bureaucracy

(noun)

Structure and regulations in place to control activity. Usually in large organizations and government operations.

Related Terms

  • bureaucratic control
  • iron cage
  • hierarchy

(noun)

A complex means of managing life in social institutions that includes rules and regulations, patterns, and procedures that are designed to simplify the functioning of complex organizations.

Related Terms

  • bureaucratic control
  • iron cage
  • hierarchy

Examples of bureaucracy in the following topics:

  • Bureaucratic Organizations: Weber

    • Weber's bureaucracy focused on creating rules and regulations to simplify complex procedures in societies and workplaces.
    • Weber's ideas on bureaucracy stemmed from society during the Industrial Revolution.
    • An example of bureaucracy would be the forms used to pay income taxes.
    • In a bureaucracy, career advancement depends on technical qualifications judged by an organization, not individuals.
    • Weber did not see any alternative to bureaucracy and predicted that this would lead to an "iron cage," or a situation in which people would not be able to avoid bureaucracy, and society would thus become increasingly more rational.
  • Considering the Organizational Life Cycle

    • In this situation, decision-making must be enabled and bureaucracy should be minimized.
    • Companies continue to expand in the formalization stage, requiring increased bureaucracy and more levels of authority to approve a given decision.
  • Classical Versus Behavioral Perspectives

    • Another leader in the classical perspective of management, Max Weber, created the bureaucracy theory of management, which focuses on the theme of rationalization, rules, and expertise for an organization as a whole.
    • Weber's theory also focuses on efficiency and clear roles in an organization, meaning that management in organizations should run as effectively as possible with as little bureaucracy as possible.
  • The Contingency Viewpoint

    • The contingency approach claims that past theories, such as Max Weber's bureaucracy theory of management and Taylor's scientific management, are no longer practiced because they fail to recognize that management style and organizational structure are influenced by various aspects of the environment, known as contingency factors.
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