PAP 2300 Study Guide - Ideal Type, Instrumentalism, Gallows

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Public Administration
• Course: PAP 2300
• Professor: Frank Ohemeng

Document Summary

There are many economists, philosophers, and experts of public administration through history who have helped play a role in shaping today"s functioning political system. Max weber, a german sociologist, was arguably the most influential scholar in this field. Max weber lived from the years 1864 to 1920, and in his time, among his many other works, he coined the term ideal-type of bureaucracy, which in his sense, was an organization that performed at its maximum efficiency. Weber saw bureaucracy as essential to society, and more importantly the most rational way for human activity to be organized. It is this belief that inspired weber to construct the standard representation for what rational, bureaucratic organizations should strive to embody. Weber focused on outlining the key elements necessary across the majority of organizations to increase efficiency, thus the creation of the ideal-type . These key elements include; legal- rational authority, a formal hierarchal structure, continuity, expertise and impersonality, instrumentalism, and formalization.