Monday, April 13, 2009
Weber's Rational Bureaucracy within East Bay Consortium
I will describe Weber's theory about bureaucracy through its preconditions and six institutional features that makes it possible. Then, I will analyze bureaucracy within East Bay Consortium, a non-profit organization dedicated to promote and enable students to attain their goals through higher education.
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Weber’s main theory is focused on rational bureaucracy, which Weber views as a more efficient instrument to pursue many goals than patrimonialism. Under bureaucracy, the officials must view work as a “vocation”, rather than a personal enrichment (p. 198). These officials often strive for a distinct “social esteem” and status, which is enhanced by the amount of education that they received (199-200). Additionally, bureaucratic officials must be “appointed by a superior authority” to a position, instead of being elected (200). The official then has a set “career” within the hierarchal order of the public service (203). Once the official is in this position, “tenure for life” is presupposed and the official receive a “fixed salary” according to one’s status, rank, and length of service, instead of how much work is done(202, 203). The salary of the officials is provided through the “market economy”, which is a precondition of bureaucracy (205). Another precondition of bureaucracy is the concentration of the means of administration, which is necessary to have a coherent bureaucratic structure since they don’t have access to their own means of administration. Whether democracy, a condition where everyone must be treated equally, is a precondition of bureaucracy is still debatable. These five orientations of the official can only occur if there are the preconditions and the six features of the institution.
ReplyDeleteThe following features of bureaucracy enable officials to fulfill their positions. Instead of having “personal trustees, court servants, and table companions” under patrimonialism, bureaucratic officials have “fixed and official jurisdictions” through fixed duties which are regulated (196). Secondly, there is a visible “hierarchy of offices” under bureaucracy, in which every position is clear and elaborated, unlike the unclear hierarchy presented in patrimonialism (197). While there is management through unwritten laws under patrimonialism, there is management through “written documents” under a rational bureaucracy. Files are preserved and maintained in the office for organizational purposes. Fourthly, there is a separation of work and home since the individuals are full-time officials, in contrast to the fusion of work and family found under patrimonialism (197). Whereas loyalty is important in relationships between the members of the organizations in patrimonialism, officials in the office management sector must have “expert training” under rational bureaucracy (198). Lastly, instead of having management through favors and privileges, there is management through general “rules” under bureaucracy.
When examining East Bay Consortium (EBC), all six features of the bureaucracy theorized by Weber are visible. For one, everyone in EBC has ‘fixed duties’ that were stated in the job application before they were hired. As an outreacher, I have an assigned task of presenting information about higher education and financial aid to students and college fairs, in addition to doing office work. Secondly, there is a clear ‘hierarchy of position ‘according to the job title and rank of my co-workers. These positions can have replacement of staff if one decides to quit the job. The individuals who are in the higher ranks are all college graduates who have ‘expert training’ in their field, whereas the individuals in the lower ranks are all college students who are directly helping high school students. EBC is definitely managed through ‘written documents’ to stay organized, whether they are files of employee’s personal information or the information provided by beneficiaries of EBC’s services, since documents are useful for organization. Lastly, EBC is also managed through ‘rules’, which includes the rules of the California Board of Education and EBC’s own rules for the conduct of the staff members. The only differences observable between members of East Bay Consortium and bureaucratic officials that Weber describes is that EBC staff do not have ‘tenure for life’. EBC staff can choose to leave their occupation if they desire to because other people can replace their positions. Overall, Weber’s theory of rational bureaucracy is visible within EBC.