The Concept of Bureaucracy in Democracy - Essay Example

Number] Bureaucracy A bureaucracy may be defined as a group that consists of members who are non-officials of the government that implements the rules, laws and functions of their institution. The bureaucracies usually consist of State officials who are sincere and loyal in their work. These members work for the benefits and welfare of their people, rather than being loyal to any of the state leader first. Thus, this is why the bureaucracies are separated from the societies and they operate in a way that involves them to work out through various different forms of administration. The characteristics of the work in bureaucracies may be defined as being impersonal, rule based, goal oriented and promotion of officials only on the base of merit and performance. The concept of bureaucracy goes down to a rich history coming from the Chinese and the Industrial Revolution. Despite the various changes that exist in the power and government forms throughout, the one word that has not lost its power and is still holding the authority to exercise power is ‘bureaucracy’. Even before the term came up officially, many countries followed the concept as it literally means to ‘rule by office’. The Confucianism has a certain philosophical element in the authority of the bureaucracy, as it adds to the early facets of the Chinese culture and social structure (Jacoby 53). In a more modern sequence, there was much from the bureaucracies that we saw in the social culture. The local labour problems had started to be solved by the unions as individual locals. Since the locals themselves lacked confidence and strength to negotiate with the corporations held nationally, the locals were compelled to affiliate nationally and in effect formed a parallel bureaucratic structure. The structure sooner became an entity of its own right as the voice of individual locals was diminished and taken over by the national body. Today, the bureaucracy is perceived as most closely associated with the government, and even lobbyists against excessive government red tape. Social scientists also argue that private bureaucratic development had been developed before the government. Traditionally there were hierarchies of offices defining their different areas of responsibility which was considered as a criterion for a bureaucracy. Another key component for the bureaucracy was to regulate and service other’s property rather than one’s own. With the coming of the Industrial Revolution, the concept of bureaucracy changed. The development took place and with a keen acceleration to the concept of bureaucracies, this development was imbued by the ethical justification rather than the Chinese Confucianism and the Western religions. The new concept provided by the sociologist, Max Weber, introduced the concept of people having a ‘calling’ that provided worldly activity with a significance of religion (Stillman 105). Since then, the markets have changed immensely and thus, many of the professions have also not remained in the context in which they existed in the bureaucracy. Many professions like medicine, law, accounting and engineering have been regulated by authorities to an extent where standardization seems to be broken down and there is more of concern given to individually and personally empower decisions, but yet the uniformity of life and social good is being controlled by the bureaucratic measures. The development of the bureaucracy over the time also holds great importance in order to explain its position in the government today. The concern towards bureaucracy grew over the time and standard too. The original federal government bureaucracy tended to consist only the members of three departments; State, Treasury and War. These were the employees traditionally, while today there are about three million people working as employs in the executive branch. This fact alone shows how the development has taken its pace in the modern times. And however, along with the number of bureaucrats, there have also been a significant advancement in the standards and methods in which they are hired and promoted (Hummel 79). In a more realistic approach as seen by many of the researchers and theorists, the past century was where the bureaucracy had reached perfection. The century seemed to have the form of organization that was an extremely successful result of the thousands of years of trial and error evolution. The key characteristics that were seen in the organizations of the past century contained comprehensive specifications of the job with the details of rights, obligations, responsibilities, authorities and their scope, a system of proper supervision and subordination, the extensive use of written documents, the unity of command, trainings provided for job requirements and other skills, a company manual which was an application consisting of complete rules and work hiring and assigning on the basis of competence and experience. Even though many of these principles may seem to be common and obvious today, bureaucracies are still considered as inefficient, slow and generally bad today (Self 246). It can be observed that at the time of the great sociologist, Max Weber’s time, the bureaucracies were at their best. They were seen as marvellously efficient machines that accomplished their goals unlike today. Bureaucracies had also become some enormously successful forms of organizations such as in family businesses. This had marked the peak of their success. It has a great impact on the society and the nation as a whole as it introduced many concepts of fairness and equality of opportunity amongst the people of the society and thus affecting the social structure positively. The problem with the decline of bureaucracy success can be found in the fact that bureaucracies are generally more suitable for industries that do not involve rapid technology changing or involving technology that has not been understood yet, it is rather suitable for those businesses that involve regular checks and routine tasks that can be specified well in writing and do not involve rapid changing. The growth of bureaucracy today should be to multiply the subordinates, government not rivals. The growth since the Industrial Revolution and the benefits of bureaucracy seem to make it very attractive. The benefits of bureaucracy are that it is a tool to run large organizations and the more the efficiency is, the more chances there will be to lead to a better medical care, traffic control, better economy, and many benefits that would make the life run smoothly. Bureaucracy can also help in protecting scarce resources, allocating wealth more fairly and protecting the weak from the strong. They also help in subdividing the government business and working as the support of the government to manage the inflexible rules of operation. So the bureaucracies are controlled by the administrative actions, as they are the arm of government; as the State holds the people together through administrative centralization. Bureaucracy is the chief control of power of the State and it empowers the urge to extend the power. Thus, the State looks for the powerful pressure to multiply and control the bureaucracies (Dolan 100). Despite the imperfections of bureaucracies today as compared to the ones existing in the previous century, they exist alongside the government in many States and are still valued to an extent. However, they can be successful enough if they are controlled according to the standards of the State. The control of the bureaucracy involves the regulatory use of the national system, having a leader, understanding the people and promoting democracy. It is all about choosing the right strategies to control the bureaucracy. Each strategy has its own advantages and disadvantages and each of them can be applied in various degrees and in different policy areas. Plans and methods are still being adopted by the States to control the bureaucracies and influence their successful control over the society. Work Cited Jacoby, Sanford. Employing Bureaucracy: Mangers, Unions and the Transformation of Work in the 20th Century. NJ: Psychology Press, 2004. Print. Hummel, Ralph. The Bureaucratic Experience: The Post-Modern Challenge. NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2007. Print. ‎ Stillman, Richard. The American Bureaucracy: The Core of Modern Government. USA: Wadsworth, 2004. Print. ‎ Self, Peter. Political Theories of Modern Government: Its Role and Reform .NY: Routledge, 2009. Print. ‎ Dolan, Julie. Representative Bureaucracy: Classic Readings and Continuing Controversies. NY: M.E Sharpe, 2003. Print. ‎ Read More