Max weber (1864-1920) was the initiator of the systematic study on bureaucracy. His observations of the development of the bureaucracy and the formation of the conditions that contributed to it, such as the monetary economics, the emergence of the capitalist system, the industrial revolution, and the Protestant ethic, are references about the topic. With his bureaucratic domination theory, tries to establish the conditions under which the person who holds power justifies its legitimacy and the ways in which the subjects over whom power is exercised submit to it. The legitimation of power is not enough; a certain degree of administrative organization is necessary to allow the exercise of power.
In this Psychology-Online article, we will explain what it consists of and what are the characteristics of Weber's theory of bureaucracy.
Weber's theory of bureaucracy distinguishes 3 principles of legitimation that allow distinguishing the types of domination:
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Charismatic domination: justified by the characteristics of the leader and accepted by the subjects based on his faith and in which, in the event of an administrative organization, which is unstable and indeterminate.
- Traditional domination: legitimizes the power of the boss in the past and the inherited status and gives rise to administrative organizations of the patrimonial of feudal type in which the "officials" depend on the chief and are strongly linked to he.
- Legal domination: it is based on the law as a legitimizing principle based on its rationality and is independent of the leader or boss who enforces them.
Bureaucratization means increasing prevalence of a rational and formal type of organization. "Bureaucratic administration" means the exercise of control based on knowledge (technical competence), a feature that makes it specifically rational.
According to Weber, the bureaucracy must present the following main characteristics or features:
Legal nature of rules and regulations
The bureaucracy is an organization composed of a series of rules and regulations, which are established in writing. It is based on its own legislation that defines and guides what will be the operation and how the administration and bureaucratic organization will be carried out. These rules and regulations are very detailed, precise and rational, as they must be consistent with the initial objectives.
Hierarchy of authority
Legal norms are established by their rationality and the legal body is composed of a consistent system of abstract rules established intentionally; the person who carries out the authority occupies a position whose functions, prerogatives, rights and obligations are delimited and by the reason for his position, holds the power; the person who obeys authority does so only as a member of that group only obeys "the law" the legal precepts, not the individual wills of the bosses.
Maximum division of labor
The bureaucratic organization is characterized by being composed of official positions delimited by rules that determine the sphere of competence of each one of them in accordance with the following principles: delimitation of the obligations to be fulfilled by each position based on the division of the job; provision of the necessary authority for the performance and fulfillment of those obligations; delimitation of the conditions and coercive means for the exercise of that authority. The organization of the positions follows the hierarchical principle so that each position is under the control and supervision of a superior, and each official is responsible to his superior for the decisions and actions of him and those of his subordinates.
Determination of rules
The conduct of officials is governed by a coherent system of technical rules and general standards and consists of the application of these rules to each case and specific situation.
Professionalization and rationality
Qualified training and specialization is required and your selection will be made according to these types of criteria. Employment is considered a career that is developed according to a system of promotions established based on seniority or technical ability and knowledge. It is an award of positions and charges for reasons of competition and not for personal preferences or nepotism.
Impersonality
Administrative acts, decisions, and rules will be formulated and recorded in writing, and the ideal official fulfills his task in a spirit of impersonal formality.
According to Weber, from a technical point of view, experience would universally demonstrate that the pure bureaucratic administrative organization is capable of providing the highest degree of effectiveness. The bureaucratic apparatus developed is exactly the same as the machine with respect to non-mechanical forms of production. Precision, speed, univocality, officiality, continuity, discretion, uniformity, rigorous subordination, saving friction and Objective and personal costs are higher in a severely bureaucratic and especially monocratic administration, served by civil servants specialized.
Weber tried to formulate a ideal type of bureaucratic administration. It is not an empirical model of bureaucratic functioning, nor is it the result of an average of the characteristics of all existing bureaucracies. It is a pure type obtained by abstraction from the most characteristic bureaucratic aspects of all known organizations and whose essential note is rationality and efficiency.
Criticisms of Weber's Ideal Bureaucracy
Criticisms have emerged of the Weberian concept of bureaucracy and the utility of the ideal type. Some aimed at pointing out the insufficiencies of a concept that did not take into account the empirical aspects of specific organizations and forgot their non-rational dimensions; Others reveal the contradictions of the ideal type established by Weber, pointing out that a concrete organization that meets all the characteristics established in it should not necessarily be located at maximum efficiency, because the factors that determine this cannot be established in the abstract.
Criticisms that have revealed the dysfunctional differences that arise from the bureaucratic organization model established by Weber.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
