Managing and Organizations: Taylorism and Bureaucracy

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Literature Review
Discussion
Conclusion
References

Introduction

What is the concept of Taylorism?

According to the online English dictionary the concept of Taylorism is defined as a form of production technology that breaks a job into smaller segments which can be taught easily. This concept aims at;

Minimizing use of skills and learning time.
Separate employees who are directly involved in the production process from those who are not.
Concentrate on precise measurements.
Increase job performance through motion study
Separating work execution and work planning.

The concept of Taylorism aims at maximizing work efficiency through the use of machines and workers. It is also a model that targets mass production. It involves people who are not qualified in specific fields but working there also known as quality control.

This concept was not very reliable in the old times as workers were not willing to work considering the lack of motivation. It was therefore a system that was not very effective in terms of productivity.

Taylorism concept also aimed at increasing the amounts of profits the company makes for the benefit of running of the business and paying workers wages in time.

This implies if the worker is working extra hard the employee is able to make extra profits to pay the workers there wages in time and also remain with a good balance to start the next days work (Winslow,1911).scientific management believes for maximum prosperity an employer depends on the effort put in place by his employees. However, in most cases this is not always achieved due to the following reasons;

Majority of employees do not work efficiently because they want to protect their own interests
Most employees believe that use of machines in trade will result in majority of employees losing their jobs. In addition, the mentality that even if they work hard the payment remains the same.
Rule of the thumb.

One particular disadvantage of the Taylorism concept was; it was believed to suppress and destroy creativity among employees. The process made work easy through the use technology therefore making it easy for workers to be in control of the whole process.

Taylorism process was also bias to low level workers reason being; there was a division among the majority class, which comprised of the rich and able and the minority class that was comprised of the subordinates.

Disintegration among workers meant there was no equality making the low level people less motivated which later led the workers to demand equal payment of salary and be able to participate in the decision making process.

This disorganization was believed to bring embarrassment in the top executive because qualified workers joined hands with their compatriots to demand for change and equal salary. This demonstration led to the beginning of Post-fordism that changed the entire labor organization (Rudra, 2002).

What is the concept of Bureaucracy?

Bureaucracy according to the Online English dictionary is a structure with regulations used to control activities in an organization and government. It shows the division of labor within an organization in terms of power, relationships as well as Hierarchy (Janoski, 2005).

Bureaucracy can be divided into four concepts.

Division of labor within the administration and offices.
A consistent recruitment pattern and linear career.
A form of communication network that connects the organization.
Clear division of authority among staff members.

Use of technology in work setting covers freedom of censorship. It embraces the freedom to discuss truthful and public matters that concern the public without fear of subsequent punishment. Technology should therefore be used to improve peoples condition at work and not be used as a form curiosity with the intension of harming others though messages from fax machines and emails.

This system is well applied in the Taylorism concept of management. It is also imperative that the employee preserves the autencity of information to protect others. This system is well applied in the Taylorism concept of management.

Rules should also be put in place in any work setting to reinforce balance between technology and workers (Lucey, 2004).

This applies much in the concept of Taylorism workers should be aware of the repercussions of being too inquisitive to cause harm to other employees through technology, the concept of bureaucracy gives rights to citizens or persons to assemble peacefully with a view to influence the formulation and execution of policy.

It also goes ahead to explain how workers can construct a case and appeal against unfair treatment by their employees and or, government.

The concept of bureaucracy shows that no individual is above the law it is an illustration of civil liberty. In regards to these the concept of bureaucracy is suppose to operate for the people without judging people on aspects of gender ,religion, rich or poor.

People working together should be respected equally not be judged on prejudices but according to the rules not identity also known as rational bureaucracy. The concept of Bureaucracy therefore frees people from injustices from bad leadership.

Literature Review

Organizational culture

An organization is defined as a dynamic structured process where individuals come together to achieve a certain goal. Organization knowledge is the important resource in the development and growth of a business (Vorbeck et al., 2003). Organizational culture is a set of artifacts, values, and assumptions that emerge from the interaction of organizational members.

It is the umbrella concept for a way of thinking which takes a serious interest in cultural and symbolic phenomena. Organizational culture seems to mean talking about the importance of people to symbolism-of rituals myths stories and legends-and about the interpretation of events, ideas and experiences influenced and shaped by the groups within they live (Druker,1998).

Culture is a system of common symbols and meanings. It provides shared rules, values, and beliefs governing cognitive and affective aspects of members in an organization. It creates meaning that guides human action and interprets their experiences.

It is linked to history and tradition an organization is therefore defined by culture. Each organization is believed to have a culture. Managers and executives express more interested in organizational culture to improve productivity, effectiveness and efficiency (Merkle, 1980).

Culture is also a pattern of shared basic assumptions learned by a group as it solved its problem of external adaption and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid, and be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, thought, and feeling in relation to those problems.

It is therefore the role of any organization to come up with strategies to use this powerful resource for the positive growth of the business (Berk and Berk, 2011). This can be achieved by developing factors that encourage the spread of information. This is clearly illustrated in the concept of Taylorism.

It clearly shows how knowledge and communication through technology can be used to improve work in the company as well as increase turnover. There are two principals behind how to increase knowledge in an organization (Kallinikos, 2006).

Competitive advantage and management innovation, which has cultivated knowledge creation.
Competition of the jobs, which aims at using people effectively to increase profits for the company.

Organizational culture plays a big role in influencing knowledge. Organizational culture is defined as shared values and or, beliefs through leadership (Keyton, 2011). Value is a tendency to prefer certain states of affairs over another. It determines ones view of reality. Values have both intensity and direction. They are also strategies, goals, principles or qualities considered ideal for organizational behavior.

Characteristics of organizational cultures include: being dynamic, which is composed of; competing assumptions and values, emotionally which are charged and inextricably linked to organizational members. Focus on incremental change (Willmott et al., 2010).

Leaders in any business setting should always be aware of the activities of the organization. Like for example, in any government institution it is the responsibility of leaders to ensure work is done effectively in this type of organization (Clegg, 2008).

The concept of bureaucracy is where information is channeled through a hierarchy of offices (Hill, 1992). There is also a particular line of recruitment with stable careers. The concept of bureaucracy is very rigid as compared to the Taylorism concept, which is flexible and allows for free movement of information within the organization set-up.

It therefore gives people a chance to be heard without passing through a hierarchy of offices hence information is quickly passed, this therefore ensures decisions are made quickly unlike in the bureaucratic form of government where decisions is passed slowly.

Discussion

Advantages of the concept of bureaucracy

The concept of bureaucracy has several advantages: it promises responsibility and the company is able to achieve more because control is done by top executives.

This ensures there is consistency because decisions are entirely controlled by top executives and incase change it starts from the top management. The bureaucratic concept also allows for the government to serve not only the people under its management but the entire the country thus serving the people.

This concept also allows for specialization of jobs. It therefore gives responsibility to people who are capable of doing the job well that in return promises effectiveness and maximum profits. It is also a system where fairness is a priority. It ensures people are respected for who they are, and what they are able to achieve depending on their education.

It gives an equal chance to both the rich and the poor to Christians, Muslims, gay or straight people by ensuring they are treated equally. It is a concept that had a lot of weight in the beginning of the 20 century. The disadvantage of this method was that information took longer.

Advantages of the concept of Taylorism

The Taylorism concept also had several advantages the use of computers in communication ensured information was passed in time meaning orders were delivered in time (Rudra, 2002).

This system also ensured information was passed accurately and communication between customers and client was done effectively such that incase there was a problem the customer was quickly helped out.This therefore increased productivity and improved production. The Taylorism concept also reduced human workload as computers were used more often (Taylor, 1911).

The Taylorism type of concept provides citizens with freedom of expression. The ability to communicate effectively with individuals and groups strongly influences ones professional and personal success (Janoski, 2005). Communication is the fundamental key to the growth of any business.

This concept enhances effectiveness of both individual and team performance. Most employers rank the ability to communicate as the most vital job related skill.

The key to effective communication involves active knowledgeable and Participation. Communication cycle involves two categories of messages verbal and non-verbal (Keyton, 2011). Verbal is unspoken Non-verbal is visual, audible and involves movement clues called signals.

Apart from the verbal and non-verbal knowledge, transfer can be influenced by several factors; Relational channel, partner similarity, Depreciation, what the individual knows, and interest of individuals to learn (Alvesson, 2002).

Types of organizational cultures:

Innovation-this is the type of organization where the manager not only plans the change but also participate in it.
Task-oriented-this is the type of organization where responsibly are distributed among staff.
Bureaucratic-this is the type of organization with a defined form of division of labor and there is no dependency. This form of organization is believed to limit knowledge transfer and discourage interpersonal form of communication among employees.
Completion/confrontation-this form of organization is almost similar to Bureaucratic.

The concept Bureaucracy therefore encourages dependency among employees but at the same time formalize communication, a system mostly used in military units and governments (Janoski, 2005). Although organization may limit transfer of knowledge this should be done partially and allow employees fair opportunities for the divergent of fair views and dissenting opinions (Clegg, 2008).

These are opinions aimed at improving the face of the company for commercial interest. The use of technology should promote freedom of speech, which allows truth to prevail and lies to be discarded (Tummala, 2005). It should not include publication, or broadcasts that represent or dehumanizes a group based on religion, race, color, or ethnicity in any working environment.

Conclusion

The success of any organization depends on both the employee and the employer. The employee should be able to keep up with what the employees are working on and or, the behaviors they are exhibiting. It is not correct for a leader to say he was not aware. He should focus with on means and ends to reach for goals. There are two types of employee performance that is not accepted in an organization.

Not getting results and getting the results in wrong way. Ethical business starts with ethical leadership. Everyone must do their part to make the organization successful; it is the responsibility of leaders to ensure no pitfall. Communication and technology are also important forces for the success of any company because they have an impact on how information is distributed within the company.

References

Alvesson, M. (2002). Understanding organizational culture. London: Sage.

Berk, J., & Berk, S. (2000). Quality management for the technology sector. Boston: Newnes.

Clegg, S. et al. (2008).Managing and Organizations: an Introduction to Theory and practice, 2nd edition. London: Sage.

Druker, P.F. (1998).The coming of the new organization. Harvard Business Review, January-February, 45-53.

Hill, L. B. (1992). The State of public bureaucracy. Armonk, N.Y.: Sharpe Press.

Janoski, T. (2005). The handbook of political sociology: states, civil societies, and globalization. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge University Press.

Kallinikos, J. (2006).The Consequences of information: Institutional implication of technology change. USA: Edward Elgar Press.

Keyton, J. (2011). Communication & organizational culture: a key to understanding work experiences. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Lucey, T. (2004). Management information systems. London: Thomson Learning.

Merkle, J. A. (1980). Management and ideology. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Rudra, S. (2002). Managing modernity: work, community, and authority in late- industrializing Japan and Russia. Ann Arbor, Mich: University of Michigan Press.

Taylor, F. (1911).The principles of scientific management.USA: Harper and Brothers.

Tummala, K. (2005). Comparative bureaucratic systems. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books.

Vorbeck, J., Heisig, P., & Mertins, K. (2003). Knowledge management: concepts and best practices. Berlin [u.a.]: Springer.

Willmott, H., Daft, R. L., & Murphy, J. (2010). Organization theory and design. Andover: South-Western Cengage Learning.

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