Bureaucracyr & Organizational

According to Max Weber, Bureaucracy means a centr eithery directed, systematically organized and hierarchically structured staff aband angiotensin-converting enzymed to the regular, r turn outine and efficient carrying out of bounteous-scale administrative tasks according to policies primed(p) by, rulers or directors standing outside and above the bureaucratism. Such a staff, as Weber rightly saw, t finishs to become rule-bound, functionally specialized, elevating impersonality and esprit de corps.But bureaucracy has also meant the opposition of brassal dexterity and effective centralized control red tape, clumsiness of procedure, reluctance to take a stopping point, the unnecessary multiplication of people, rules and forms a connotation achieved by singling out for attention unfavourable secondary features or tendencies of bureaucratic structures. The term bureaucracy has been included in, exclusively also contrasted with, the more common concept of administration. Sometimes this is done by seeing bureaucracy as a formal and impersonal mode of administration, sometimes by seeing bureaucracy as that form of administration where administrators (the bureaucrats, the officials) have become the real rulers, arrogating to themselves privilege, causation and control. An organisational structure defines how job tasks are formally divided, grouped and coordinated. The chief(prenominal) elements to consider while designing an governingal structure are transaction Specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, span of control, centralization and decentralization and formalization.The most common shapingal designs found in use are ? Simple or take(p) structure ? The Bureaucracy ? The Matrix structure ? The Team Structure ? The realistic(prenominal) Organization ? The Boundary slight Organization The musical theme discusses the major advantages of all the above designs and all are compared with bureaucracy and the real contribution of bur eaucracy is arrived at the end of discussion. Then the piece of bureaucracy in improving the efficiency of the arrangement is elucidated. The impact of a low take bureaucracy is then discussed and its role in efficiency is discussed.Then the impacts of high train bureaucracy are discussed. Finally, the paper concludes by stating that a moderate level of bureaucracy is good for change magnitude the efficiency of the organization. Advantages and Disadvantages of various Organizational designs The simple structure is characterized by a low degree of departmentalization, wide spans of control, authority centralized in a single person, and little formalization. The strength of the simple structure lies in its simplicity. Its fast, flexible and inexpensive to maintain and accountability is clear.One major impuissance is that it is nasty to maintain in anything another(prenominal) than a small organization. The purpose devising becomes slow as the organization grows in size becaus e of its low formalization and high centralization. A bureaucracy is characterized by exceedingly routine run tasks achieved through specialization, much formalized rules and regulations, tasks that are grouped into functional departments, centralized authority, narrow spans of control, and decision making that follows the chain of command.The primary strength of bureaucracy lies in its ability to perform standardized activities in a super efficient manner. One of the major weakness of this structure is that it causes departmental conflicts and highly inflexible always following the rules. There is no room for adjustment The Matrix structure is characterized by dual lines of authority and combines product and functional departmentalization. IBM adopts a modified version of the matrix structure in its boilersuit operations.The strength of this structure lies in its ability to facilitate coordination and efficient assignation of specialists. The major disadvantage lies in the con fusion it creates, its prosperity to foster fructify struggles, and the stress it places on individuals. The Team structure uses teams as the central twist to coordinate work activities. Companies like DaimlerChrysler, Saturn, Motorola and Xerox have made huge use of self managed teams to improve productivity at the operational level. In smaller companies, the team structure can define the entire organization.For instance, Imedia, a 30 person marketing firm in New tee shirt is completely organized around teams. This structure is highly unsuitable for large companies. A Virtual organization is a small core organization that out sources major business functions. Ancle Hsu and David Ji run a virtual organization. Their firm, California based Apex Digital, is one of the worlds largest producers of videodisk Players, yet the company neither owns a factory nor employs an engineer. They contract everything out to firms in China. This is suitable for small and large organizations.The major advantage is the tractability and the disadvantage is lack of managerial control in key aspects of business. The Boundaryless organization is an organization that seeks to eliminate the chain of command, have limitless spans of control, and replace departments with sceptered teams. The discussion of various organizational designs indicates the flexibility and adaptable nature of other designs compared to Bureaucracy. This also reveals that in most situations, Bureaucracy is good when the weaknesses of the designs are studied. utilisation of Bureaucracy in improving the efficiency of the organizationThe Primary strength of bureaucracy lies in putting like specialties together in functional departments results in economics of scale, minimum duplication of personnel and equipments, and employees who have the opportunity to disgorge the same language among their peers. Further more, bureaucracy can get by nicely with less talented and hence, less costly middle and rase level managers. The pervasiveness of rules and regulations substitutes for managerial discretion. Standardized operation, coupled with high formalization, allow decision making to be centralized.There is little need therefore, for innovative and experienced decision makers below the level of senior executives. This drastically cuts costs for the enterprise and improves the efficiency level drastically by obtaining high levels of economies of scale and spending less on employees. The bureaucracy is efficient only as long as employees confront problems that they have previously encountered and for which programmed decision rules have already been established. impress of a low level of bureaucracy A low level of bureaucracy results in huge lack of control.Employees are at their pass on and decision making becomes a very cumbersome task. There leave behind be a drove of outstanding orders and the work schedule provide be way below the expected level. This considerably decreases the effi ciency of the organization. In very rare cases, employees take up responsibility and achieve targets. dissemble of a high level of bureaucracy A high level of bureaucracy is highly detrimental to the growth of the organization. This makes the employees to develop job jeopardy and they feel to be continuously monitored.High level of bureaucracy is characterized by outcome orders and a logic to follow. There lead be a lot of unwanted works and precious time will be fagged in duplication of the same work in various levels of the organization. This curbs intro and creativity leading to routine jobs and eventually leads to employee boredom. There will be no sort of an employee involvement in this situation. Employees work for long hours but the output will be way below the standards and there will be no motivation mechanisms to support the employees. This finally results in employee turnover.So, a high level of bureaucracy is to be avoided as it may nurture the employees against t he management of the company. Weakness of Bureaucracy One of the major weaknesses of a bureaucracy is illustrated in the following dialogue between four executives in one company Ya Know, nothing happens in this place until we produce something, said the turnout executive. Wrong commented the research and development manager, Nothing happens until we design something. What are you talk about? asked the marketing executive. Nothing happens here until we sell something.Finally, the exasperated accounting manager responded, It does not matter what you produce, design, or sell. Now one knows what happens we train up the results This conversation points at the fact that specialization creates subunit conflicts. usable unit goals can override the overall goals of organization. The other major weakness of a bureaucracy is something dealing with the people who work in these organizations neurotic concern with following the rules. When cases arise that do not precisely outfit the ru les, there is no room for modification. ConclusionBureaucracy is efficient to the organization only when a moderate level exists. Both a low level of bureaucracy and a high level of bureaucracy will result in the inefficient operation of the enterprise without fully utilizing the resources of the company. A moderate level of bureaucracy will ensure that control mechanisms are in place and that employees are achieving their targets. This also allows the restriction of imposing rules and procedures to the employees and causing boredom. When a intensiveness point is reached, bureaucracy contributes greatly to improving the efficiency of the organization to a great level.Reference Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behavior, Tenth Edition, Prentice Hall of India. Pg. 425-446, Pg. 523-535. Garry Dessler, Human imaginativeness Management, Eastern Economy edition. Pg 465-479. Randy L. Desimone, Jon M. Werner and David M. Harris, Human Resource Development, Pearson education. Pg. 225 239 Cummings & Worley, Organization Culture and Change , 2005, page 490 Merril Ewert D and Jennifer A King Rice. 2002 October. Managing regeneration HRM Review. http//www. hrmguide. co. uk/history/classical_organization_theory. htm