UNIT 16 MAX WEBER

16.0 16.1 16.2

Objeotives Introduction Theory of Domination

16.2.1 Traditional Domination 16.2 2 Charismatic Domination 16.2.3 Legal Domination

16.3

Characteristics of Bureaucracy
16.3,l 16.3.2 16.3.3. 16.3.4 16.3.5 16.3.6 16.3.7 16.3.8 16.3.9 *Division of Labour Hierarchy Written Documents Expertise Career System Money Salaries Rules Impersonality Efficiency

16.4 Causes of Development of Bureaucracy 16.5 'Consequences of Bureaucracy 16.6 A Critical Evaluation
16.6.1 16.6.2 16.6.3 16.6.4 -16.6.5 An Authoritarian Theory Dysfunctions of Bureaucracy Domination of Bureaucracy The Function of Contml Bureaucratic Neutrality

16.6.6 Weber's Dilemma

16.7 16.8 1 5.9 5.10

Let Us Sum Up Key Words Some Useful Books Answers to Check Your hogress Exercises

t6.O OBJECTIVES
In the previous Unit we have discussed the meaning of the term bureaucracy as well as its types. You would have noticed that this t e r m is used to signify different things to different people. Max ~ e b e islone r of the first and foremost social scientists who have systematically analysed the concept of bureaucracy. In this Unit we would discuss his confflbutions.

After studying this Unit ypu should be able to: explain Weber's concept and types of domination

* explain the causes, characteristics and consequences ~Fbsmauuracy,and

make a critical evaluation of we&rts contributions.'

.16.1.INTRODUCTION ..
Ma& Weber is considered to be one of the foremost social scientists of modern times. He has made valuable contribution to several disciplines, particularly Sociology, Economics. History and Political Science. He is specially known for his theories about the rise of .capitalism in Western Europe, and bureaucracy.

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Max Weber's name, however, became synonymous with bureaucracy. Weber's influence on the modem thinkers on administration is enormous. Most of ty studies on bureaucracy, are considered "as either'differcnt +edons of Webrim model or attempts at contradicting it". Weber's bureaucratic model, theories on legitimacy and domination formed the basis for a number of further studies. In this Unit, therefore. we will study Weber's contribution to the theory of bureaucracy.

16.2 THEORY OF DOMINATION

Weber's theory of bureaucracy is a part of his theory of domination. Domination means the authoritarian power of command. In oher words, he raised the question as to how one person exercises power over others. His answer was that the exercise of power becomes acceptable if it is justified or legitimised, in some way. Legitimation in one way leads to one type of domination; legitimation in another way leads to another type. He thus laid down three types of domination: (i) traditional domination, (ii) charismatic domination and (iii) legal domination. Bureaucracy falls in the thir4 category. However, we shall examine other types of domination before coming to the thir&one: this will help us to make the t k nature of bureaucrac~trrou@uomp~on and contrast.

16.2.1 Traditional Domination

Traditional domination is based on the belief that what is customary is right. It is ' exemplified by the rule of kings in olden days. If it'was customary that only persons of a certain high caste should.bk appointed to high positions, this principle was accepted as just. In other words, the merit of an individual was given les's importance than the caste to which he belonged. All employees had to be personally loyal to the king; if an employee was competent but not loyal to the king, he would be removed. These principles of administration were based u p a the general belief system in the socikty. Thus in India, status in the society'as a whole, and not only within the administration, was determined on the basis of caste. Since caste is based upon the accident of birth, and not upon individual achievement, ihe competence of a person of high caste can be low. Hence the efficiency of administration in a traditional society is likely to be low.

16.2.2 Charisnhatic Domination

Charismatic domination is found where people accept somebody as a leader due to a belief that he has'superhuman or extraordinary qualities. Thus a person who is cons'idered to be a prophet, mahatma, or guru may come to have a number of disciples or followers. The leader. then; exercises power over his follbwers: they are willing to carry out his wishes Since administration in such a systeq also is not based upon any rational principles, but upon the fancies and caprices of the leader, it is likely to lack efficiency.

16.2.3 Legal Domination

Law is another name for a rational principli. Hence legal domidation is based upon belief in the desirability of rational principles. The application of redson leads to efficiency. hence a system of legal domination is the most efficient. Legal domination is'best exemplified by bureaucracy. '

16.3 CHARACTERISTICS OFBUREAUCRACY

The term bureaucracy refers to the employees of a modem large-scale organisation, such' as a government, a joint stock company or an armed force. While the objectives of organisations may be different, their bureaucracies have certain common features. We shall discuss these features, as mentioned by We,ber, one by one.

16.3.1 Division of Labour

The work of the organisation is divided among the employees in swh s way that r a r h ' employee has only a certain part of the work to perform. In this way he reptihtedl\ , performs a certain job and becories efficient at it. Since every employee ~ i m i l a r l ~
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, becomes efficient at his particular job, the productivity and efficiency oft the organisation
as a whole are high.
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In an office we find that when a case has to be dealt with. a certain employee has theduty to find out precedents (earlier cases of the same kind). another has the duty ta examine the rules, a third one has to take$ decisipn. and so on. Thus each case is dealt with by several persons instead of being dealt with by one person only. Such fragmentation. or division, of work makes for efficiency. i
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16.3.2 Hierarchy
In every bureaucracy there is a chain of command. or hierarchy, so that officials at lower levels are supervised by those at higher levels. Officials at a higher level have a broader mental horizon; they can take into account the problems at various,levels. Since orders of superiors have to be followed by subordinates, difficulties are avoided. In other words, hierarchy makes for vertical coordinition. Such coordination makes for efficiency.

16.3.3 Written Documents

'The.management of the modem office is based upon written documents, or Files, The executive office is separated from the private affairs of the ruler. the entrepreneur and the e!mployees. Since nothing concerning the office is private, every transaction. decision and order is recorded. Files, punch cards or computer tapes, then, constitute the 'memory' ,of the organisation, and help in efficient decision-making in the future.

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16.3.4 Expertise
Employees are selected on the basis of technical qualifications. Recruitment is made through a competitive examiilation, or (as in the case of doctors or engineers) is bnsed upon examinations already passed. Officials are appointed, not elected, since election does not test technical qualifications.

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16.3.5 Chreer System

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Employment of a member o'f a bureaucracy constitutes a career. The employee expects to be promoted from. lower position to higher position.within the hierarchy of the organisation. Promotion is based upon both merit and seniority. Promotion by seniority ensures that the employee comes to consider the organisation as his own: this makes for both; security for the employee and efficiency of the organisation. Promotion by merit also ensures efficiency as employees with talents are promoted to higher levels.

16.3.6 Money Salaries

Employees are remunerated by fixed salaries in money. This is different from the payment niade in kind in older1 days. In addition to the salary, there is ggnerdya prokisionifor.a'. pension or a''grovidentJfundto take care of the employee when he grows old and retires from service.

16.3.7 Rules
Management follows a set of rules, which are made known to all employees, and partly also to clients. ~ u i e prevent s arbitrariness, since they are equally applicable to everyone. They also make for efficiency, since they help to avoid mistakes.
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16.3.8 Impersbnality
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Officials are expected to carry out their duties without allowing themselves to be by their personal likes and dislikes. Thus an employee may like one client and dislike another; however, he must still treat them similarly, insofar as he acts on behalf of the organisation.
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16.3.9 Efficiency
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The bureabcratic organisation is the most efficient form of organisation, Just as a machine is more productive than any other mode of production, so a bureaucracy is more efficient. Both, the machine and the bureaucracy, have the advantage of technical supekiority. Their efficiency derives from rationality. All the characteristics of bureaucracy mentioned above ,lead to rationality and hence efficiency.

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Bureaucracy

Cheek Your Progress II Note: i) Use the space below for your answers. ii) Check your answers with those given at the end of the unit. 1 What is the difference between traditiclnril and charismatic domination?

What is legal domination?

Discuss the ch'aracterktics of

bureaucrat>+

Bureaucracy is a hodern phenomenon. It has been caused by seGernl factors which are given below: Money Economy

* Increase in Organisational Size

?' Nature of Administrative Tasks
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Requirement of Efficiency ~ a r k e tcon om^ I Rule of Law of the hieans of Administration

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@. Goncenfation
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Levelling of Social Differences

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* ' ~ e k a n e n t ' ~ h a r a & of e r the Bureaucratic Machine

Noy we shall discuss these factors one by one.
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Money Economy Weber maintains that a developed money economy is necessary before a bureaucratic administration can come into belng. A bureaucratic administration requires a stable system of taxation; the latter in turn requires a money economy. No proper bureaucratic 'administration could develop in olden days due to the prqvalence of barter system and the absence of a money economy. Increase in Organimtional Size The large size of the modem nation state, the joint stock company and the industrialised factory gave rise to bureaucratic administration. A large size necessarily requires division of labour. Technical efficiency requires expertise. Coordination requires hierarchy and rules. Hence bureaucratic administration tends to grow up in every large-scale organisation. Nature of Administrative Tasks The increasing complexity of civilisation and the consequent demands upon administration also led to bureaucratisation. Thus the growing wealth of the influential strata and the desire for the possession and consumption of goods and services of various kinds led to the performance of new functions requ.iring new expertise and widespread networks. The increased emphasis on law and order and the demand for functions of social welfare give rise to new agencies and development of old ones. Modern means of transport and communication, such as highways, railways, telegraph and telephone, facilitate the functionhg of bureaucracies and help bureaucratisation.
Requirement of Efficiency Capitalist market economy is based upon competition; and competition compels increasing efficiency among all competitors.

Max WeNr

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Since efficiency requires bureaucratisation, modem capitalist enterprises are unequalled models of strict bureaucratic ~rganisation.
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Market Economy
A mar~ret functions without regard for persons. Hence a market economy necessarily leads to impersonality, which in turn helps bureaucratisation.

Rule of Law The emergence of thc conception of the rule of law in modern times has also led to bureaucratisalion. The rule of' law means equality before the law, or lack of arbitrariness, which is ensured by bureaucratisation to some extent.
However, it is notable that the bureaucracy is the'instrument of dictatorshipas well as democracies. Also, "propertyless masses especially are not served by a formal 'equality before the law'."

Concentration c;f the Means of Administration The rise of the bureaucratic structure has been associated w ~ t h the concentration of the means of management in the hands of the master. Thus the bureaucratisation of the army took place after the transfer of army service from the propertied to the propertyless. Earlier, the soldier was himself the owner of his weapons, horses and dress. It was only after the chief of the company became the owner of the material means of warfare that the army took a bureaucratic form. The same applies to civil administration. Before the rise of the nation state, feudal vassals and tax farmers owned the means of admivistration. In the nation state these means came to be owned by the central authority resulting in bureaucratisation. .
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Levelling of Social Differences Bureaucracy has mamly resulted from modem mass democracy, which has involved the levelling of economic and social differences. Mass democracy makes a clean sweep of feudal privileges in administration, and replaces these with equality before the law. Permanent Character of the Bureaucratic Machine Wgber points out that once it is fully established, bureaucracy is among those social structures which are the hardest to destroy. It is a powerful instrument of the fir% order, and

Bureaucracy

hence is used to fulfil societal objectives and the objectives of thye who happen to capture power.

16.5 CONSEQUENCES OF BUREAUCRACY

Weber maintains that the permanent character of the bureaucratic machine makes revolution technically more and more difficult. While the political master may be changed in a coup d'etat, the bureaucracy continues to rule. In developed countries, party organisations have also become bureaucratised. Burbaucratisation has "very frequently benefited the interests of capitalism". Often bureaucratisation has been carried out in direct'alliance with capitalist interests. .However, bureaucratisation may also help the interests of shopkeepers and small farmers. Bureaucratisation may also support a state socialist policy that strangles opportunities for private profit.
A bureaucracy is like a precision instrument that can be used by anyone who comes to control it. t

Bureaucratisation inteiferes with democracy: while the former is ruled by appainted officials, the latter is ruled by elected representatives of the people.

A bureaucracy comes to have power of its own. The political master is an amateur, while officials are experts. Apart from expertise, the basis of bureaucratic power is secret information. The bureaucracy even prevents the parliament from obtaining information which is in its possession.
While on the one hand, concentration of power and wealth leads to bureaucratisation, on Thus once the the other hand, bureaucratisation itself em hasises;~entralisation. bun@ucratic state comes ihta Peipg it be&tofinqce and ~ o n t r obodies l of local self-government. The central authority exercises control over local w i e s through the central bureaucracy.

More and more experts are needed in bureaqcratic administration. They also enjoy a distinct social esteem as compared with the governed. Hence more and more people want . to get the qualifications necessary for entry into the bhreaucracy. The demand for degrees leads to proliferation of examinations. The demand for degrees indicates, not a quest for knowledge, but n hunger for bureaucratic jobs. However, since higher education is costly, the rich are more likely to get hjgh level jobs than the talented ones. ' I
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In the past, the end sought by education was the 'generalist' rather $an the 'specialist'. Since' bureaucratisation leads to an increasing demand for specialists, expert and specialisad knowledge tends t~ gain in importance.

According to ~ e b emore r and more bureaucratisation is likely in the future. This wodld be sp both ih a market economy'and a centrally planned economy. The increasing divisiop of labour and the use ofispecialskills would lead to "dictatorship of the bureaucrats\?.~ahet p then *,dictatorship of the proletariat .
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Weber exp~ssgsthe fear that increasing bureaucratisation is likely to interfere with the autonomy of the individual. More and mare people'are likely tb take up jobs in large-scale . organisations and thus get reduced to an abkomrita.
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16.6 A CRITICAL EVALUATION

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Weber's theory of bureaucracy may,be said to be classical..It has ,come to be widely accepted. In particular it has come to be adopted by bureaucrats in justification of their hhaviour. However, it bas been subjected to much criticism also. We deal with sope of the cribcisms'below:

16.6.1 An Authoritarian Theory

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Weber flils to t i e into account the soeial systeA, or informal organikikion. which

qeamsotivdtion to producs?and CQOpeWteWith the mnagemqnt f o d i l l i n g the objectives thp onganisation. @is criticism hhs been levelled mainly by the 'Huahan Relations' school. Weber maintains that afficiedcy results from rationality deriving from features such as hierarchy, division of labour, rules and impersonality. He fails to refer to the creative urge andfellow feeling of human beings, which are also important factors in any group enterprise. Weber's overemphasis on the formal aspect gives an authoritarian'tinge to his theory. Now-a-days, much importance is attached to the self-actualisation of workers and to their participation in decision-making. Both morale and productivity are likely to rise with these new emphasis. Weber has ignored these factors.

16.6.2 Dysfunctions of Bureaucracy

Weber maintains that % bureaucratic organisation is more efficient than those of other types. However, he fails to notice that it also suffers from certain hjtndicaps. Marx had pointed out earlier that every exploitative relationship leads to alienation of both, the exploited and the exploiter, resulting in the loss of their freedom, creativity, humanity and a s criticised by Merton, Gouldner morality. After Weber had enunciated his theory; he w and Selznick for overlooking what are called the dysfunctions of bureaucracy. In other words, the very element3 which lead to efficiency in general produce inefficiqncy in specific instances. Thuf,&cording to Merton he rigorous discipline of bureaucracy "induces fear, conservkism, and technicism in the bureaucratic personality. According to Gouldner, work rules increase knowledge about minimum acceptable behaviour, thus .rkducing performance to the mifiimum level, According to Selznick, the demand for control by the top hierarchy leads to increased delegation of authority to sub-units, resulting in more emphasis on sub-unit goals than on the total organisational programme.
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16.6.3 Domination of Bureaucracy .

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: specialised knowledge of officials. Hence h&expect$d th9 the expert &odd supersede the
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According to Weber, the efficiency~&f-lhveadcracy ie,$erived,mainly fro* the generalist at high.levels. However, hi~-~rediction has not been fulfilled: the generalist official continues to' dominate over specialists in almost all large-scale organisations.

16.6.4 The Function of Control

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For Weber, all the employees of an organisation, including both managers and productive wdrkers, constitute its bureaucracy. He talked of the division of labour and yet failed to notice its most important aspect, namely the distinction between productive work and the exercise of control over it. When we note that the function of administration consists mainly in the exercise of control over specialists and productive workers, we also come to understand the reason for the pre-eminent position of generalists in the organisation. In short, then, Weber failed to distinguish bureaucrats proper from other employees.
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16.6.5 Bureaucratic Neutrality?

Weber's theory suggests that the bureaucracy is a neutral instrument which can be used by anyone who comes to gain control over it. However, experience has shown that the bureaucracy tends to function in the interests of the ruling classes. Weber notes that the bureaucracy comes to. have a lot of power of its own, and that recruitment to bureaucracy is often made from among the rich, since it is only the rich who can afford the necessary higher education. All this leads to the inference that the upper levels of the bureaucracy belong to the upper classes and tend to function in their interest: the bureaucracy cannot be said to be neutral.

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On the one hand;JVeber maintains that the bureaucracy is an efficient instrument of development, on the other hand he fears that increasing bureaucratisation will interfere r with individual autonomy,,He is unable to resolve the dilemma; nor is he able -,. to ~ f f ea .._ solution to thi'problems like1p to be caused by bu~aucratisatirm. --.
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CheCk X ~ u Progress2 r 2, i) Us13the .spade below for your answers. 4i) Check your answers with thosc given at the end of the unit.

Bureaucracy

What are the causes for the growth of bureaucracy?

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How does growth of bureaucraq,,effect democracy $

What are the dysfunctions of bureaucracy?

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In this Unit we have discussed Max Weber's conceptualisation of,bureaucracy. He distinguishes between three types of ,domination. mey are traditional,.charismatic and

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legal. Weber idenlifies bureaucracy with the third type of domination i.e., legal. We have also discussed the characteristics of bureaucracy as explained by Weber. Finally we have made a critical evaluation of Weber's contribution.

16.8 KEY WORDS

Arbitrary : Despotic or dictatorial Automata : Machine , Caprice : Whirnsical or unaccountable change of mind or conduct Entrepreneur : The owner or manager of a business enterprise who by risk and initiative, attempts to make profits. Feudalism : The legal and social system that evolved in Western Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries in which vassals were protected and maintained by their lords, usually through granting of property, and were required to serve under them in war. Marketmoney Economy : Economy where exchange of goods and services takes place with the use of money. precedent : An example or instance used to justify later similar occurrences

16.9 SOME USEFUL BOOKS

1 Albrow, Martin, 1970, &realrc.racy; Macmillan: London. 2 Merton, Robert K., et al., (eds), 1952, Readings in Bureaucracy; Free Press: Glencoe. 3 Prasad, Ravindra D., et al., 1989, Administrative Thinkers; Sterling Publishers: New Delhi. 4 Weber, Max, 1969, The Tl~eory of Sociul and Econonzic Organisution, ed. Talcott Parsons; Free Press: New York.

16.10 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1 1 See Sub-sections 16.2.1 and 16.2.2. 2 See Sub-section 16.2.3. 3 See Section 16.3.
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Check Your Progress 2 1 See Section 16.4. 2 See Section 16.5. 3 See Sub-section 16.6.2. 4 See Sub-section 16.6.5.