INTRODUCTION : Max Weber is considered to be one of the foremost social scientists of modern times. He has made valuable contribution to several disciplines, particularly Sociology, Economics, History and Political Science. He is specially known for his theories about the rise of capitalism in Western Europe, and bureaucracy. Max Weber's name, however, became synonymous with bureaucracy. Weber's influence on the modern thinkers on administration is enormous. Most of the studies on bureaucracy, are considered "as either different versions of Weberian model or attempts at contradicting it". Weber's bureaucratic model, theories on legitimacy and domination formed the basis for a number of further studies.
OBJECTIVES:
1. Explain Weber's concept and types of domination
2. Explain the causes, characteristics and consequences bureaucracy, and
3. Make a critical evaluation of Weber's contributions.
1. Explain Weber's concept and types of domination
2. Explain the causes, characteristics and consequences bureaucracy, and
3. Make a critical evaluation of Weber's contributions.
THEORY OF DOMINATION
Weber's theory of bureaucracy is a part of his theory of domination. Domination means the authoritarian power of command. In other words, he raised the question as to how one person exercises power over others. His answer was that the exercise of power becomes acceptable if it is justified or legitimized in some way. Legitimation in one way leads to one type of domination; legitimation in another way leads to another type. He thus laid down three types of domination:
(i) traditional domination,
(ii) charismatic domination and
(iii) legal domination (Bureaucracy falls in the third category) .
Weber's theory of bureaucracy is a part of his theory of domination. Domination means the authoritarian power of command. In other words, he raised the question as to how one person exercises power over others. His answer was that the exercise of power becomes acceptable if it is justified or legitimized in some way. Legitimation in one way leads to one type of domination; legitimation in another way leads to another type. He thus laid down three types of domination:
(i) traditional domination,
(ii) charismatic domination and
(iii) legal domination (Bureaucracy falls in the third category) .
1 Traditional Domination : Traditional domination is based on the belief that what is customary is right. It is exemplified by the rule of kings in olden days. If it was customary that only persons of a certain high caste should be appointed to high positions, this principle was accepted as just. In other words, the merit of an individual was given less importance than the caste to which he belonged. All employees had to be personally loyal to the king; if an employee was competent but not loyal to the king, he would be removed. These principles of administration were based upon the general belief system in the society. Thus in India, status in the society as a whole and not only within the administration, was determined on the basis of caste. Since caste is based upon the accident of birth, and not upon individual achievement, the competence of a person of high caste can be low. Hence the efficiency of administration in a traditional society is likely to be low.
2 Charismatic Domination : Charismatic domination is found where people accept somebody as a leader due to a belief that he has superhuman or extraordinary qualities. Thus a person who is considered to be a prophet, mahatma, or guru may come to have a number of disciples or followers. The leader then, exercises power over his followers; they are willing to carry out his wishes. Since administration in such a system also is not based upon any rational principles, but upon the fancies and caprices of the leader, it is likely to lack efficiency.
3 Legal Domination : Law is another name for a rational principle. Hence legal domination is based upon belief in the desirability of rational principles. The application of reason leads to efficiency, hence a system of legal domination is the most efficient. Legal domination is best exemplified by bureaucracy.
CHARACTERISTICS OF BUREAUCRACY
The term bureaucracy refers to the employees of a modern large-scale organisation, such as a government, a joint stock company or an armed force. While the objectives of organisations may be different, their bureaucracies have certain common features:
2 Charismatic Domination : Charismatic domination is found where people accept somebody as a leader due to a belief that he has superhuman or extraordinary qualities. Thus a person who is considered to be a prophet, mahatma, or guru may come to have a number of disciples or followers. The leader then, exercises power over his followers; they are willing to carry out his wishes. Since administration in such a system also is not based upon any rational principles, but upon the fancies and caprices of the leader, it is likely to lack efficiency.
3 Legal Domination : Law is another name for a rational principle. Hence legal domination is based upon belief in the desirability of rational principles. The application of reason leads to efficiency, hence a system of legal domination is the most efficient. Legal domination is best exemplified by bureaucracy.
CHARACTERISTICS OF BUREAUCRACY
The term bureaucracy refers to the employees of a modern large-scale organisation, such as a government, a joint stock company or an armed force. While the objectives of organisations may be different, their bureaucracies have certain common features:
1 Division of Labour : The work of the organisation is divided among the employees in such a way that each employee has only a certain part of the work to perform. In this way he repeatedly performs a certain job and becomes efficient at it. Since every employee similarly becomes efficient at his particular job, the productivity and efficiency of the organisation as a whole are high. In an office we find that when a case has to be dealt with a certain employee has the duty to find out precedents (earlier cases of the same kind), another has the duty to examine the rules, a third one has to take decision. and so on. Thus each case is dealt with by several persons instead of being dealt with by one person only. Such fragmentation or division of work makes for efficiency.
2 Hierarchy : In every bureaucracy there is a chain of command or hierarchy, so that officials at lower levels are supervised by those at higher levels. Officials at a higher level have a broader mental horizon; they can take into account the problems at various, levels. Since orders of superiors have to be followed by subordinates, difficulties are avoided. In other words, hierarchy makes for vertical coordination. Such coordination makes for efficiency.
3 Written Documents : The management of the modern office is based upon written documents or Files. The executive office is separated from the private affairs of the ruler, the entrepreneur and the employees. Since nothing concerning the office is private, every transaction, decision and order is recorded. Files, punch cards or computer tapes, then constitute the 'memory' of the organisation and help in efficient decision-making in the future.
4 Expertise : Employees are selected on the basis of technical qualifications. Recruitment is made through a competitive examination or (as in the case of doctors or engineers) is based upon examinations already passed. Officials are appointed, not elected, since election does not test technical qualifications.
5 Career System : Employment of a member of a bureaucracy constitutes a career. The employee expects to be promoted from lower position to higher position within the hierarchy of the organisation. Promotion is based upon both merit and seniority. Promotion by seniority ensures that the employee comes to consider the organisation as his own; this makes for both security for the employee and efficiency of the organisation. Promotion by merit also ensures efficiency as employees with talents are promoted to higher levels.
6 Money Salaries : Employees are remunerated by fixed salaries in money. This is different from the payment made in kind in olden days. In addition to the salary, there is generally a provision for a pension or a provident fund to take care of the employee when he grows old and retires from service.
7 Rules : Management follows a set of rules which are made known to all employees and partly also to clients. Rules prevent arbitrariness, since they are equally applicable to everyone. They also make for efficiency, since they help to avoid mistakes.
6 Money Salaries : Employees are remunerated by fixed salaries in money. This is different from the payment made in kind in olden days. In addition to the salary, there is generally a provision for a pension or a provident fund to take care of the employee when he grows old and retires from service.
7 Rules : Management follows a set of rules which are made known to all employees and partly also to clients. Rules prevent arbitrariness, since they are equally applicable to everyone. They also make for efficiency, since they help to avoid mistakes.
8 Impersonality : Officials are expected to carry out their duties without allowing themselves to be influenced by their personal likes and dislikes. Thus an employee may like one client and dislike another; however, he must still treat them similarly in so far as he acts on behalf of the organisation.
9 Efficiency : The bureaucratic organisation is the most efficient form of organisation. Just as a machine is more productive than any other mode of production, so a bureaucracy is more efficient. Both the machine and the bureaucracy, have the advantage of technical superiority. Their efficiency derives from rationality. All the characteristics of bureaucracy mentioned above, lead to rationality and hence efficiency.
CAUSES OF DEVELOPMENT OF BUREAUCRACY :
Bureaucracy is a Modern phenomenon. It has been caused by several factors which are given below:
a. Money Economy
b. Increase in Organizational Size
c. Nature of Administrative Tasks
d. Requirement of Efficiency
e. Market Economy
f. Rule of Law
g. Concentration of the means of Administration
h. Levelling of Social Differences
i. Permanent character of the Bureaucratic Machine
Now we shall discuss these factors one by one.
A. Money Economy : Weber maintains that a developed money economy is necessary before a bureaucratic administration can come into belng. A bureaucratic administration requires a stable system of taxation; the latter in turn requires a money economy. No proper bureaucratic administration could develop in olden days due to the prevalence of barter system and the absence of a money economy.
Bureaucracy is a Modern phenomenon. It has been caused by several factors which are given below:
a. Money Economy
b. Increase in Organizational Size
c. Nature of Administrative Tasks
d. Requirement of Efficiency
e. Market Economy
f. Rule of Law
g. Concentration of the means of Administration
h. Levelling of Social Differences
i. Permanent character of the Bureaucratic Machine
Now we shall discuss these factors one by one.
A. Money Economy : Weber maintains that a developed money economy is necessary before a bureaucratic administration can come into belng. A bureaucratic administration requires a stable system of taxation; the latter in turn requires a money economy. No proper bureaucratic administration could develop in olden days due to the prevalence of barter system and the absence of a money economy.
B. Increase in Organizational Size : The large size of the modern nation state, the joint stock company and the industrialised factory gave rise to bureaucratic administration. A large size necessarily requires division of labour. Technical efficiency requires expertise. Coordination requires hierarchy and rules. Hence bureaucratic administration tends to grow up in every large-scale organisation.
C. Nature of Administrative Tasks : The increasing complexity of civilisation and the consequent demands upon administration also led to bureaucratisation. Thus the growing wealth of the influential strata and the desire for the possession and consumption of goods and services of various kinds led to the performance of new functions requiring new expertise and widespread networks. The increased emphasis on law and order and the demand for functions of social welfare give rise to new agencies and development of old ones. Modern means of transport and communication such as highways, railways, telegraph and telephone, facilitate the functioning of bureaucracies and help bureaucratisation.
D. Requirement of Efficiency : Capitalist market economy is based upon competition and competition compels increasing efficiency among all competitors. Since efficiency requires bureaucratisation, modern capitalist enterprises are unequalled models of strict bureaucratic organisation.
E. Market Economy : A market functions without regard for persons. Hence a market economy necessarily leads to impersonality, which in turn helps bureaucratisation.
F. Rule of Law : The emergence of the conception of the rule of law in modern times has also led to bureaucratisalion. The rule of law means equality before the law or lack of arbitrariness, which is ensured by bureaucratisation to some extent.
However, it is notable that the bureaucracy is the instrument of dictatorship as well as democracies. Also "propertyless masses especially are not served by a formal 'equality before the law'."
However, it is notable that the bureaucracy is the instrument of dictatorship as well as democracies. Also "propertyless masses especially are not served by a formal 'equality before the law'."
G. Concentration of the Means of Administration : The rise of the bureaucratic structure has been associated with the concentration of the means of management in the hands of the master. Thus the bureaucratisation of the army took place after the transfer of army service from the propertied to the property less. Earlier, the soldier was himself the owner of his weapons, horses and dress. It was only after the chief of the company became the owner of the material means of warfare that the army took a bureaucratic form. The same applies to civil administration. Before the rise of the nation state, feudal vassals and tax farmers owned the means of administration. In the nation state these means came to be owned by the central authority resulting in bureaucratisation.
H. Levelling of Social Differences : Bureaucracy has mainly resulted from modern mass democracy, which has involved the levelling of economic and social differences. Mass democracy makes a clean sweep of feudal privileges in administration, and replaces these with equality before the law.
H. Levelling of Social Differences : Bureaucracy has mainly resulted from modern mass democracy, which has involved the levelling of economic and social differences. Mass democracy makes a clean sweep of feudal privileges in administration, and replaces these with equality before the law.
I. Permanent Character of the Bureaucratic Machine : Weber points out that once it is fully established, bureaucracy is among those social structures which are the hardest to destroy. It is a powerful instrument of the firm order and Bureaucracy hence is used to fulfil societal objectives and the objectives of those who happen to capture power.
CONSEQUENCES OF BUREAUCRACY
Weber maintains that the permanent character of the bureaucratic machine makes revolution technically more and more difficult. While the political master may be changed in a coup detat, the bureaucracy continues to rule. In developed countries, party organisations have also become bureaucratised. Bureaucratisation has "very frequently benefited the interests of capitalism". Often bureaucratisation has been carried out in direct alliance with capitalist interests. However, bureaucratisation may also help the interests of shopkeepers and small farmers. Bureaucratisation may also support a state socialist policy that strangles opportunities for private profit.
Weber maintains that the permanent character of the bureaucratic machine makes revolution technically more and more difficult. While the political master may be changed in a coup detat, the bureaucracy continues to rule. In developed countries, party organisations have also become bureaucratised. Bureaucratisation has "very frequently benefited the interests of capitalism". Often bureaucratisation has been carried out in direct alliance with capitalist interests. However, bureaucratisation may also help the interests of shopkeepers and small farmers. Bureaucratisation may also support a state socialist policy that strangles opportunities for private profit.
A bureaucracy is like a precision instrument that can be used by anyone who comes to control it. Bureaucratization interferes with democracy : while the former is ruled by appointed officials, the latter is ruled by elected representatives of the people. A bureaucracy comes to have power of its own. The political master is an amateur, while officials are experts. Apart from expertise, the basis of bureaucratic power is secret information. The bureaucracy even prevents the parliament from obtaining information which is in its possession.
While on the one hand, concentration of power and wealth leads to bureaucratisation, on the other hand, bureaucratisation itself emphasizes centralisation. Thus once the bureaucratic state comes into being it begins to finance and control bodies of local self-government. The central authority exercises control over local bodies through the central bureaucracy.
More and more experts are needed in bureaucratic administration. They also enjoy a distinct social esteem as compared with the governed. Hence more and more people want to get the qualifications necessary for entry into the bureaucracy. The demand for degrees leads to proliferation of examinations. The demand for degrees indicates, not a quest for knowledge, but a hunger for bureaucratic jobs. However, since higher education is costly, the rich are more likely to get high level jobs than the talented ones. In the past, the end sought by education was the 'generalist' rather than the 'specialist'. Since bureaucratization leads to an increasing demand for specialists, expert and specialisad knowledge tends to gain in importance.
According to Weber, more and more bureaucratisation is likely in the future. This would be so both in a market economy and a centrally planned economy. The increasing division of labour and the use of special skills would lead to "dictatorship of the bureaucrats rather then dictatorship of the proletariat. Weber expresses the fear that increasing bureaucratisation is likely to interfere with the autonomy of the individual. More and more people are likely to take up jobs in large-scale organisations and thus get reduced to an automata.
A CRITICAL EVALUATION
Weber's theory of bureaucracy may be said to be classical. It has come to be widely accepted. In particular it has come to be adopted by bureaucrats in justification of their behaviour. However, it bas been subjected to much criticism also. We deal with scope of the criticisms.
Weber's theory of bureaucracy may be said to be classical. It has come to be widely accepted. In particular it has come to be adopted by bureaucrats in justification of their behaviour. However, it bas been subjected to much criticism also. We deal with scope of the criticisms.
1 An Authoritarian Theory : Weber fails to take into account the social system or informal organisation which creates motivation to produce and compete with the management for fulfilling the objectives the onganisation. This criticism has been levelled mainly by the 'Human Relations' school. Weber maintains that efficiency results from rationality deriving from features such as hierarchy, division of labour, rules and impersonality. He fails to refer to the creative urge and fellow feeling of human beings, which are also important factors in any group enterprise. Weber's over emphasis on the formal aspect gives an authoritarian tinge to his theory. Now-a-days, much importance is attached to the self-actualisation of workers and to their participation in decision-making. Both morale and productivity are likely to rise with these new emphasis. Weber has ignored these factors.
2 Dysfunctions of Bureaucracy : Weber maintains that bureaucratic organisation is more efficient than those of other types. However, he fails to notice that it also suffers from certain handicaps. Marx had pointed out that every exploitative relationship leads to alienation of both the exploited and the exploiter, resulting in the loss of their freedom, creativity, humanity and morality. After Weber had enunciated his theory; he was criticised by Merton, Gouldner and Selznick for overlooking what are called the dysfunctions of bureaucracy. In other words, the very element which lead to efficiency in general produce inefficiency in specific instances. Thus, according to Merton the rigorous discipline of bureaucracy induces fear, conservatism, and technicism in the bureaucratic personality. According to Gouldner, work rules increase knowledge about minimum acceptable behaviour, thus reducing performance to the minimum level. According to Selznick, the demand for control by the top hierarchy leads to increased delegation of authority to sub-units, resulting in more emphasis on sub-unit goals than on the total organisational programme.
3 Domination of Bureaucracy : According to Weber, the efficiency of bureaucracy is derived mainly from the specialised knowledge of officials. Hence, he expected that the expert would supersede the generalist at high levels. However, his prediction has not been fulfilled: the generalist official continues to dominate over specialists in almost all large-scale organisations.
4 The Function of Control : For Weber, all the employees of an organisation, including both managers and productive workers, constitute its bureaucracy. He talked of the division of labour and yet failed to notice its most important aspect, namely the distinction between productive work and the exercise of control over it. When we note that the function of administration consists mainly in the exercise of control over specialists and productive workers, we also come to understand the reason for the pre-eminent position of generalists in the organisation. In short, then, Weber failed to distinguish bureaucrats proper from other employees.
5 Bureaucratic Neutrality : Weber's theory suggests that the bureaucracy is a neutral instrument which can be used by anyone who comes to gain control over it. However, experience has shown that the bureaucracy tends to function in the interests of the ruling classes. Weber notes that the bureaucracy comes to have a lot of power of its own and that recruitment to bureaucracy is often made from among the rich, since it is only the rich who can afford the necessary higher education. All this leads to the inference that the upper levels of the bureaucracy belong to the upper classes and tend to function in their interest : the bureaucracy cannot be said to be neutral.
6. Weber's Dilemma : On the one hand Weber maintains that the bureaucracy is an efficient instrument of development, on the other hand he fears that increasing bureaucratisation will interfere with individual autonomy. He is unable to resolve the dilemma nor is he able to offer a solution to this problems like to be caused by bureaucratisation.
SUMMARY
We have discussed Max Weber's conceptualization of bureaucracy. He distinguishes between three types of domination - traditional, charismatic and legal. Weber identifies bureaucracy with the third type of domination i.e., legal. We have ' also discussed the characteristics of bureaucracy as explained by Weber. Finally we have made a critical evaluation of Weber's contribution.
KEY WORDS
Arbitrary : Despotic or dictatorial
Automata : Machine
Caprice : Whimsical or unaccountable change of mind or conduct
Entrepreneur : The owner or manager of a business enterprise who by risk and initiative, attempts to make profits. Feudalism : The legal and social system that evolved in Western Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries in which vassals were protected and maintained by their lords, usually through granting of property and were required to serve under them in war. Market/money Economy : Economy where exchange of goods and services takes place with the use of money.
Precedent : An example or instance used to justify later similar occurrences.
We have discussed Max Weber's conceptualization of bureaucracy. He distinguishes between three types of domination - traditional, charismatic and legal. Weber identifies bureaucracy with the third type of domination i.e., legal. We have ' also discussed the characteristics of bureaucracy as explained by Weber. Finally we have made a critical evaluation of Weber's contribution.
KEY WORDS
Arbitrary : Despotic or dictatorial
Automata : Machine
Caprice : Whimsical or unaccountable change of mind or conduct
Entrepreneur : The owner or manager of a business enterprise who by risk and initiative, attempts to make profits. Feudalism : The legal and social system that evolved in Western Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries in which vassals were protected and maintained by their lords, usually through granting of property and were required to serve under them in war. Market/money Economy : Economy where exchange of goods and services takes place with the use of money.
Precedent : An example or instance used to justify later similar occurrences.
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