La bureaucratie: in the light of discussions about the dysfunctions and inappropriateness of bureaucracy to environmental uncertainty, why does this organizational form refuse to die, even in the early 21st century?

Résumé du document

If bureaucracy can be interpreted different ways, Max Weber has defined it as a type of organisation's structure that aims at rationality and efficiency (Mouzelis, 1967.) This organisational view of bureaucracy is often compared to the political view that Karl Marx had of it. For him, bureaucracy and bureaucratisation are seen as a "proliferation of government officials or activities" (Mouzelis, 1967.) Here, we will focus on the organisational view of bureaucracy.
If bureaucracy is seen as rigid and inflexible one can wonder why it still present nowadays, in our uncertain world.

Extraits

[...] But one can wonder if it can be seen as indispensable due to the circumstances in which it has grown or due to the consequences it generates (Brown, 1979.) If we look at the spread of bureaucracy one can see that it has grown in parallel with the development of mass organisations and mass corporate groups. This fact can make us think that the ‘indispensability' of bureaucracy is due to the circumstances in which it is used. Without bureaucracy, these large organisations could, maybe, not be managed effectively. In the beginning of the 21st century, the mass corporations and mass organisations are even bigger than before; the States have to deal with larger populations. [...]

[...] Shepard, Prentice Hall Publishing Bureaucracy and innovation, A. Thompson in Organisational issues in Industrial Society, edited by M. [...]

[...] Nevertheless, it seems difficult to admit that organisation with quite no hierarchy and authority can be defined as bureaucratic. This single change in bureaucratic organisations is seen by Brown (1979) to be sufficient to make us consider that such organisations are no more bureaucracies. For him the fundamentals of bureaucratic organisation are precisely this authoritarian structure which allows surveillance and “planning and decision-making concentrated in a central office of senior officials” (Brown p152.) Finally, so-called bureaucratic organisations present in the beginning of the 21st century are maybe not exactly bureaucracies. [...]

[...] Mouzelis, edited by Routledge and Kegan Paul Bureaucracy the utility of a concept, Robert Brown in Bureaucracy the career of a concept, edited by Eugene Kamenka and Martin Krygier, Edward Arnorld publishing The bureaucratic phenomenon, Michel Crozier, The University of Chicago Press Tightening the Iron Cage, Concertive control in self-managing teams, James R. Barker, Administrative Science Quartely, September 408-37. Bureaucracy, its Nature and superiority, M. Weber in Organisational issues in Industrial Society, edited by M. Shepard, Prentice Hall Publishing The decline of bureaucracy and organisation of the future, Warren G. Bennis in Organisational issues in Industrial Society, edited by M. [...]

[...] Thomson in Shepard, 1972) Because of all the examples quoted above, changes in bureaucracy can be seen as real crisis: “Because of the necessarily long delays, because of the amplitudes of the scope it must attain, and because of the resistance it must overcome, change in bureaucratic organisations is a deeply felt crisis” (Crozier, 1964.) Uncertainty, i.e. rapid and unexpected changes has been described by W. Bennis (quoted by R. Brown in Kamenka & Krygier, 1979) as one of the four threats that could endanger bureaucracy (among the reach of a too large size, the rise in specialization of workforce and the will of workers to have more satisfying tasks.) Yet bureaucracy is still present in the beginning of the 21st century. We will try to understand why. [...]