Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Bureaucracy and the Men's Story Project
Abstract: Six features common to bureaucratic institutions remove the personalistic elements of human interaction. These ensure that the bureaucrat knows his place in the system. As long as the bureaucrat knows his place, he can treat his office as a vocation (W198). None of this can come into being, however, without four preconditions. The Men's Story Project (MSP) is not a rational bureaucracy. Ultimately, the flexibility that results from Weber's patrimonial qualities is essential to the maintenance of the project while it is in its starting stages.
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For Weber, the ideal type of bureaucracy is the opposite of patrimonialism. Instead of operating through personalistic ties and human emotion, bureaucracy operates exclusively through rational, calculable elements (W216).
ReplyDeleteSix features common to bureaucratic institutions remove the personalistic elements of human interaction. Operating in a hierarchy of positions, expertly trained bureaucrats oversee fixed jurisdictions that are managed through rules and documents (W196-8). They are full-time workers; work and home are separated (W198). Management through rules and documents precludes management through custom and the bestowal of individual privileges and favor, which, for Weber, are common in patrimonialism. The separation of home and work prevents love and family matters from interfering with business, and expert training along with fixed jurisdiction and a clearly defined hierarchy ensures that every bureaucrat knows his place in the system.
As long as the bureaucrat knows his place, he can treat his office as a vocation (W198). However, five incentives are necessary to ensure that he does (W199-203). First, the bureaucrat must be appointed, rather than elected. He must be accountable to his superiors, who control his career advancement. He must receive social esteem for his position, and the bureaucrat should further have tenure and receive a salary commensurate with position. Without these elements, an official might not treat his office as a vocation and instead exploit it for personal gain.
None of this can come into being, however, without four preconditions. Distinct from officials in the previous order, bureaucrats are expropriated from the means of administration. They do not collect taxes; they receive a salary paid in money (W204). If the salary is paid in-kind, an equivalent of tax farming becomes more likely and the bureaucracy will change into a different type of system (W205). Bureaucracy also requires law that operates via rational, abstract principles. According to Weber, this law emerged in Rome, and it only exists in the West (W218-9). Finally, bureaucracy requires democracy (W224). All people are treated equally before the law. "Mass democracy makes a clean sweep of the feudal, patrimonial, and--at least in intent--the plutocratic privileges in administration" (W224-5).
The Men's Story Project (MSP) is not a rational bureaucracy. The project is still very much in its formative stages, so there is no fully fixed jurisdiction. The founder, Josie, acts as an executive director would in an incorporated nonprofit organization, but the office of executive director is not defined for the MSP. Each team member has to perform duties outside the scope of his/her title because the team is small and the needs are many. Each person has a substantial workload, but as a result tacitly understands the workings of the organization.
The hierarchy of positions is more defined. In order to clarify roles, we have recently distributed titles, such as Berkeley Site Director (me) and Stage Manager. Everything at UC Berkeley goes through the Site Director, and everything about the project in general goes through the founder. Prior to the distribution of titles, it was as difficult for team members to take initiative on projects and it was easier to accidentally forget about tasks. With the distribution of titles and crystallization of a hierarchy, there is a clear structure of accountability even though the duties assigned to each person are flexible.
Management by documents and rules is inconsistent. There are currently no by-laws, but most project coordination happens through email, so there is a permanent record of most project proceedings. Further, at each meeting, a volunteer will take minutes and distribute them. Any rules that project members follow emerge, and are maintained, through practice. Reciprocity is crucial to this process. These processes work well because the working group is small, but when the MSP expands, rules may have to be codified to ensure continued coordination.
The places and continuity of work match Weber's patrimonialism, while the methods of recruitment are mixed. Each team member works from wherever is convenient. Home and cafés are the most common work sites. Because this is a volunteer-run project, it is not a full-time commitment. However, as in bureaucracy, there are experts on the project staff. The founder is a public health post-doctorate researcher, and a few professors are involved, too. In comparison, I am directing MSP operations at Berkeley, but I am not a professional manager, and neither have I taken a class entirely devoted to gender studies. One might say I am an expert on the MSP itself. I became involved with the UC Berkeley operations on the basis of prior performances in, and production assistance for, the MSP, and I became director because I spearheaded significant aspects of the campus initiative. Even if I am an expert on the MSP, I developed this expertise through loyalty to the project, the director, and everyone else involved. Ultimately, the flexibility that results from Weber's patrimonial qualities is essential to the maintenance of the project while it is in its starting stages.
I see how Weber's patriominal qualities do play a role in the MSP and are essential to the maintenance, however, I believe that the bureaucratic features also play a role in the maintenance of the project, for example the hierarchy of positions, even though sometimes work outside the title needs to be done, they are imperative for efficiency.
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