SOCI2323 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Scientific Management
January 23rd, 2018
Weber on Bureaucracy:
Rationalization: process by which social action becomes increasingly guided by the reasoned
pursuit of certain interests, and becomes more systematically organized and administered. Two
forms:
-attitude of purposiveness (motivational form)
-bureaucracy (institutional form): hierarchical coordination of highly specialized,
subdivided tasks, under the leadership of a rational authority.
Weber on distinguishing features of bureaucracy:
-formal structure with specialized functions
-rules and regulations
-hierarchy of positions
-trained competence
-separation of resources
-written documents
-impersonality
Taylor and Weber: how compatible?
Areas of compatibility:
-formal structures of management which enhance centralization of power
-specialized division of labour
-predictability …missed this
Difference:
-Weber’s attention to employment relationship (trained competence, separation of
resources, impersonality (e.g. in selection for jobs)
-created opening to consider how managers would be managed
-pointed to job security, career structure as means of securing worker “buy-
in”/commitment
Weber on bureaucratic control:
-offers a more robust definition, including stratifying the workforce (divide and rule)
-impersonal rules specifying how work is to be done (impact on worker discretion)
-job security, career structure (often appreciated)
-aligned with process of “segmenting the labour market” into more core and periphery
groups of workers
Concerns about scientific management:
-effectiveness controlling labour given neglect of “the human factor”?
Document Summary
Rationalization: process by which social action becomes increasingly guided by the reasoned pursuit of certain interests, and becomes more systematically organized and administered. Bureaucracy (institutional form): hierarchical coordination of highly specialized, subdivided tasks, under the leadership of a rational authority. Formal structures of management which enhance centralization of power. Weber"s attention to employment relationship (trained competence, separation of resources, impersonality (e. g. in selection for jobs) Created opening to consider how managers would be managed. Pointed to job security, career structure as means of securing worker buy- in /commitment. Offers a more robust definition, including stratifying the workforce (divide and rule) Impersonal rules specifying how work is to be done (impact on worker discretion) Aligned with process of segmenting the labour market into more core and periphery groups of workers.
