College 1
Manifestation of bureaucracy
- Also: ‘classic public administration paradigm’
- Focus on structure, efficiency, control.
- Has been dominating organizational thinking and doing until about 1970’s
- … and sometimes is still influencing organizational thinking and doing.
- Mcdonald's & McDonaldization (Ritzer)
- Visible with crisis management and responses to organizational threats.
Whenever this happens, large organisations are confronted with changes or
threats they start to reflect on themselves, such as who is responsible for
specific results, what tasks are important? This is a very bureaucratic
response.
- Lean management: people are trained to practice ‘lean organisations’ who is
responsible for what kind of services, what are the tasks, procedures,
manuals. There is a focus on achieving efficient processes. ‘Modern form of
bureaucracy’.
How has this paradigm emerged? 3 stories (in no particular order).
1. Weber and the idealtype of bureaucracy
- Weber: study of modernisation of society and organisations.
- Three types of authority: charismatic (the authority that is based on the
personality characteristics of leaders. Use of language, emotions, expressions
that a specific person has), traditional (authority that is inherited from one
person and passed on to the other. Like aristocracy, kings or emperors, but
also family-businesses) and rational-legal authority (‘superior form’). The first
2 were ‘outdated’. Rational-legal did not originate in characteristics and family,
but objective, formal rules.
- Bureaucracy as embodiment of rational-legal authority. Organisations should
function according to this, not for example family relations.
- Focus on calculable behaviours, equity, accountability. Rational, rule following
behaviours. A building block was competence, competence should determine
position. Achieving control, efficiënt outcomes.
- This is a very academic line of reasoning.
2. “What do bosses do?” Stephen Marglin
- Why do organisations exist? Why did blue collar workers lose control over
organisations, why are they not dominant? They seemed to be doing all the
work.
- Explanation for industrialization based on the rise of the textile industry in
Lacastershire (UK, 17th century). Just before industrialization textile
production happened in farms, as home-production.
, - Entrepreneurs (new upcoming class of capitalists) used mill technology to
reduce uncertainties and achieve control over production which was
previously by members of farmers’ families. Textile was now mass- produced.
Farm families moved from countryside to cities to work in large factories.
Entrepreneurs took control over the way production took place. The family
members could not do anything but produce more textile. Production was
standardised.
- Story of power. Specific societal groups gaining control over other societal
groups. Organisations are devices in which control could be achieved, to the
advantage of entrepreneurs/owners.
3. Scientific management Taylor
- Very influential in world or organisations, considered to be one of the first
management consultants (Steel industry).
- Frederick Winslow Taylor’s attempts to use scientific methods to combat
irrational soldiering. He found the existing system inefficient.
- Time-and-motion studies (‘stopwatch’) to experiment with and design tasks.
Changing tasks, design of tasks. Each task was timed and it was measured
how efficiënt it was, how it could be improved, etc.
- Focus on technical efficiency and rationality for the welfare of all (employees
and employers). He believed the better tasks were designed the more
efficiënt an organisation could function, and the more each participant could
benefit.
- Taylorism: principles on how to work faster and more efficiënt. Organised
efficiency became central to the operation of organisations. His ideas were
embraced in the 20th century, many organisations adopted his view. This lead
to ‘abuse’ of working class people: they had to work incredibly hard. Taylor
himself did not understand why there was any other way of structuring
businesses and this was the best way. He was convinced that if his principles
were (correctly) adopted, everybody would benefit.
- Is this ancient history? It’s still relevant. For example, nurses are still
measured and there is thought in how to design tasks to optimise efficiency.
Synthesis: classis public administration bureaucratic ‘line of reasoning’
The more standardization, formalization and specialization, the more control and thus the
more efficiency. In practice, this model has its shortcomings.
- Strict hierarchy leads to inertia and inefficiency.
1
, - No incentive for entrepreneurial behaviour, no one feels personally responsible
(alienation of the work, instead more focus on rules).
- Seniority principle leads to mediocrity. Focus on expertise of knowledge. Assumption:
the longer a person works in an organisation, the more knowledge, so they deserve
for example a promotion. However: younger people might have better knowledge.
Assumption: promotion should take place on the basis of seniority.
- Focus on rules leads to red tape. (inefficient rules)
- Specialization makes collaboration difficult. Assumption: dividing in smaller tasks
leads to better organisation, there is coordination needed.
- Expert rule at odds with democracy, accountability issues. This may lead to the
question who is responsible for specific outcomes.
- Artificial dichotomy between politics and administration. Policymaking is for
politicians, implementation is for civil servants.
- Not adaptive, leads to creation of blind spots. Bureaucracy only works in a stable
environment. No changes in technology, political climate etc.
Three ‘contenders/rivals’ to bureaucracy (alternative models of how organisations function)
1. Focus on markets and market-type mechanisms as rival coordination mechanisms
(to hierarchical control)
2. Focus on strategy and governance (enter: the environment)
3. Focus in management and managerial behaviours (as rival to rule-based
management)
- Emancipation of ‘managers’ and ‘management’.
Rival 1: markets and market-type mechanisms
- Focus on markets and market-type mechanisms as rival coordination mechanisms
(to hierarchical control). Criticism on bureaucracy.
- Privatization
- Autonomization
- Use of performance indicators (outcomes).
- “steer, not row”. The government does not need to do everything itself.
Strategic choices are made, not the implementation.
- Client focus. We’re not citizens, we’re clients of the government.
- ‘Run government like a business’. There should be competition within the
public sector
- New public management
Organisational forms: hierarchies, markets and in-betweens.
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