Bureaucracy and Scientific Management - Essay Example

Bureaucracy In today’s society, bureaucracy is an organization model and is an inevitable part of it. Bureaucracy is a theory proposed by Max Weber and most countries has an overdeveloped bureaucratic apparatus inherited as a part of its legacy. Weber was by no means a partisan of bureaucracy but he was largely concerned by the rapid spread of this system throughout the state and business institutions were the society was becoming a iron cage ((Grey 2000, pg23) . Bureaucracy limits the freedom of human and it is a formation of a static institution. It is a technical administration and social structure with political ideology and theoretical framework. However it poses severe limitation on individual freedom and idea of republican sovereignty. In a bureaucratic society there is regulation, hierarchy, specialization of tasks, personal and professional life. In a bureaucratic society there is division of labor and competition. There is a legal ideology and many societies have large bureaucratic administration system to manage their common affairs. The countries like India, China, Japan, France and Germany has developed a specialized system of bureaucracy in response to class struggle and monarchy. The maintenance of property relation, production system and labor system are all part of bureaucracy .Bureaucracy is a part of political system and it owes to the existence of a civil society .Bureaucracy is an integral part of many societies and it has its own benefits and harmfulness to the society. Benefits of bureaucracy Bureaucracy being a system created for a civil society has lot of benefits to offer to a society .In a bureaucracy, the administrative system of a society is in an organized and strategic manner. There is a hierarchy of power and responsibility and there is no misunderstanding regarding the authorization of a person. In such a case people in a society can approach the right person to resolve their issue. Also, in bureaucracy there is fair chance to people and it discourages favoritism. Bureaucrats have good education and responsibility which means they can serve the people in a society in a better way. Much social process in a society takes place with the help of bureaucrats and it makes many areas of government work in a systematic manner. They work to promote public interest and like every day heroes. A society has people from various class, race and religion and in bureac there is no individual difference and people can expect equality. Bureaucracy promises fairness and equality and this is the best part. For a complex industrial society, bureaucratic way of government is the best. It is rational and impartial and imparts best opportunity and prosperity to people. A well organized rational bureaucracy is the secret behind a successful country. In bureaucracy, everybody has a role and specialized task to follow. In bureaucracy, the government officials are co – ordinate to work for the betterment of society. It reduces favoritism to a great level and offers uniformity in government procedures. It also makes the government rules and policies explicit to the society and transparent. It allows the public to meet their needs demands in an efficient and timely manner. The bearcats guide the public in the right manner and results in flexible and responsive administration of public governance. In bureaucracy ,there is good interaction between government and common men. And people in a industrial society get opportunities to flourish and prosper .According to Hassard(2012,pg 1431 - 1461) “ The Hawthorne plant, which officially opened in 1907, soon developed a reputation within American industry as a champion of ‘welfare capitalism’, or the practice of businesses providing welfare-like services to employees. Good governance of a country is only possible with a bureaucracy where there is a hierarchy of responsible people form top level to bottom. In bureaucracy, the maintenance of law and authority is possible throughout the country in a systemic manner. It can give way to innovative, progressive and reformative. Bureaucracy also brings in a sense of dedication, patriotism, and feeling of involvement and sacrifice for public welfare among public service officials. In such governance there would be surveillance on corruption of private organization and other criminal acts of public. The bureaucrats are appointed for the welfare of the society and them in contact with the people work towards a better society and country. However bureaucracy has potential harmfulness which can make the functioning of a society in danger. The bureaucracy has the problem of being patronage where the president selects his known people as officials which can grant them status quo mentality. Then there can be a lot of abuse of power. If such a thing is exposed to public, then there can be distrust among constituents. Also many bureaucratic positions impose pressure on people at many levels of professional working. According to ( Moore,1947,pg .351-357) “ The industrial sociologist in their study of "practical" or "applied" raise problems that can be summarized as they relate to the person in an academic position” Another harmful feature of bureaucracy is red tapes and this can impede the purpose of the organization. In such a case the public can face problem in getting their thing done. Red – tapes is a social evil and countries like India and Pakistan has red – tapes on a large scale.In bureaucracy there is often bribery and public can be heavily charged for government related activities. Sometimes people have to pay a lot of money to officials and need to wait for long period to get papers sanctioned and services available like pension schemes, social benefits or government employment. In bureaucracy a large amount of power is invested with officials and they many a times exploit it and harass the society. Many bearcats come under the influence of business corporate and work for their interests which make the public look foolish. Money becomes a prime motive of administrators and public can look unimportant or ignored. Also in bureaucracy, the decision making process can be a real slow down and people can feel frustrated in the whole process. Since in this kind of system there is a strict chain of command and decision making may take time. In bureaucratic government the government tends to waste the tax revenue. . Many a times, the tax revenue may not used for the benefit of the public. In countries like India, Pakistan and Nigeria, the bureaucrats built wealth with public money .So it is a way of manipulating the public in many countries. And many bearcats are not devoted to their service and take advantage of their position. They come late for work and many take leave when they need it and can even take government rules for granted. In bureaucracy, there is high chance that official subvert the social values and distort the structure and functioning of a society. They reign over the law and rules and create their own rules and way of governmental working. . There can be inadequate staffing, inadequate flow of information and lack of discipline in this kind of governance. Also there can be an undesirable relationship between the officials and public. Most of the bureaucrats are arrogant and haughty and discerns common men. The ethos of bureaucracy is office is anti- ethical to the existence of an integral and fair society and authentic moral personality and hence it can result in moral failure ( Gay, 2000, pg .8). So such disadvantage can make people think that bureaucracy can harm the society in many ways. Bureaucracy has been introduced in governing a country for an organized and smooth functioning of administrative system. In such governance the public services are functioned with aid of administrative appointed in an organization in a hierarchical manner. There is functions and authority for each official and they have the main purpose of serving the public. The society depends upon these bureaucrats to get their needs met. The bureaucrats work in co – ordination and co – operation with each other to serve the public. They have a motive of devotions, patriotism and dedication to serve their society. A bursar government allows equality and fairness in a society. However, in many countries like India, Pakistan, China and African countries bureaucrats have been proved to be manipulative and corruptive. The bureaucrats from top to bottom level practice high level of corruption and leave public helpless. They use their power and authority to harass the common men and take advantage of their professional status to acquire wealth. Many a time in bursar system there is lot of foul play among political people and hence the public interest remains in dark. Bearcats work in their favor rather than in the favor of the society. The wealth people and industrialists are allowed to perform malpractices and illegal affairs in the shadow of bureaucrats which shows no benefit to the society. Bureaucracy in itself is not a bad concept, however, many a times the bureaucrats having vested with authority and power get mislead and work for the destruction of the society rather than its prosperity. References Hassard, J.S, 2012. Rethinking the Hawthorne Studies: The Western Electric research in its. Human Relations, 65/11, 1431-61. Grey, C, 2000. Bureacracy and Scientific Management. 1st ed. Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Gay, P.D, 2000. In Praise of Bureaucracy. 1st ed. London: Sage Publications Moore, W.E, 1947. Current Issues in Industrial Sociology. American Sociological Review, 12/6, 651-657. Read More