Ans. The bureaucracy model of management was developed by Max Weber, a
German sociologist. Max Weber considered bureaucracy as the most efficient form
of management for a large and complex organisation in any branch of human
activity.
His model is characterised by the following features:
(1) Hierarchy of authority i.e., a well-defined chain of command.
(ii) Clear-cut division of work based upon competence and
specialisation.
(iii) System of Rules and Regulations clearly spelt out.
(iii) System of Rules and Regulations clearly spelt out.
(iv) Work procedure involving standardisation of methods.
(v) Selection, placement and promotion of workers based upon their
merits and competence and job performance.
(VI) Professionalism in bureaucracy, on the assumption that the system
cannot work effectively unless it is staffed by highly competent and
specialised people.
(vi) Authority and power vesting in each office or position in the
organisation and not in an individual.
(viii) Impersonality in human relations. Relations among the members of
a bureaucratic organisation are impersonal and formal.
(ix) Personal and official matters are clearly divorced from each other,
and personal considerations like gratitude and favours do not enter into and
influence business decisions.
Advantages of bureaucracy:
(1) A bureaucratic organisation provides the advantages of
specialisation because every one is assigned a specialised task to be
performed.
(ii) Emphasis on qualification and technical competence make the
organisation more democratic.
(iii) It helps to reduce friction.
(iv) The Rules, regulations, specialisation, structure and training
impart predictability and thereby ensure stability in the organisation.
Limitations of bureaucracy;
(1) The bureaucracy model provides a rigid machine-like model of an
organisation and not a humanistic model.
(ii) It ignores the importance of human inter-personal and mutual relations
in an organisation,
(iii) On account of its impersonal character, it does not permit
competitive leadership,
(iv) The bureaucracy model is not suitable for a dynamic business
organisation. It is suitable only for static organisations where change is not
anticipated.
(v) The bureaucracy model suffers from blind faith in rules and
regulations and procedures.
(vi) This model creates obstacles in the way of creativity and
flexibility
much needed in a modern successful organisation. (vii) It suffers from
red-tapism.
(viii) It results in higher cost of control.
despite its drawbacks, bureaucracy has become an integral feature of
modern organisations.
Further, many of its drawbacks could be removed by
humanising the bureaucracy model of management.
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