Assignment 1 Advantages And Disadvantages

Of Bureaucratic Systems

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 The aim and purpose of this essay is to discuss what bureaucracy is, why it is used in
organisations, to discuss the major advantages and disadvantages of having a bureaucratic
system in the past and the present for organisations, and to argue and discuss whether
bureaucracies are appropriate to use in the workplace today in the pursuit of being effective
and efficient in the management of organisations. Bureaucracy was a management system
created by Max Weber in the early 20 th century which was designed to increase the
effectiveness and efficiency within an organisation. The purpose of bureaucracy is aimed at
regulating how tasks are performed and to increase the ability of managers to organise,
coordinate and control work within organisations. To this day there are still organisations using a
bureaucratic system and this essay will discuss whether this system is able to help organisations

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in being successful in today’s organisations. This essay will provide a discussion about

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bureaucracy over two sections. Section one will provide a definition and summary of

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bureaucracy with reference to the articles provided. Section two will include a discussion about

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the major advantages and disadvantages of bureaucracy, the impacts it has on managers and
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employees, discuss how bureaucracy may be viewed differently today from the past and will
also discuss whether bureaucracies may or may not be relevant in today’s management of
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organisations. In support of these arguments the information will be based on the views of
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Adler (1999), Balle (1999), Dwyer (2006), Hales (2002), Hodgson (2004), Johnson, Wood,
Brewster and Brookes (2009), Sorensen (2007), Stazyk, Geordel (2010), Walton (2005) and
Waddell, Jones and George (2011).
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Bureaucracy as Waddell, Jones and George (2011) suggest is a management system for
organisations which aims at increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of any organisation.
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According to Balle (1999), bureaucratic systems are something that organisations can’t work
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without and suggests that it is the only way to deal with large amounts of employees within an
organisation. He also mentions that it is the only way to deal with mass problems and mentions
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that ‘it is only as good as the people who use it’. This means that those who follow bureaucracy
the way it was intended to be implemented should have good results of increases in
effectiveness and efficiency, however, those who don’t follow it properly will fail in the attempt
of being successful, because it must be followed step by step for it to be effective. As suggested

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 by Waddell, Jones and George (2011) there are five characteristics of Max Weber’s bureaucracy
system which aim at increasing effectiveness and efficiency within an organisation. These five
characteristics include division of labour, hierarchy of authority, formal rules and procedures,
impersonality and promotion and selection based on merit. As Balle (1999) and Waddel, Jones
and George (2011) suggest, the division of labour means that each worker specialises in their
own trade. For example, in a vehicle manufacturing company each worker would specialise in
their own car part. One worker would work on doors, another would work on side panels,
someone else would focus on engine parts and another would work on the interior of the car.
By working like this each worker would know their job well and become experts in what they
do, this is what is meant by the division of labour and specialisation because each employee has

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a different specific job which they must know well to be efficient. Hierarchy of authority is the

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chain of command in organisations where each superior exercises control over his or her

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subordinates. For example top managers have control over middle managers and middle

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managers have control over first line managers. Then there are formal rules and procedures
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which all managers and employees must follow when working for the organisation. For
example, it may be compulsory for each employee to record exactly what they have done during
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the week at their work, as a form of monitoring each employees input. Impersonality basically
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means that rules and regulations are priority number one to the organisation instead of the
needs and emotions of employees. This means that anyone may have their job taken off them
at any time whether it is because they don’t meet the standard required by the organisation or
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because the organisation may be changing its structure and therefore don’t require as many
employees. Also, organisations may outsource jobs where it would be less costly for them to
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operate. Ford Australia have done this, they have announced an end to local manufacturing of
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their vehicles in Australia because it is cheaper for them to manufacture overseas therefore
generating more profit for the company providing that their product sells. This is an example of
an organisation putting its needs before that of their employees. Because of this there have
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been many unemployed because of the company downsizing and there will be even more when
they leave Australia. Dwyer (2006) suggets that bureaucracy was all about speed, clarity,
regularity, reliability and efficiency through the division of labour, hierarchical supervision and

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 rules and regulations. Dwyer (2006) also suggests that Weber said that in order to be effective,
authority must be believable and acceptable through a process called legitimation which had
three principles and these were to be charismatic, traditional and rational. So the intention of a
bureaucratic system was to increase effectiveness and efficiency, however, bureaucracy also has
its disadvantages which impact organisations, its managers and employees but can also be to
the advantage of an organisation if applied correctly.

Dwyer (2006) suggests that bureaucratic structures are admired for the impact that it has on
efficiency, however, he suggests that is well known for its negative impacts also. According to
Dwyer (2006), when bureaucratic structures form they aim towards only satisfying the need to
survive. He suggests that those working in the organisation become ‘programmed’ in other

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words employees don’t have a say and they become ‘powerless victims’ according to Dwyer

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(2006). This is bad for organisations because this can lead to workers losing their motivation to

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work and this can decrease the organisations efficiency due to the loss of interest with
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employees. For employees to work well and be motivated they must feel comfortable and be
happy within their work environment to be able to work to their full potential. Dwyer (2006)
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suggests that bureaucratic structures can sometimes be dysfunctional to organisations

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especially when there are bureaucrats who have been taught to strictly follow the rules of
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bureaucracy because when certain problems arise they can be inflexible to be able to solve the
problems because they haven’t been trained to deal with such problems. So this puts the
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organisation at a disadvantage because bureaucrats are unfamiliar on how to deal with issues
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which they haven’t been taught and are not able to improvise when problems arise. Dwyer
(2006) suggests that due to the inflexibility of bureaucrats, the displacement of goals may occur.
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He suggests that bureaucrats may lose vision of the organisations goals which in affect will
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decrease the effectiveness of the organisation and mentions this is why bureaucrats are seen as
cold and unsympathetic. Dwyer (2006) suggests that even though the aim of bureaucratic
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structures is to increase efficiency and effectiveness it always seems to become dysfunctional.

However, according to Balle (1999) there is nothing wrong with having a bureaucratic system, he
suggests that it is the only system that can deal with large organisations. Balle (1999) suggests
that if operated correctly, bureaucracies are efficient. Balle (1999) suggests that bureaucracy

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 works through specialisation, standardisation and co-ordination. He suggests that specialisation
allows each worker to learn about their trade and as a result allows them to produce more,
better quality and cheaper products and suggests that bureaucracy is the right organisational
system which can deal with large organisations and diversity. He suggests that standardisation
works because it reduces individual differences so that everyone fits in. Balle (1999) also
suggests that co-ordination is critical in making bureaucracy work, even though it has a cost. He
suggests that creating centralised hierarchies covers co-ordination and suggest that bureaucracy
works if it is followed correctly. Balle (1999) suggests that bureaucracy aimed at to hiding
variability with workers so that everyone appeared to be equal, this according to Weber’s
theory increased efficiency. Balle (1999) suggests that a problem that may arise with a

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bureaucratic system is that when employees are given roles and procedures to follow they tend

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to resist these roles and procedures which isn’t good when an organisation is trying to increase

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its effectiveness and efficiency. According to Balle (1999) with the development of professional

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roles related to employee functions it can limit individuality. Individuality is what most workers
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in today’s organisations have, so it would be difficult for employees to adapt to the system when
its intention is to remove individuality. Another problem suggested by Balle (1999) is when
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there are too many rules in an organisation employees tend to become confused, rules can be
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too complex to follow and employees may end up just ignoring them, he also suggests that
bureaucracy works but slowly and mentions that with a bureaucratic system information can
become ‘distorted’. Balle (1999) states that there is a lack of faith with bureaucracy and
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immediately people bypass it rather than following it because they assume that it will not work.
According to Balle (1999) managers aren’t doing their jobs properly because there are
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employees who want to work and do a good job but they are not sure how to. He suggests that
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managers don’t know how to manage or aren’t doing their job at all. Because of the failures
involved with bureaucratic systems employees tend to lose interest in their work because
everything is a slow process and employees tend to lose patience because all matters need to
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be addressed by management before any decisions are made, they can’t act on any matters
unless they are told to do so by management. This is where bureaucracy is misunderstood.
Bureaucratic systems do work, however, in order for them to work people must follow it which

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 they don’t and this is how it has failed with many. Hales (2002) suggests that organisations steer
away from bureaucratic structures, however, it still ends up being a bureaucracy but different
because there is still some control from management. Johnson, Wood, Brewster and Brookes
(2009) suggest that bureaucracies fail because organisations that are flexible and adaptable are
demanded instead of bureaucracies. Johnson, Wood, Brewster and Brookes (2009) suggest that
it is important for employees to be empowered in order to have a successful organisation. They
suggest that it is important to give employees freedom within the organisation so they can learn
to make good decisions without consulting management. However, employees may not always
make the right decisions and may need guidance but they suggest that ‘post bureaucracy’ is
starting to take place due to bureaucratic system breakdowns in the past. Hodgson (2004)

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suggests that Weber’s form of bureaucracy is coming to an end and post bureaucracy is taking

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over, this is because many modern day organisations require flexibility and everyone in the

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organisation must work together with decision making to take the organisation forward.

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Hodgson (2004) suggests that post bureaucracy can be achieved without decreasing the
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discipline, predictability and control of Weber’s form of bureaucracy and suggests that both
bureaucracy and post bureaucracy can work together. According to Stazyk, Geordel (2010) many
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scholars have concentrated too much on the dysfunctions caused by bureaucracy instead of
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focusing on how to make bureaucracy work. That means getting hierarchies right and putting
more trust in managers is what many organizations haven’t done. Walton (2005) suggests that
bureaucracy is one of the hardest systems to destroy once it has been established. When
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bureaucracy was first founded it was considered the best management system to increase
effectiveness and efficiency. However, today some organisations are trying to steer away from
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bureaucracy because they think that it doesn’t work but this is because it is not followed
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properly. With sides both for and against bureaucracy this writers opinion is that all
organisations must have a good balance between bureaucracy and also empowering employees
and giving them some responsibilities, however, employees must be trained to be able to make
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decisions.

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 In conclusion even though there are people against having a bureaucratic system in
organisations it can have a lot of benefits to organisations in that it increases effectiveness and
efficiency and can help an organisation’s competitiveness, however, bureaucracy must be
followed properly in order to achieve this and this is something many organisations haven’t
done and this is why they have experienced failure. When followed properly though it has given
efficiency and effectiveness gains to organisations. This writer’s opinion is that organisations
should have a bureaucratic system but also be able to be flexible and train employees so they
can make decisions as well. Being that the cost of having a lot of managers to co-ordinate an
organisation is expensive, organisations should train their employees so that they can make the
same decisions as managers or at least be able to assess problems and come up with a solution

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to present to managers. Bureaucracy is a good management system, however, it must be

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followed correctly and must have some flexibility so managers and employees are able to come

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up with solutions when problems arise.

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 REFERENCES

Adler, PS 1999, ‘Building better bureaucracies’ Academy of Management Executive, vol. 13, no. 4, pp 36-
47.

Balle, M 1999, ‘Making bureaucracy work’, Journal of Management in Medicine, vol. 13, no. 3, pp 190-
200.

Dwyer, RJ 2006, ‘Formal organizations in contemporary society’, Management Decision, vol. 43, no. 9, pp
1232-1248.

Hales, C 2002, ‘”Bureaucracy-lite” and Continuities in Managerial Work’, British Journal of Management,
vol 13, pp 51-66.

Hodgson, DE 2004, ‘Project Work: The Legacy of Bureaucratic Control in the Post-Bureaucratic
Organization’, Organisation, January, vol. 11(1), pp 81-100.

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Johnson, P, Wood, G, Brewster, C, Brookes, M 2009, ‘The Rise of Post-Bureaucracy: Theorists’ Fancy or

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Organizational Praxis?’, International Sociology, pp 24-37.

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Sorensen, JB 2007, ‘Bureaucracy and Entrepreneurship: Workplace Effects on Entrepreneurial Entry’,

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Administrative Science Quarterly, 52, pp 387-412.
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Stazyk, EC, Geordel, HT 2010, ‘The Benefits of Bureaucracy: Public Managers’ Perceptions of Political
Support, Goal Ambiguity, and Organizational Effectiveness’, Journal of Public Administration Research
and Theory, 21, pp 645-672.
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Waddell, D, Jones, GR, George, JM 2011, Contemporary Management, 2 nd edn, McGraw-Hill Australia Pty
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Limited, Sydney.

Walton, EJ 2005, ‘The Persistence of Bureaucracy: A Meta-analysis of Weber’s Model of Bureaucratic

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Control’, Organization Studies, 26(4), pp 569-600.

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