Bureaucracy & Formal Organizations

Chapter Summary Society is organize to find its problem d champion. It does so through processal governances and bureaucracies. The same system that support be frustrating and impersonal is also the one on which we swear for our personal welf atomic number 18 and to fulfill our daily needs. The nine of to daylight, however is not the society of yesterday, nor will it be the society of tomorrow. The rationalisation of society refers to a transformation in peoples thinking and behavior over the past cl years, shifting the focus from personal relationships to efficiency and results.Karl Marx attributed this transformation to capitalism, while muck Weber, who disagreed with Marx, related it to Protestant theology. As a result of rationality, ceremonious cheeks, secondary winding groups intentional to achieve specific objectives, have become a underlying feature of contemporary society. With industrialization, secondary groups have become common. Today, their existence is interpreted for granted. They become a part of our lives at hold and seem to get more and more complex as we move through the invigoration sentence course.The larger the formal organization, the more likely it will turn into a bureaucracy. Bureaucracies are defined as formal organizations characterized by five features that benefactor them r severally their refinements, to grow, and endure. These five features are (1) clear levels, with assignments flowing downward and answerableness flowing upward, (2) a division of labor, (3) written rules, (4) written communications with records, and (5) impartiality. Although bureaucracies are the most efficient forms of hearty organization, they stack also be dysfunctional.Dysfunctions of bureaucracies can include red tape, lack of communication between units, and alienation. Examples of these dysfunctions include an besides rigid interpretation of rules and the failure of members of the same organization to communicate among one anoth er. According to slime Weber, the impersonality of bureaucracies tends to bring about encounterers who feel detached from the organization and each other. According to Karl Marx, workers experience alienation when they lose interpret over their work and are cut slay from the destroyed product of their labor.To resist alienation, workers form primary groups, banding together in informal settings during the workday to maintain each other support and validation. They also personalize their work blank shell with family photographs and personal decorations. Not all workers, however, succeed in resisting alienation. One dry land bureaucracies endure and are so resilient is because they tend to take on a life of their own through a process called goal displacement. Once a bureaucracy has achieved its original goals, it adopts new goals in nine to perpetuate its existence.A classic example of goal displacement involves the March of Dimes. primarily anchored to fight polio, the o rganization was faced with being phased out after Jonas Salk discover the polio vaccine. Rather than disband, it adopted a new mission, fighting birth defects, which was recently changed to a vaguer goal of breakthrough for babies. In addition to bureaucracies, legion(predicate) people in the United States become involved with freewill organizations, groups do up of proffers who organize on the undercoat of some mutual interest.But in time voluntary organizations are not immune from the affect of bureaucratization. Although formal organizations set up numerous beneficial functions, they also tend to be dominated by a small, self-perpetuating elite, a phenomenon Robert Michel referred to as the compress law of oligarchy. Even volunteer and non-profit organizations are affected by the iron law of oligarchy. Sociologists use the term, corporal culture to refer to an organizations traditions, values, and unwritten norms. Much of what goes on in merged culture, however, is hid den.To ensure that the collective culture reproduces itself at the top levels, people in positions of power groom other people they perceive to be mediocre like them for similar positions of power. In the United States, personal achievement is central workers are hired on the basis of what they can contribute to the organization that hires them. To counter the negative side of bureaucracies, legion(predicate) corporations have begun taking move to better pieceize work settings. This includes the establishment of work teams, bodily day care, employee stock self-will plans, and the quality circles.There has been a great deal of look into directed at comparing the Japanese corporate culture to the American corporate culture. The Japanese corporate model differs significantly from the American corporate model in the way it views work, workers, and work organizations. Although considered as superior to the American corporate culture, more recent inspection shows this to be more o f a myth than a reality. Successful Japanese businesses have adopted many of the American methods. The real bottom line is that we live in a global marketplace of ideas as strong as products, with no genius set of cultural values being universally superior.Key Terms in Chapter Seven alienation Marxs term for the experience of being cut off from the product of ones labor that results in a sense impression of powerlessness and normlessness. (p. 181) bureaucracy A formal organization with a power structure of authority a clear division of labor emphasis on written rules, communications, and records and impersonality of positions. (p. 176) capitalism An economic system characterized by private ownership of the means of producing goods and services, the pursuit of profit, and market competition. (p. 176) corporate culture The orientations that characterize corporate work settings. p. 186) formal organization A secondary group designed to achieve explicit objectives. (p. 176) goal disp lacement A goal displaced by another in this context, the adoption of new goals by an organization also known as goal replacement. (p. 182) humanizing a work setting Organizing a workplace in such a way that it develops, rather than impedes, human potential. (p. 188) Peter principle A bureaucratic law according to which the members of an organization are promoted for good work until they reach their level of incompetence, the level at which they can no longer do good work. p. 182) rationality The word meaning of rules, efficiency, and practical results as the right way to approach human affairs. (p. 174) rationalization of society A widespread acceptance of rationality and a social organization largely built around this idea. (p. 174) self-fulfilling prophecy As utilise to corporate culture, predictions that later come true based upon values and stereotypes. (p. 186) the iron law of oligarchy Robert Michels phrase for the tendency of formal organizations to be dominated by a small , self-perpetuating elite. (p. 185) he McDonaldization of society The process by which ordinary aspects of life are rationalized and efficiency comes to rule such things as food preparation. (p. 179) tralatitious orientation The idea, characteristic of tribal, peasant, and feudal societies, that the past is the best guide for the present. (p. 174) voluntary association A group made up of volunteers who have organized on the basis of some mutual interest. (p. 183) Key People in Chapter Seven Alexis de Tocqueville In his report of his travels across the United States, Democracy in America, Tocqueville observed the tendency of Americans to join voluntary associations. p. 183) Peter Evans and James Rauch Evans and Rauch found that the most prosperous countries are those with central bureaucracies that hire workers on the basis of merit and offer them rewarding careers. (p. 182) Elaine Fox and George Arquitt Studying local posts of the Veterans of foreign Wars, Fox and Arquitt found th at leadership positions in organizations are typically dogged behind the scenes with current leaders choosing their favorite candidates for other leadership roles. (p. 185)Rosabeth Moss Kanter In her organizational studies of corporations, Kanter discovered that corporate cultures reproduce themselves at the top levels by selecting workers that they think best match the corporate model providing those workers with the opportunities and resources to do well and after they succeed, promoting them to high-level positions. (p. 186). Gary Marx Noting technologys role in the control of workers, Gary Marx warned of a maximum-security workplace where computers keep track of every movement workers ramp up on the job. (p. 190)Karl Marx According to Karl Marx, the rationalization of society was due to the transformation to capitalism, which, in turn, created alienationworkers who lost control of their work and were cut off from the finished product of their labor. (p. 174) Robert Michels Mic hels coined the phrase the iron law of oligarchy to describe the tendency of formal organizations to be dominated by a small, self-perpetuating elite. (p. 185) William Ouchi Ouchi identified five slipway that the Japanese corporate model differed from the American corporate model. p. 191) George Ritzer Ritzer coined the term the McDonaldization of society to describe the process by which ordinary aspects of life are comme il faut more and more rationalized. (p. 179) David Sills Sills identified four of the seven functions of voluntary associations. (p. 184) Max Weber According to Weber, a change in peoples religious orientation and their way of thinking produced capitalism. Weber also argued that the impersonality of bureaucracies tends to produce workers who feel detached from their organizations and each other. (p. 175)