Max Weber’s Bureaucracy: Principles, Legitimacy, and Impact
Max Weber’s Bureaucratic Model
Weber’s model, applicable to public companies, defines an organization as a social group characterized by a purpose, permanence, and formal structures and rules. The scientific organization of labor is a form of bureaucracy with a hierarchical structure and bureaucratic norms. Weber argued that this provides technical superiority to other organizations. Bureaucratic power is a crucial tool for administrative leadership. Weber emphasizes power’s importance in defining an organization, analyzing historical organizations that persist today.
Legitimacy in Weber’s System
For Weber, a system is legitimate when its rules are followed, either explicitly or implicitly. There are three types of legitimacy:
- Traditional Legitimacy: Based on habit and repetition, legitimizing the system through established practices. Asset management and administrators belong to those in power (e.g., feudal system).
- Charismatic Legitimacy: Based on the charisma of the leader, often with followers who blindly obey. These leaders challenge traditional authority but must adapt over time (e.g., populist leaders).
- Rational Legitimacy: Authority relies on rational rules with internal consistency and legal systematization. It is based on rational administration, with a constitution as the primary rule, depersonalizing the relationship between the dominant and the dominated.
Key Features of Weber’s Bureaucracy
Weber’s bureaucracy is based on two key features:
- An organizational pyramid with a clear command line from top to bottom.
- Rules emanating from the administration that must be followed by its members.
There is a separation between members and management, where members are not owners. Three basic features affect the official or employee:
- Fixed Powers: Each worker performs a specific function according to superior orders.
- Functional Hierarchy: Power is concentrated at the top, with lower echelons following orders.
- Dual Specialization: Workers are selected for their knowledge, enabling them to perform assigned tasks, demonstrated through specific tests and knowledge of rules.
Official’s Perspective
From the official’s point of view, three principles apply:
- Separation of Means: The means are provided by superiors, with no ownership rights, and can only be used as specified by regulation. They are rewarded with a salary and pension after service.
- Appointment: Appointment is made by the superior, with various types of appointments.
- Honor: Remaining in the organization is often due to a functional ideology based on the honor of belonging to the institution, rather than economic reasons.
Limitations of Weber’s Model
Two limitations of the bureaucratic model established by Weber:
- If the organization develops its own logic, it may become overly focused on anticipating all situations, leading to excessive rules and stagnation. The organization becomes more concerned with procedures than objectives.
- Impersonal norms can implicitly minimize performance.