term “bureaucracy”, when he argued that, all major organisations, should be bureaucratically run for efficient, uniform, automatic and calculative business . Modern rationality acts as a base for these charecterisations to be used in organisations today. The magnanimous PVR cinemas, helps us further comprehend and analyse the workings of the present day rational legal organisations, while using the given characterization’s as a base. Max Weber believed that, bureaucracy was the epitome of rationality.
The most well-known and important theories of class are those developed by Karl Marx and Max Weber. Marx and Weber contributed to sociology in many different ways. A significant element is their diverse approach to social class. Marx put great importance on class, which he observed as an impartially given trait of the economic structure of society. He sees the primary split between the owners of capital and the workers who did not own capital.
Having been born during the period wherein immense industrialization characterized the different parts of Europe, Karl Marx (1818-1883) was particularly attuned of the changes in social, political, and economic systems taking place in the region. By examining the effects of industrialization as well as drawing from the ideas of German theorist Hegel and Feuerbach, Marx developed his concept of dialectical historical materialism which is a way of illustrating the change from one society to another (Cuzzort and King, 1980). For Marx, society exists primarily to fulfill the needs of the people, noting that the process of material production is the base of all human societies. The process of material production, according to Marx, entails two important components: the forces of production-which include tools, technology, and human skills, and the relations of production-refer to the social relations of individuals in the production process (Ritzer, 2011). Karl Marx’s perspective plays a major role in understanding our contemporary Caribbean societies such as understanding the problems and contradictions that exist in society and it provides an articulated vision for change.
Organic Solidarity The modern society Emile Durkheim was a French sociologist who published a doctoral titled ‘The division of labour’. He, along with Max weber and Karl Marx is considered as the key developers of sociology as an important field of study.In his work, he described how social order was maintained in societies based on two very different forms of solidarity and he also showed the transition of the society from a primitive one to an industrial one. The book vastly studies the ties that bind one person to the next so as to hold the society together in conditions of modernity. Durkheim introduced the terms ‘Mechanical’ and ‘Organic’ solidarity as a part of his theory on the development of societies in his book. He believed that the society is held together by the division of labour.
The Human Side of Enterprise (1960), A professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, president of Antioch College but Douglas McGregor was most famous for his Theory X and Theory Y, assumptions about motivation and human behaviour in the workplace particularly from administrative and leadership perspectives. McGregor practiced organisation/management consulting along with Richard Beckhard and played a major role in founding what we know today as organisation development. The Paper discusses McGregor's conceptualisation of Theory Y. What has been the impact of Theory Y on managerial thinking and behaviour since 1960? Is Theory Y merely an interesting idea that had a small impact or has Theory Y changed the course of how management works?