A General Theory Of Bureaucracy

Monograph on theory of social structure, social justice and the functioning of bureaucracy - comprises interdisciplinary research on the stratification of management and work levels in bureaucratic hierarchies and analyses the contribution of constitutional bureaucracy to individual freedom in industrial societys. Bibliography pp. 378 to 393, diagrams and statistical tables.

This volume examines Max Weber’s pre-World War I thinking about bureaucracy. It suggests that Weber’s vision shares common components with the highly efficient Prussian General Staff military bureaucracy developed by Clausewitz and Helmuth von Moltke. Weber did not believe that Germany’s other major institutions, the Civil Service, industry, or the army could deliver world class performances since he believed that they pursued narrow, selfish interests. However, following Weber’s death in 1920, the model published by his wife Marianne contained none of the military material about which Weber had written approvingly in the early chapters of Economy and Society. Glynn Cochrane concludes that Weber’s model was unlikely to include military material after the Versailles peace negotiations (in which Weber participated) outlawed the Prussian General Staff in 1919.

Great Writers on Organizations presents succinctly each of the contributions made by 80 of the most prominent management thinkers to the understanding of organizational behaviour and managerial thinking. New writers included in the Third Omnibus Edition are: Lex Donaldson, Stewart Clegg, Richard Whitley, Michel Foucault and Kathleen Eisenhardt.

What is bureaucracy? Are people right to see it as synonymous with red-tape, feather-bedding and inefficiency? Can it be controlled by politicians, or made more responsive to citizens? Is it only confined to the public sector, or is it pervasive throughout all modern organizations? These are only some of the questions addressed in David Beetham's concise and wide-ranging study. This second edition provides a clear guide through the disciplines of economics, sociology and political science, and through competing social theories, including structural, cultural and rational choice approaches. It also offers its own synthesis which goes beyond them. The second edition has been revised and updated in the light of recent academic and political developments. For anyone who wants a lucid introduction to the meaning and significance of bureaucracy, and its relation to democracy, this book is essential reading.

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Ergonomics, grade: 1,0, Technical University of Chemnitz (Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Professur für Organisation und Arbeitswissenschaft), language: English, abstract: The text at hand deals with Max Weber ́s theory of bureaucracy and its negative consequences in Robert K. Merton ́s functional analysis. The starting point is the description of what Weber understands as rationalization and his conceptualization of the three types of legitimate domination. The purest and most rational type of legal domination is in Weber ́s eyes bureaucracy with its benefits of precision, calculability, controllability and efficiency – in short, with its technical superiority. Weber ́s position concerning bureaucratization is ambivalent, because he also sees the negative consequences in dehumanization and excessive control, which ends in an „iron cage‟. Merton analysis outlines the dysfunctions resulting from bureaucratic structures. The negative consequences he identifies are the displacement of goals, the trained incapacity, over-conformity and esprit de corps of the officials and the depersonalization of relationships.

Based mainly on State Department materials, but addressing generic problems of organizational politics as well, this book provides a fresh, intelligent, and lively account of bureaucratic behavior.

"An] excellent book ...Arnold seeks to examine the interactions between members of the House of Representatives and members of the upper bureaucracy in respect to the geographical allocation of federal expenditures....The methodology employed is ingenious and persuasive."--David Fellman, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science "The best book now available on the decision-making process linking bureaucrats and congressmen....A model blending of theory and evidence, overlaid with a lot of good judgment and political sensitivity."--Richard F. Fenno, Jr. "Douglas Arnold's carefully wrought study of relations between the U.S. Representatives and selected administrative agencies is a challenging, thought-provoking, imaginative contribution that greatly enriches the field."--Herbert Kaufman "An indispensable book for political scientists studying Congress, and highly relevant for many others whose interest is in bureaucratic decision-making. The data and the methods of analysis are unique and make the work infinitely superior to previous work on this topic."--Samuel C. Patterson

This comprehensive collection of classical sociological theory is a definitive guide to the roots of sociology from its undisciplined beginnings to its current influence on contemporary sociological debate. Explores influential works of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Mead, Simmel, Freud, Du Bois, Adorno, Marcuse, Parsons, and Merton Editorial introductions lend historical and intellectual perspective to the substantial readings Includes a new section with new readings on the immediate "pre-history" of sociological theory, including the Enlightenment and de Tocqueville Individual reading selections are updated throughout