Bureaucracy: Theory and Implications in Modern Society

Running head: BUREAUCRACY
Bureaucracy
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BUREAUCRACY 2
Bureaucracy
Introduction
Bureaucratic theory of management was developed by Max Weber. The theory
provided a way of managing many people who must work together. According to Bernstein
(2017), many organisations in the contemporary society still depend on the theory for their
functioning. This includes universities and governments. In bureaucracy, employees are hired
based on their competence. The salaries are also determined through the position a person
holds. Promotion is done depending the excellence of service that an individual portrays. The
roles of each position are clearly defined so that every employee understands their role very
well. Modern scholars have argued that this theory should not be used due to disadvantages
such as inflexibility. The theory is however used in many organisations to guide the
operations. This paper is going to focus on the bureaucratic theory and how it has impacted
social life. this will be done through looking in to the specific components of the theory.
The first feature of the bureaucratic theory is that there is an administrative class.
These are usually full-time employees and are employed based on competency. These
persons are foreign to the company in the sense that they are not the owners of the company.
Weber suggested that the owners should not necessarily be the managers or the
administrators. Instead, people who are qualified in carrying out administrative duties should
occupy those positions based on the competence. This has been applied in most of the
organisations in the contemporary society. Since the goal of any business venture is to
maximize profits, many organisations hire those people who are qualified to occupy the
administrative posts. The result is usually that the business is likely to operate optimally and
compete favourably. In situations where the owners occupy the administrative/managerial
role without the appropriate expertise, the businesses are usually at the danger of making

BUREAUCRACY 3
losses and being pushed out of market. It can therefore be concluded that the theory has had
important implications especially in the business world.
The theory also stipulates that organisations should have a hierarchy. This feature
proposes that they are various positions which are ranked in a descending scale from the top
to the bottom (Waring, 2016). In organisations where bureaucratic management is used, the
offices follow such a hierarchy. This means that every lower office is subject to control by a
higher office. The hierarchy is very well organised. Such a hierarchy is very important in
ensuring that roles are clearly defined and that is proper supervision and flow of activities. If
all individuals were to relate at the same level, then there would likely be chaos and
confusion in the organisations. This is because it would be practically impossible for one to
give the other orders/instructions. The bureaucracy solves this however by providing a
system where power is vested at different levels. If something is going wrong in lower levels,
a higher level can investigate into the issue and give appropriate directions. This has been
very important in helping maintain order in organisations. The order has then created an
enabling environment for the business to thrive and maximize profits.
The other feature of the bureaucratic management is that there is division of labour.
This means that the employees are hired based on their specializations. In the modern society,
there are many speciality professions (Van, 2014). To ensure that the business performs
optimally, the organisation employs people to occupy jobs that they have specialised at. The
assumption is that every individual can best perform if they roles that are delegated to them
rhyme with their area of specialisation. For this reason, it is hard to find an individual who
performs many roles in a bureaucratic management. This also ensures that employees live in
harmony with each other since each understands what they are supposed to be doing and
therefore there is no unnecessary confusion and overstepping of boundaries between roles. In
addition to ensuring harmony and peaceful coexistence among the workers, division of labour