Public Administration Slides on Bureaucracy

BUREAUCRACY.

Max Weber 1864 - 1920

The Theory of Bureaucracy

Max Weber (1864–1920) wrote at the turn of the twentieth century, when Germany was undergoing its industrial revolution.
To help Germany manage its growing industrial enterprises at a time when it was striving to become a world power, Weber developed the principles of bureaucracy
Bureaucracy may be defined as a formal system of organization and administration designed to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.
A bureaucratic system of administration is based on five principles

Bureaucracy: Max Weber
He was Sociologist and Political Economist
It was untapped relevant theory except in Germany
It was not translated until 1922 and was still done in a fragmented and disjointed manner
It was initially used out of context and misinterpreted.

Bureaucracy abused?
The terms bureaucrat, bureaucratic, and bureaucracy are clearly invective s.
Officials rarely address themselves as bureaucrats or their methods of management, bureaucratic.
These words are mostly applied with a negative connotation.
They always imply a reproachful criticism of persons, institutions, or procedures.
The abusive implication of the terms in question is not limited to Ghana and other African countries. It is a universal phenomenon

The concept of Domination
Probability that certain specific commands will be obeyed by a group of persons.
The claims to legitimacy.
Does not always imply any form of obedience of exercising influence and authority.
But there must be a minimum of voluntary compliance.
There must be an interest  to obey -

Types of Authority
There are three pure types of legitimate domination which is based on three distinct grounds namely:
Rational ground – rest on a belief in the legality of enacted rules and the right of those elevated to authority under such rules to issue commands.

Traditional grounds – rest on an established belief in the sanctity of immemorial traditions and the legitimacy of those exercising authority under them, or

Charismatic grounds – rest on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative the normative patterns or ordeal revealed or ordained by him.

Three types of Authority
The above grounds translate into three types of  authority. These are:
Traditional authority –
Rational-legal authority –
Charismatic authority –

Each authority has its own administrative structure
But only the traditional and legal rational are stable enough to provide a firm foundation for a permanent administrative structure
 And the traditional structures are gradually given way to rational-legal structures
Charismatic authority arise in periods of instability and crises when individuals believed to possess special gift of mind and spirit emerge to offer extra-ordinary measures.

Routinization of charisma
For charismatic authority to persist, it must move towards one of the other two stable forms.
To means more participants are included in the leadership and
Voluntary support gives way to systematic one
Relationships move from personal to a more formal and impersonal relations 


Click on the link below to Download the complete PowerPoint presentation of this topic.




Download Now

Thank You!