TMA04_B200B Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

TMA04_B200B - Essay Example Weber saw all large organisations as bureaucratic in nature and the need to control and regulate work routines. Emile Durkheim was much less concerned with matters of work and organisation than Weber and Marx (Lincoln, 2004) but did write substantially on culture, which has an indirect significance for the study of organisations. Weber argued that organizations are means of coordinating human activities and what they produce in a systematic way, and emphasized the role of controlling information in developing organisations as well as written rules related to its functioning. In short, his concept of the bureaucratic organisation is characterised by a clear hierarchical structure, rules and regulations, division of labour and specialisation etc. In a bureaucracy, roles and relationships are clearly defined, and it is based on a legal-rational type of authority derived â€Å"from the belief in the legitimacy of law† (Nickinovich, 2000, p. 267). Also in a bureaucracy, offices are clearly specified and officials are appointed on the basis of a contract being subject to a unified control and disciplinary system (Salaman reader, p. 98-99). Weber regarded bureaucracy as â€Å"the most efficient way of running large organisations† (Buchanan, 1997, p. 366) because of its rational basis, and likened them to sophisticated machines. He also associated it with precision, reliability and speed. It is the standardisation in terms of rules and procedures to govern employee behaviour and decisions taken according to set criteria, that gives bureaucracy its strength. This is because â€Å"rules serve to direct individual action in ways that promote the technical efficiency of the organisation† (Nickinovich, 2000, p. 268). Contrary to Weber regarding bureaucracy as efficient, in practice it is also considered to be inefficient, so much so that the term ‘bureaucracy’ now has some negative connotations as it did