Lecture 2 Bureaucracy

Max Weber

• Bureaucracy

• You get a job if you're worthy instead of family relations

Fenri Fayol

• Mining engineer

• Staff-line structure

Fred Taylor

• Scientific management

• Efficiency expert

Henry Ford

• Industrial

• Fordism

Principles of classical organizing (5 principles)

• Homogeneity

• Achieving economic scale & standardization

• Division of labor: specialization, hierarcy, command, control

• Assumption: produces an optimized whole → complex organization within simple tasks

• Humans are lazy, not layal, unresponsible, only interested in money

Scientific management

• Fred Taylor

• Taylorism

• Critique:

  • Not enough room for social needs → destroys workers solidarity

  • Extreme division of labor (alienation)

  • Mistrust between workers & management

Taylorism

• Developing scientific rules for every element of someone's work

• Selecting, training, educating, deveoloping employees

• Make sure rules/procedures are followed

• Distributing work & responsibility between workers & manageemnt (blue & white collar)

• Focus on improving efficiency and labor productivity

The bureaucratic model

• Max Weber

• Classical structure

• Rational autority → more efficient and adaptable to change → rely on rules & written records for continuity

• Selection and advancement focused on competence and technical qualifications

• Positions are organized in a clear hierarchy

Characteristics of classical structures/bureaucratic mode (10 characteristics)

1. Separation of executive and regulatory functions

2. Divisions of tasks into subtasks

3. Standardization

4. Instructions & procedures

5. Strict norms

6. Short Cyclical tasks

7. Functional specialization

8. Hierarchy

9. (Staff)-line structure

10. Functional structure

Line structure

• Fordism

• Buffers are created → high on waiting time

• Apply when:

  • Reasonably constant demand

  • Sufficient work per product

  • Materials must be supplied regularly

  • Limited number of change expectations

  • Work divided into small operations

  • Leads to inventories, limited customer demands, and monotonous work

Functional structure

• Different departments → each order passes some or all departments

• Batches & queues limited and range of products varies

Parameters of division of labor (De Sitter) (8 parameters)

• Production structure = how products are produced/services deliverd

1. Functional concentration → similar operations together in the same department

2. Separation of making, preparation & support

3. Splitting into partial tasks

• Regulatory structure = control

4. Seperation production and regulatory activities

5. Splitting up management by process parts

6. Splitting up management by aspects

7. Separation of regulatory & executive activities by level

8. Splitting the control loop into steps

Effect of bureaucracy (4 effects)

By Hamel and Zanini

1. Suboptimal = formalization presets critical trade-offs

2. Parochial = hyperfocus on own, unit-specific goals

3. Byzantine = departments are only interested in making sure they operate really well

4. Inflexible = rigid & hard to change

Dysfunctions of classical structures (based on the 3 Q's)

• Quality of Organization

  • High chance of disturbance & high amount of stocks

  • Low flexibility, reliability & innovation potential

  • Long lead time

  • Difficult quality control

• Quality of Labor

  • High absenteeism & stress risk alienation

  • Few opportunities for learning development

  • Alienation

• Quality of Labor relations

  • Complex and difficult coordination

  • Lack of communication & collaboration