102,815
edits
Changes
Created page with 'File:lighterstill.jpgright|frame ==Origin== Rule by Bureau - French bureau writing-desk, office, < bureau coarse woollen stuff, baize (for c...'
[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:Bureaucracies_2.jpg|right|frame]]
==Origin==
Rule by Bureau - French bureau [[writing]]-desk, office, < bureau coarse woollen stuff, baize (for covering writing-desks)
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century 1818]
==Definitions==
*1a : a body of nonelective [[government]] officials
:b : an [[administrative]] [[policy]]-making [[group]]
*2: government characterized by specialization of [[functions]], adherence to fixed rules, and a [[hierarchy]] of [[authority]]
*3: a [[system]] of [[administration]] marked by officialism, red tape, and proliferation
==Description==
The [[purpose]] of a '''bureaucracy''' is to successfully implement the [[actions]] of an [[organization]] of any size (but often associated with large [[entities]] such as [[government]], corporations, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organization non-governmental organizations]), in [[achieving]] its purpose and [[mission]], and the bureaucracy is tasked to determine how it can achieve its purpose and mission with the greatest possible [[efficiency]] and at the least cost of any [[resources]].
[[Modern]] bureaucracies arose as the [[government]] of [[states]] grew larger during the [[modern]] period, and especially following the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution Industrial Revolution]. As the authors David Osborne and Ted Gaebler pointed out in 1993:
<blockquote>It is hard to imagine today, but a hundred years ago bureaucracy meant something positive. It connoted a rational, efficient method of organization – something to take the place of the arbitrary exercise of power by authoritarian regimes. Bureaucracy brought the same logic to government work that the assembly line brought to the factory. With the hierarchical authority and functional a specialization, they made possible the efficient undertaking of large complex tasks.– Osborne, David and Gaebler, Ted. Reinventing Government</blockquote>
==Weberian bureaucracy==
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber Max Weber] described many [[ideal]] types of [[public]] [[administration]] and [[government]] in his magnum opus [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_and_Society Economy and Society] (1922). His critical [[study]] of the bureaucratisation of [[society]] became one of the most enduring parts of his work. It was Weber who began the studies of ''bureaucracy'' and whose works led to the popularization of this term. Many aspects of [[modern]] [[public]] [[administration]] go back to him, and a [[classic]], [[hierarchically]] [[organized]] civil service of the Continental type is called "Weberian civil service". As the most [[efficient]] and [[rational]] way of [[organizing]], bureaucratization for Weber was the key part of the [[rational]]-[[legal]] [[authority]], and furthermore, he saw it as the key [[process]] in the ongoing rationalization of the Western [[society]].
<blockquote>Bureaucratic administration means fundamentally domination through knowledge – Max Weber</blockquote>
Weber listed several precondititions for the [[emergence]] of the ''bureaucracy''. The [[growth]] in space and [[population]] being [[administered]] and the growth in [[complexity]] of the administrative tasks being carried out and the [[existence]] of a monetary [[economy]] resulted in a need for a more [[efficient]] [[administrative]] [[system]]. Development of [[communication]] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation transportation] [[technologies]] made more efficient administration possible but also in [[popular]] demand, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratization democratization] and rationalization of culture resulted in demands that the new system treats everybody [[equal]]ly.
Weber's [[ideal]] ''bureaucracy'' is characterized by [[hierarchical]] [[organization]], delineated lines of [[authority]] in a fixed area of [[activity]], action taken on the basis of and recorded in written rules, bureaucratic officials need expert [[training]], rules are implemented by neutral officials, [[career]] advancement depends on technical qualifications judged by [[organization]], not [[individuals]].
While [[recognizing]] ''bureaucracy'' as the most [[efficient]] [[form]] of [[organization]], and even indispensable for the [[modern]] [[state]], Weber also saw it as a threat to [[individual]] [[freedoms]], and the ongoing bureaucratization as leading to a "polar night of icy [[darkness]]", in which increasing rationalization of human life traps [[individuals]] in the aforementioned "iron cage" of bureaucratic, rule-based, [[rational]] [[control]]. In order to counteract bureaucrats, the system needs entrepreneurs and politicians.
==See also==
*'''''[[Administration]]'''''
[[Category: Sociology]]
[[Category: General Reference]]
==Origin==
Rule by Bureau - French bureau [[writing]]-desk, office, < bureau coarse woollen stuff, baize (for covering writing-desks)
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century 1818]
==Definitions==
*1a : a body of nonelective [[government]] officials
:b : an [[administrative]] [[policy]]-making [[group]]
*2: government characterized by specialization of [[functions]], adherence to fixed rules, and a [[hierarchy]] of [[authority]]
*3: a [[system]] of [[administration]] marked by officialism, red tape, and proliferation
==Description==
The [[purpose]] of a '''bureaucracy''' is to successfully implement the [[actions]] of an [[organization]] of any size (but often associated with large [[entities]] such as [[government]], corporations, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organization non-governmental organizations]), in [[achieving]] its purpose and [[mission]], and the bureaucracy is tasked to determine how it can achieve its purpose and mission with the greatest possible [[efficiency]] and at the least cost of any [[resources]].
[[Modern]] bureaucracies arose as the [[government]] of [[states]] grew larger during the [[modern]] period, and especially following the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution Industrial Revolution]. As the authors David Osborne and Ted Gaebler pointed out in 1993:
<blockquote>It is hard to imagine today, but a hundred years ago bureaucracy meant something positive. It connoted a rational, efficient method of organization – something to take the place of the arbitrary exercise of power by authoritarian regimes. Bureaucracy brought the same logic to government work that the assembly line brought to the factory. With the hierarchical authority and functional a specialization, they made possible the efficient undertaking of large complex tasks.– Osborne, David and Gaebler, Ted. Reinventing Government</blockquote>
==Weberian bureaucracy==
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber Max Weber] described many [[ideal]] types of [[public]] [[administration]] and [[government]] in his magnum opus [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_and_Society Economy and Society] (1922). His critical [[study]] of the bureaucratisation of [[society]] became one of the most enduring parts of his work. It was Weber who began the studies of ''bureaucracy'' and whose works led to the popularization of this term. Many aspects of [[modern]] [[public]] [[administration]] go back to him, and a [[classic]], [[hierarchically]] [[organized]] civil service of the Continental type is called "Weberian civil service". As the most [[efficient]] and [[rational]] way of [[organizing]], bureaucratization for Weber was the key part of the [[rational]]-[[legal]] [[authority]], and furthermore, he saw it as the key [[process]] in the ongoing rationalization of the Western [[society]].
<blockquote>Bureaucratic administration means fundamentally domination through knowledge – Max Weber</blockquote>
Weber listed several precondititions for the [[emergence]] of the ''bureaucracy''. The [[growth]] in space and [[population]] being [[administered]] and the growth in [[complexity]] of the administrative tasks being carried out and the [[existence]] of a monetary [[economy]] resulted in a need for a more [[efficient]] [[administrative]] [[system]]. Development of [[communication]] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation transportation] [[technologies]] made more efficient administration possible but also in [[popular]] demand, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratization democratization] and rationalization of culture resulted in demands that the new system treats everybody [[equal]]ly.
Weber's [[ideal]] ''bureaucracy'' is characterized by [[hierarchical]] [[organization]], delineated lines of [[authority]] in a fixed area of [[activity]], action taken on the basis of and recorded in written rules, bureaucratic officials need expert [[training]], rules are implemented by neutral officials, [[career]] advancement depends on technical qualifications judged by [[organization]], not [[individuals]].
While [[recognizing]] ''bureaucracy'' as the most [[efficient]] [[form]] of [[organization]], and even indispensable for the [[modern]] [[state]], Weber also saw it as a threat to [[individual]] [[freedoms]], and the ongoing bureaucratization as leading to a "polar night of icy [[darkness]]", in which increasing rationalization of human life traps [[individuals]] in the aforementioned "iron cage" of bureaucratic, rule-based, [[rational]] [[control]]. In order to counteract bureaucrats, the system needs entrepreneurs and politicians.
==See also==
*'''''[[Administration]]'''''
[[Category: Sociology]]
[[Category: General Reference]]