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SOCI201-012

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Bureaucracies in Formal Organizations

1. Bureaucracies

a. A formal organization with a hierarchy of authority and a clear division of labor

i. Weber studied them over a hundred years ago, but we still see the bureaucratic organization everywhere (look at higher ed, the Army, or any business organization)

ii. They are the defining structure of the modern organization; they are the most efficient type of formal organization

b. Four Characteristics of Bureaucracies (according to Max Weber)

i. Separate levels; with assignments flowing downward and accountability flowing upward

ii. A division of labor

1. Each worker is assigned a specific task and only that task; their completion of that task contributes to the overall function of the organization

iii. Written rules

1. Policies that are institutionalized (e.g., student handbooks; I also have policies that I follow as a staff member. Since I work with data on campus, I have to sign data privacy agreements)

iv. Written communication and records

1. Written reports, end of the year evaluations; everything gets documented so it can be passed onto the next person

v. Impersonality and replaceability

1. Workers are replaceable units; the good of the individual is sacrificed for the good of the organization

2. This class was originally scheduled to be taught by a different lecturer- she had to step down, so I was asked two months before the semester to step in and teach it

vi. These five characteristics help bureaucracies function efficiently and reach their goals; they help the organization grow and perpetuate

c. Dysfunctions of Bureaucracies

i. Red tape: rules for the sake of rules (even if they don’t make sense; maybe they served a purpose at one point, but they no longer do)

1. E.g., The UD Registrar’s new system of automatically creating a waitlist for full classes- when my numbers drop, if there are people stuck on the waitlist, other students can’t join my class without first joining the waitlist (this was meant to increase efficiency, but it ends up causing more problems)

ii. Alienation: repetitive tasks, being disconnected from the work, office workers filling out endless forms, etc.

1. How do we resist alienation? We form primary groups at work (establish a group of work friends that can help give meaning to the routine)

d. McDonaldization of society (George Ritzer- sociologist)

i. Update on Weber’s concept of bureaucracy

ii. Does not just refer to the assembly-line production of the fast food industry; Ritzer is referring to society as a whole, specifically the standardization of everyday life

iii. Original examples included shopping malls, travel agencies, mass produced news, etc.

1. Efficiency, calculability, predictability/standardization, control

iv. Now, much of our standardization comes from Amazon (shopping), Social Media (information), and big Tech companies (entertainment)

v. Additionally, we have consistently been threatened with the impending doom of robots taking over not just our jobs, but every aspect of our lives

1. Example: Over-reliance on Google Maps has decreased our spatial and geographical awareness; what happens when technology fails us?