Modern Management Theory: Max Weber
Karl “Max” Weber [1] (1864 – 1920) was a German sociologist and political economist. He is responsible for the theory of Bureaucratic Management. Bureaucracy is defined as the exercise of control on the basis of knowledge. Instead of a society of laws that are based on rational and logical judgement, many countries were governed by monarchies and dictatorships that imposed their will on others. In these societies, important factors such as education, skills and abilities were ignored; birthright and blood-right being more important. Max Weber described an ideal system where managing on rational legal authority was more effective than managing based on favoritism and ineptitude. The characteristics of a Bureaucratic Management system are the following:
1. Division of Labor: it focuses on the practices of specialization. Already seen under Fayol’s principles, the workers perform the tasks they are more qualified for.
2. Managerial hierarchy: an established chain of command that shows positions in an organization and how they relate to one another.
3. Formal selection: an ideal Bureaucracy should select it’s employees based on technical qualifications. Should an organization not have the most knowledgeable, experienced workers they can get their hands on? Hiring and promotions should be based on MERIT, rewarding workers by recognizing them for their efforts.
4. Career orientation: employees should be career professionals, rather than politicians. Employees should be encouraged to look forward to a life-long career within the organization and should be protected from arbitrary decisions from management.
5. Formal rules: established rules for all employees should flow across the organization.
6. Impersonality: the established rules should be impersonal in nature, avoiding personal preference. I consider Weber’s ideal Bureaucracy to be an amazing system. However, once more I have never seen it in practice. Promotions are never based on merit, nor are selection processes conducted based on knowledge or skills. Contacts and networking plays a bigger role, corporations turning into authentic political parties after long periods of success. Once the structure becomes unmanageable, human nature kicks in, a sort of corporate corruption growing like a cancer that ruins potential business and growth possibilities. Few companies resist the test of time. The ones that do, probably know how to identify and retain the best and smartest candidates. These are study cases that must be included in modern management theory. However, they are just a few. Failing to apply Max Weber’s Bureaucracy, corporations rise and fade lost in their own sea of confusion and mismanagement.
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