The Ideas of the Classical Theorists, Particularly

The whims of the classical theorists, particularly those of bureaucratism and scientific direction, ar generally considered as rather gray fashion and out of date, and of lilliputian relevance to excogitate and organization today. Is this really the chemise? The classical possibility is the earliest hold of vigilance that perceived that a set of linguistic universal principles would apply to all the organizations in all situations to achieve efficiency and organizations goals. co.uk/nursing-scientific- focalization-and-frederick-taylor/Scientific concern and bureaucratic system were one of the several components of the classical school of organization.Important pioneers among them argon Frederick Taylor and Max Weber. The classical theories have been contested of little relevance to forge and organization today simply because todays organizations have travel from industrial revolution to the information age due to the devalued-paced transmit in engineering science (T offler, 1984). Although bureaucratism has been synonymous to red tape and has cast outs personal piths such(prenominal) as rigidity, alienation and low commitment (Adler, 1999, p. 7) and dehumanizing battalion (Grey, 2009), the characteristics of bureaucratism such as strong point, hierarchy of authority, system of rules and impersonality (Stewart, 1986) as well as evidence of ongoing existence of this attention method, bureaucracy is prove to anticipate noneworthy. This essay impart examine the situation presented in organization today, and limit whether bureaucracy and scientific caution toilet be considered as old fashioned, out of date and of little relevance to report and organization today.With the wide of the mark set of powerful economic, social and technological changes greater competition, globalization of production, advance demand for innovation, new forms of information technology and wide change in customer preferences have concluded that the long eon of perpetual structures of bureaucratic puzzles argon over. check to Warren, he concluded that in that location was no agelong the stable business surroundings which bureaucracy exists, resulting in the rigid and formal rules of bureaucracy to be obsolete (Knights and Willmott, 2006). Like dinosaurs, mechanistic organizations are doomed and the days of post-bureaucracies have arrived (Du Gay, 2005). With an increasing growth in knowledge-intensive sectors, for example consultancy companies, law and bill firms, advertising agencies, research-and-development and IT companies, the need for flexibility and capacities for creative action has operate much important than narrow efficiency (Karreman, Sveningsson and Alvesson, 2002).These knowledge-intensive firms are performing working classs that are to a greater extent than complex than before, making it more(prenominal)(prenominal) challenging to convert them into standardized release procedures and regulations, whic h make bureaucracy influence become less relevant to work today. Supported by Mr Paul, who was the Vice-Chairman of Wipro from 1999 to 200, IT service companies need a fundamental re program. The bureaucracy is killing customer satisfaction (Narasimhan, 2011). At the same time, it suggests employees demand for more flexibility and autonomy, rather than simply following orders and rules.However, studies show that knowledge-intensive companies are sightly more bureaucratic in their operations. In the case of Beta Consulting Company, authority is seen blue printd through hierarchy, work methodology is standardized and work procedures are fine-tuned towards predictability of outputs (Karreman, Sveningsson and Alvesson, 2002). Since the 1970s, there is likewise an alleged shift from industrial to post industrial era, from mass production of standard products to short products for the niche markets.For example, the Apple IPhone demonstrates a shorter production run such as a new magn etic declination of the IPhone is released every year (Smith, 2011). Post-bureaucracy is proposed as a new organizational model which is more appropriate to todays business env adjurement in a sense that it is based on trust, empowerment, personal treatment and divided responsibility. A flatter and organic structure of post-bureaucracy is fundamental to allow employees to be more creative and capable of adapting themselves to the variety of new problems faced in todays competitive environment.There is also a reduction in the level of hierarchy to allow employees to take greater responsibility, which in offspring increases job satisfaction (du Gay, 2005). On the contrary, greater responsibility can actually cause greater stress for employees, as they now no longer have the same level of protection that bureaucracies can provide. Nevertheless, the idea-type of post-bureaucracy also imposes problems such as lost of run into, risk and unfairness (Knights and Willmott, 2006). The cla ims of the death of bureaucracy and the egress of Post- bureaucracy are further debated.Evidence of bureaucracy model is shown in George Ritzers McDonaldization. Ritzer defines McDonaldization as, the do work by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the earth (Ritzer, 2009, p. 4). The fast-food industry is the paradigm of McDonaldization and reflects on the instrumental cause that Weber identified. In this case, the success of McDonalds restaurants has been noniceable up till today and is because it offers consumers, workers and managers efficiency, calculability, predictability and control (Ritzer, 2009, p. 6). It provides convenience for the customer in todays fast-paced environment and customers are ensured similar taste, quantity and quality to whichever restaurant they go. McDonalds has also shown great evidence of the continuing use of Taylorism techniques for measuring, timing and evaluating work. One of the important aspects of scientific management that McDonalds have use into their business is the Fordist management style where everyone works according to an assembly disputation. Fordism has been called Taylorism plus the assembly line (Rosenberg, 1969).During the days of Ford Motors, Henry Ford implemented the fordist model in the car-manufacturing firm, and McDonalds have distinctly adapted this idea into their corporate culture. For example, the social club has designed all of its food chain branches in such a style that employees do not have to take more than deuce steps to complete their task. Further evidence suggesting that Taylors ideas have been implemented would be for example, the importance of creating the best worker for the job, through the division of tasks and specialization among workers.The method in which McDonalds for example, create their hamburger is a form of deskilling and division of task, by simplification of a tas k first broiling the burger, putting in other ingredients, adding sauce, placing them onto bread roll and so peignoir it up. From this, a break down of job task and having each case-by-case to do specific steps improves efficiency. Other aspects such as planning times, drinks dispensers and french fries machines are used to limit the time call for to complete a task, hence showing aspects of scientific management (Jozzo1000, 2007).Without this management style, McDonalds probably would not be in such predominate and efficient position in the market. However, the McDonaldization system has been heavily criticized. Despite the effect of Taylors scientific management on the workplace has increased productiveness while replacing skilled craftsman with unskilled workers, it reduces workers to automatons. Individuals equipped with advanced skills are limited to highly simplified tasks and hence restricting them from nutriment up to their human potential. It also assumes workers ar e satisfied by specie alone.Frederick Herzbergs two-factor theory has successfully supported this view. Herzberg developed a theory that contradicted Taylors ideas as he developed job enrichment. Herzberg stated that there are two factors that could motivate an individual, Hygiene and Motivator. Hygiene factors once carry out will remove job dissatisfaction but will not motivate. In order to motivate, the motivation factors must be fulfilled. This goes against Taylors ideas of workers are make primarily by salary as Herzbergs analysis proved that money is not a motivating factor (Brooks, 2009).More criticisms such as in McDonalds, tasks are repetitive and boring and hence employees are not motivated to do their job enthusiastically. Under those circumstances, it ignores the social and psychological ineluctably of the employees, which in fact exert powerful influences workers behaviours. However, comments drawn from employees working experiences in McDonalds stated otherwise. A c rew member, Michaela s instigate, Doing work experience at McDonalds made a big difference to how I approached things outside of work as well. Working on the till I learnt to make shopping center contact with commonwealth and speak clearly and with confidence invaluable skills. And it can be further argued that employees do feel motivated working at McDonalds. Working at McDonalds changed my outlook and made me a more motivated person, verbalise Umair, a crew trainer (McDonalds Corporation, 2011). The McDonaldized system is not except seen within the fast-food industry, but also fast growing in call centres, an indication of the relevant bureaucracy model which is also known as customer-oriented bureaucracy (Du Gay, 2005, p. 98). One of the features of call centres is the focus on the standardization of the service encounter.A script is provided for call wanglers to follow when talk on the phones. Supervisors regularly check on call centre staff, discover in on calls to moni tor the accuracy and general performance of the call handlers which managers are in fact keeping them under control. Taylors idea of payment method have also been successfully implemented such as call centre staffs are given a basal wage and then commission for every sale and if they meet their casual or weekly tar draws, they are given additional bonuses (Health synthetic rubber Executive, 2003).The technology offered today had in fact gradually made organizations become more bureaucratic and aptized. For instance, Amazon had significantly shown to be a highly structure and highly sensibleized organization in todays competitive world. According to Valdez, every item is scanned and logged on computers at every stage knows who touches what (Barkham, 2011). cater working in the storage warehouse is in point of fact macrocosm controlled by the technology used today, which aid to the control of managers over workers.Furthermore, the warehouse processes are simplified to preven t any human error. In short, aspects of scientific management are seen in its day-to-day warehouse operations with the aid of technology. According to Weber, bureaucracy is the roughly rational form of management. Despite the advantages bureaucracy offers such as efficiency and predictability, beneath the rational system lays the irrationality of rationality. People are dehumanized as they are being case-hardened as machine like cogs in a well-oiled machine (Kast and Rosenzweig, 1979).In addition, rather of remaining efficient, bureaucracies can become increasingly inefficient (Ritzer, 2009, p. 29). For example the case of IKEA, in terms of efficiency, it offers one-stop furniture shopping with a wide part of products. Furniture sold is unassembled, and customers are required to reassemble the parts themselves when they get home. Yet there are a variety of irrationalities associated with the rationality of IKEA, most notably the poor quality of most of its products. Although fur niture is supposedly informal to assemble, many are more likely to think of it as impossible-to-assemble (Ritzer, 2009). withal the issue about irrationality of rational system, the iron cage of rationality is drawn into further concern. Weber views bureaucracy as a cage, in a sense that people are trapped in them without their primary humanity. The fear for that bureaucracy would grow more and more rational and will dominate an increasing number of sectors of society which society would eventually become nothing more than a seamless web of rationalized structures there would be no escape (Ritzer, 2009, p. 30).A good example will be a 30 days Europe package tour. Bus travels through only the major cities in Europe, allowing tourists to view and take pictures of sights in the time allowed and then hop on to the next city. With the rationalization of even their recreational activities, people are in fact seen to be living in the iron cage of rationality, treating themselves like ma chines (Ritzer, 2009). Lastly, it is argued that bureaucracy ignores the substantive rationality and do not mission about morality and moral, they are about getting the task done as quickly as possible.The Holocaust case illustrates a good example that the bureaucratic practice made the Holocaust instrumentally rational while, not being substantively rational. Almost everyone will agree that the Holocaust practice of the massacre of a race of people is irrational, yet the fact that instrumentally rational methods could be applied to it, it exhibits the moral blindness of bureaucracy (Knights and Willmott, 2006). However, Du Gay argued otherwise. Bureaucracy do embodies an important ethic that is fairness.Such as bureaucracy does not care about employees gender or culture background but only cares about the basis of experience and qualifications since this is what will be most efficient. It is said to safeguard against discrimination. Given these points, bureaucracy embodies rather than ignore the moral and ethics (Du Gay, 2005). Indeed, bureaucracy like any other styles of management, inherently has both negative and positive effects, however some major aspects of bureaucracy and scientific management are still currently being successfully implemented in work and organizations today.Especially to those characterized by large-scale size, routine tasks and to those performance of which is essentially and vitally relies on high degree of hierarchy and formalization of bureaucratic form. Furthermore, the development in technology aid in the aspects of using scientific management in organizations today. Good examples will the fast-food industry and manufacturing industry. Nevertheless, in todays highly competitive business industry, organizations need to increase their level of potency through innovation and motivation of its employees at all levels.In order to handle the growing market demand for constant innovation, a reduction of management structure might b e necessary. Yet the core features of bureaucracy such as formalization, hierarchy, rules, staff expertise, conformance and clear accountability remain without doubtfulness essential for organizations to deal with increasing competition. Therefore, to conclude, the classical school has withstood the test of time as it is still relevant to work and organization today. (2200 words) References Adler, Paul S. (1999) edifice Better Bureaucracies. Academy of Management Executive, 13(4), pp. 6-49. Barkham, Patrick (2011) Amazon warehouse gears up for Christmas bucket along on Cyber Monday. The Guardian, online 1 December. 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