1.Describe the bureaucratic form of organization, and discuss its advantages and disadvantages.
A bureaucracy is a rational, systematic, and precise form of organization in which rules, regulations, and techniques of control are specifically defined. Although most big organizations are bureaucratic, small firms can also follow the bureaucratic model. An example might be a small, carefully organized bank.
Principles of Organization in a Bureaucracy
The entire traditional, or classical, school of management contributes to our understanding of bureaucracy. Yet the essence of bureaucracy can be identified by its major characteristics and principles as listed next:
1.Hierarchy of authority. The dominant characteristic of a bureaucracy is that each lower organizational unit is controlled and supervised by a higher one. The person granted the most formal authority (the right to act) occupies the top place of the hierarchy. Exhibit 1 presents a bureaucracy as pyramid-shaped.
2.Unity of command. A classic management principle, unity of command, states that each subordinate receives assigned duties from one superior only and is accountable to that superior.
3.Task specialization. In a bureaucracy, division of labor is based on task specialization. To achieve task specialization, organizations designate separate divisions or departments, such as home mortgages, customer service, and information systems.
4.Responsibilities and job descriptions. Bureaucracies are characterized by rules that define the responsibilities of employees.
5.Definition of managerial responsibility. In a bureaucracy, the responsibility and authority of each manager is defined clearly in writing. Responsibility defined in writing lets managers know what is expected of them and what limits are set to their authority.
6.Line and staff functions. A bureaucracy identifies the various organizational units as being line or staff. Line functions involve the primary purpose of an organization or its primary outputs. In a bank, line managers supervise work related to borrowing and lending money
Advantages and Disadvantages of Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy made modern civilization possible. Without large, complex organizations to coordinate the efforts of thousands of people, we would not have airplanes, automobiles, skyscrapers, universities, vaccines, or space satellites. Many large bureaucratic organizations successfully continue to grow at an impressive pace, such as Wal-Mart and General Electric. A major reason that bureaucracies (or hierarchies) continue to thrive is that they fill the basic need for order and security. People want order, predictability, and structures they can understand, such as getting in touch with the human- resources department with a question about benefits.
Despite the contributions of bureaucracy, several key disadvantages come to mind. Most of all, a bureaucracy can be rigid in handling people and problems. Its well-intended rules and regulations sometimes create inconvenience and inefficiency. For example, requiring several layers of approval to make a decision causes the process to take a long time. Another substantial problem in a pronounced bureaucracy is that many workers pass responsibility to another department for dealing with a problem.
Exhibit 1. The Bureaucratic Form of Organization