Post Bureaucracy And Network Society

shoes bureaucratism And Net mildew SocietyOrganisations nearly the world occupy compoundd their structures, the internal worldly concern get alongrial strategies in order to survive in spite of appearance a competitive market and hence evolved to best cause the external milieu they operate in. E actually boldness in todays time has to be utile in order to be in business and therefore it must organise its structure, (Grahame .F. Thompson 2003 Oxford University Press). In the 21st century a revolution of globalisation, learning technology and cultural change has do corporate judicatures to re-think and re-structure themselves to better suit the needs of workers, employers, consumers and the future of the company as a whole. There has been a social change in the division of labour and fantasys of Post crossism and conciliative specialisation has come up in the last quarter of a century, (Tony J. Watson 2003 R come to the foreledge). In this essay we will see the shif t from pulverisation eccentric person bureaucracy towards a profit troupe and the emergence of post bureaucratic organisations in todays preservation which is establish on association and innovation. unless this leaves us with an argument that is a post bureaucratic organisational be predominant in the internet society/ intimacy base economy? In the last menti singled part of this essay we see some evidence of bureaucracy and its elements serene present in Network Organisations. To understand this and come to a fair(a) conclusion we must know what atomic do 18 bureaucratic organisation, post bureaucratic organisations and network organisations.As we know that bureaucracy is a highly integrated dodge of administration it was seen in the late 1920s as be highly supremacyful in the era of capitalist and wad fruit and administrative complexity. Thus, collect to its nature of world machine like it disregard moral, ethical and aroused values and was efficient. The meet and co-ordination of work task by dint of a pecking order of appropriately qualified office holders, whose authority derives from their expertness and who rationally, devise a ashes of rules and procedures are calculated to provide the most(prenominal) appropriate representation of achieving specified ends. (Tony J. Watson, 2003, Routledge, sociology, work and industry fourth edition, pg-86). Bureaucracy had a hierarchy and decision making which f meeked from top level managers to low level skilled and unskilled workers. In Weber ideal good good example Weber argued that without a proper filing corpse the bureaucratic organisation would fail and many organisations followed that and had highly secretive filing systems. Managers and workers were allocated task gibe to technical expertise. There was a framework of rules to be followed for the outturn and functions to be autoried out. Decisions made were non affected by emotions or personal preferences exactly define d by system of rules and under the official jurisdictional area. But the ideal sour is for us to understand that it is unachiev adapted but by means of which reality croup be compared. (Tony J. Watson, 2003, Routledge). Bureaucracy is a thought of sociology and political science and croupe be seen in many government agencies, life- sized manufacturing firms, hospitals, and many academic institutions, (Reference). As the government of states grew larger during the novel period, modern bureaucracies arose and especially following the Industrial Revolution, (Osborne David and Gaebler Ted, 1993, Plume). The major changes which gave pass over to the factory system was that the workforce of labour shifted from hand production much(prenominal) as working in the fields to a function driven machinery system. This revolution made division of labour more complicated, hierarchy gave managers more control, superior surveillance and coercive authority, enabled capitalist to deliver g reater reward, moral machinery was introduced to break the opponent from employees, and reduction of skill on which workers relied caused a reduced labour cost, (Paul Thompson and David McHugh, 2009, Palgrave Macmillan). (Give Examples of British companies as well as worldwide)Bureaucracy was at its height with the rise of the factory system. It was transforming organisations into technically superior system of administration and production. Coordination between man and the machine and with the presentation of the assembly line everything changed. Organised and detailed think were the key features of Technical superiority. Rationality helped large firms achieve more out of the workers by allowing them to do simplified work in a formalized manner to achieve aptitude and limit the decision making power to the top down hierarchy. Limiting workers decision making and increasing aptitude by ground rules clearly defined without personal prejudice and emotional values. Control was achi eved by reducing and restricting vital information and association lead to more direct control from the management. Organisations used bureaucratic structures non but to retain the most earning but many of its features benefited the workers, there was credit line security, grievances procedures and demarcation, etc. This wave caused the workers something to look forward to and see the organisation in a positive manner, (Paul Thompson and David McHugh, 2009, Palgrave Macmillan).Taylorism and FordismTaylors principles were found on bureaucracy and the phenomena were called scientific management. This was a typical example where an organisation was successful at the time when bureaucracy was at its heights. This was not an ideal sign Webers model but it byword social aspects of the organisation where employees were also benefited but the big chunk of network was taken by organisation. Employees were precondition specialised routine tasks and which being motorize with proper coordination of human work effort led to Scientific management. It had a success with organised labour in which manager had a concept of soldiering on the employee because Taylor thought that it is a tendency for men to take it easy without proper surveillance. He had one best way of organising work. In counties like France and Britain experiments on Taylors scientific management started taking place, his ideas of time reputation and piece rate working gave rise to Taylorism, (Thompson and McHugh, 2009, Palgrave Macmillan). One of the models of Taylorism states that an official piece of ass work his way up the career hierarchy within a few years from being a simple worker to a middle level manager and even in some cases as high as the top management. This was the minimum interaction model expound by littler (1982), (Tony J. Watson, 2003, Routledge). In many parts of Britain and Europe Bedeaux system came through and Sweden and Germany followed districting paths but were influenc ed by Taylorism, (Thompson and McHugh, 2009, Palgrave Macmillan).Henry ford was Fordism became popular after(prenominal) the assembly line was introduced in factory working which increased efficiency many folds. This was the era of mass production were the employees were consumers and part of the market. What made the car factories a success were his detailed supervision, planning management strategies and close supervision. Ford gave his employees something to look forward to in terminuss of material benefits such as incentives, high wages, and could nonplus a ford car of their own in a number of years. This made them loyal and a sense of imprecate emerged, (Tony J. Watson, 2003, Routledge).Post Bureaucracy and Network SocietyPost Bureaucratic organisations emerged when organisations make up it tight to cope up with strict rules and defined boundaries of the bureaucratic structure. With the introduction of advance technology being used in the modern age the organisational stru cture has changed in many large-scale industries. The age of mass production seemed to be over and highly specialised customer need abstract had to be done. During the time of Henry ford cars were produced in bulk which was trite in its appearance, style and technology. Nowadays we have entered the 21st century where cars are customised according to the needs of a specific customer. We have shifted from a factory type mass production to a customer oriented knowledge based economy where many authors believe bureaucracy is of the past. The ideal type of post bureaucratic structure has more of a dialog based and handling rather than commands given where individual expertise is given credit. here(predicate) we see flat hierarchy which was needed in network society to work efficiently on project based mold and sort tasks, (Heckscher .C, Donnellon .A, 1994, Sage Publications). The changes that are prominent in the network form of organisation are that there are workers and mathemat ical groups with flat hierarchy who take decisions based on their knowledge and expertise. There are team based group doing projects and working together either from the office or from other sites. Networks have proved a useful alternative conception in analysing how a range social activity is organised and governed at a number of levels, (Graham .F. Thompson, 2003, Oxford university press). In modern organisations the concept of flat organisational structure has been introduced and work has been split into many groups and teams of professional workers, where a set of employees take decisions at several(a) levels of the work process. This also contributes to the innovation where employees have the immunity to make decisions and exertion their expertise. Most of the employees are treated with formal equality and joint social status in the network organisation, (Graham .F. Thompson, 2003, Oxford university press). Basically what the author is trying to say is that network organis ations gave more freedom to work and a sense of equality amongst the workers and employees. This can be seen in highly value added services, like education, medicine, law firms etc. The Network organisations are based on a high aver culture it has low level of formal division of labour.Networks developed as business shifted from bureaucratic system to a more flexible system because organisations had to survive in the age of technology, innovation and globalisation. The rise of post bureaucratic structure was thought to be due to three major factors such as globalisation, information technology and cultural change. Globalisation caused high form of competition as the markets to expand and overstretch national boundaries. numerous organisations undetermined branches in other countries and corporate culture was born. This was the era of professionals where knowledge and networking were given vastness. Because bureaucratic structures could not cope up with change and adaptability P ost bureaucratic organisations had more flexible control process and were more proactive towards its surround. devising connections and providing service was part of almost every organisation regardless of its size and nature. Another major change that gave rise to Post bureaucracy was the change of technology and innovation. Information technology is required for an organisation to stay in business without communication and innovation a business cannot survive in long term. Some people suggest that culture also influenced Post bureaucratic rise in the network organisation. Consumers are given importance in the network society is based on consumerism, relativism and individualism, unlike in the bureaucratic structure, (Manuel Castells, 2000, Blackwell Publishers).Evidence of Post Bureaucratic Forms in Network Organizations (Castells, Journals)Many authors such as Castells suggest that post bureaucratic systems are the only way of the future of the knowledge based economy. This is a very hard-core and too optimistic approach yet we see that a pristine bureaucratic organisational structure has failed to adapt into a network society. We know that due to change in administration in knowledge based economy bureaucracy has been replaced by a more flexible and adaptable organisational structure. Social, technological and economic change, multi-tasking work and the need for analysing data at different levels has shifted network society to engage the workers with high trust, empowerment, de-centralised decision making in knowledge economy, (Give Examples).Many organisations stared de-bureaucratizing because Webers concept of control was seen as an exercise of control on the alkali of knowledge but in network organisations there had to a freedom to exercise indirect control where employees would practise self discipline and very less supervision was needed. They had to exchange information and knowledge to be mod which meant being proactive towards the environme nt for a long-term survival for the organisation. The concept of disagree to agree is used as friendly constructive discussion for decision making. We know that through empowerment high performance work systems are possible which has shifted from a factory type system where one could not act out of the official jurisdiction of their job description. In many value added organisations empowerment given to employees can lead to success of the firm/company (give example). (Paul Du Gay, 2005, Oxford University Press). Total quality management and customer ecstasy are relatively mod methods of the Post-Bureaucratic structure which are used by organisations in the network society and knowledge based service industry. The famed legend in automobile industry Henry Ford ideas of mass production have shifted to some extent to a customised vehicle for a specific customer. An article by John Ovretiveit showed that TQM was applied to many hospitals and clinics across Europe became widespread since the 1990s. This method helps organisations deliver better quality control and customer satisfaction essential in knowledge based economy, (John Ovretiveit, 13/2 200 74-79, International Journal of health care quality assurance). TQM has been seen as a useful tool but many experts believe that it is difficult to respect and is difficult to implement. Whereas we see that in bureaucracy implementation and supervision were regarded highly and Taylors scientific management made it easy for firms to implement policies and evaluate them according to tasks specified to workers according to their official jurisdiction. As Richard Sennett says that there are three deficits of structural change are loyalty, informal trust and accommodative information faced by firms trying to de-bureaucratise, (Richard Sennett, 2004, Yale University Press).Evidence of Bureaucratic elements mute present in Network Organizations (Reed M, Journals)Many Organisations have started to re-bureaucratize becau se there is a problem with the high trust, empowerment, shared responsibility and personal treatment. The concept of re-bureaucratizing has been discussed by many authors that instead of organisations shifting from bureaucracy they simply clean up the bureaucracy in their organisation (Heckscher .C, Donnellon .A, 1994, Sage Publications). Webers Ideal model of bureaucracy can be re-theorized to include any non-contradictory attributes. His ideal type therefore cannot yield a clear distinction between bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic organizations, unless bureaucracy is flattened into hierarchy, and post-bureaucratic into non-hierarchical. But hierarchy cannot be eliminated from complex organizations, and bureaucracy can be re-theorized to include any non-contradictory attributes. (Harro M. Hoopfl, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 19 No. 1, 2006, 8-21, Emerald Group Publishing Limited).Charles Heckscher, the author of The Post-Bureaucratic Organisation talks clos ely the theory of contingency, which is clearly not bureaucratic in nature. The best form of organisational structure should be that which suits the environmental complexities and uncertainty when organisations shift to knowledge based economy. If organisations work under the highly bureaucratised system they would not be able to work effectively, but it is argued that bureaucratic forms have a greater substance mobilising human energy and cooperation. The author of Lost in translation Simon Norton suggests that Anglo-American approaches of new public management may not be competent and elements of bureaucracy are still present in public sectors in Japan. The determination of the research is that such systems are popular and work for countries like the States and UK. The findings also suggest that Japanese organisations give priority to the long term survival of firms and its group rather than thinking for individual performance and benefit, for example through reward mechanisms for innovation and demonstration of personal initiative, are at odds with the Japanese tradition of amae and Confucianism instead, reformers should evolve reform policy around the concept of groupism (Koh, 1989). (Simon Norton, 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited). This research shows us that Although Japan being technologically advance it still values its culture and traditions indicates elements of bureaucracy which means that even after entering a knowledge based environment flat hierarchy may not be so suitable as perceived by many authors. In some organisations in network society direct control is being observed in which employees are monitored and supervised. Another finding by Rachel Parker and Lisa Bradley suggests that bureaucratic values within public sector organisations are prominent although there is an evidence of ever-changing economic trend and new public management is emerging. The control and hierarchy in public sectors show a reverse of what post bureaucratic v alues impose in an organisation. The employees viewed the monitoring and quality management systems as bureaucratic. Public sector organisations have been motivated less by pecuniary considerations than by political considerations, including the public interest, (Perry Rainey 1988). (Rachel Parker and Lisa Bradley, The Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, Vol 26, No 2 (December, 2004) 197-215).The transition towards a post-bureaucratic society is evident but the process is slow and cannot leave behind elements of bureaucracy as we have not entered a fully knowledge based economy. This is not a take on by me but, in my opinion it is like two sides of the same take up where elements of both bureaucracy and post bureaucracy are present in the modern knowledge based economy and a hybrid form emerges.