Institutionalized Organizations
This paper compares and contrasts the Bureaucracy by Max Weber and Institutionalized Organizations by Meyer and Rowan, and Myths and Ceremony. Both works œBureaucracy and œInstitutionalized Organizations incorporate bureaucracy(control, productivity, efficiency, rationality among others) as normative prospects in the institutional surroundings. Two factors contribute to formal organization growth- rational organizations tend to be an effective way of structuring work, as economies become boundary spanning and complicated (March & Simon, 2004). The other factor is that people perceive bureaucratic control important in handling the political processes in addition to the standardization demanded by political factors. Conversely, the majority of theories suppose that the existing organizational problems have a connection with control and coordination resulting to bureaucracy leading to the organizations functioning in accordance with their plans. The blueprint of the usual daily activity and rational bureaucracy differentiates the practices and structures of institutions. Institutional-racy is a term that one can use to blend the two perspectives together.
According to Rowan and Meyer, people typically understand formal organizations as systems of controlled and coordinated activities, which arise in the embedding of work in compound networks of technological links and border spanning exchanges. However, in the contemporary societies, formal organizational arrangement occurs in exceedingly institutional perspective. People manage the organizations and lead them to integrate the procedures and practices characterized by prevailing restructured notion of institutionalized and organizational work in the society. Organizations, which do so, boost their survival prospects and legitimacy autonomous of the instant effectiveness of the adopted procedures and practices. There can be pressure formed between on one side the institutionalized programs policies techniques services and products, which purpose as myths, which one can adopt ceremonially while the other side there can be, pressure of competence criteria.
To maintain ceremonial compliance, organizations, which reveal organizational rules, have a tendency to bumper their formal composition from reservations of technical actions by forming a loose combination between the usual work activities and their formal composition. Rowan and Meyer suppose that there should be a distinction formed between the usual daily activities of an organization and its formal constitution. Both find formal structure prevailing theories problematic because they suppose that the control and coordination of action refer to the critical aspects that facilitate the success of formal organizations in the contemporary world. They both think that there should be an explanation given on the augmentation of the organizations, which there is partly liberation from the conjecture that practically formal structures control and coordinate work.
Rowan and Mayer count programs technology and professions among others as the many compositions formal makeup, which act as myths. The myths in formal organization make it essential and easier to form. Given that people consider formal makeup necessary rational adequate and proper to evade illegitimacy organizations should incorporate the formal structures. Rowan and Mayer stress that phenomenon in the organizational surroundings structure the organizations and are likely to become isomorphic with the organizations. In one account of theorists who are badly prevailing exchange and technical interdependencies results to the phenomenon in organizational surroundings (March & Simon, 2004). In reference to the good account, the organizational structure reveals socially created certainty in an extensive sense, which the bad philosophers fail to capture.
Weber realized that the contemporary society requires bureaucracy, which is a kind of formal organization. In accordance with Weber (1978) bureaucracy is an efficient organizational structure. A formal organization structure has the following characteristics a rewarded administrative staff impersonal and formal communications, and record keeping in an organization bureaucratic authority placed in different positions or offices but not individuals a well-defined authority hierarchy which the people in top position command the individuals in the bottom hierarchy. Written rules and regulations that maximizes bureaucratic efficiency and operations. Bureaucrats maintain their humanity even if a bureaucracy may be impersonal and specialized (Weber, 1978). Inside any bureaucracy, informal relations invariably form and increase the satisfaction of workers to a certain extent. Informal groups may be disorderly to the bureaucracy effectiveness. A bureaucracy only invents rules depending on its expectations. At times new extenuating conditions or situations occur in a way that rules do not apply.
To realize the necessities and promote different interests of people most organizations have surfaced in the contemporary composite societies. There are two types of organizations- informal and formal organizations. Formal organizations are the organizations in civilized urbanized and industrialized contemporary societies. Because of the complexity in the society growth, there has been a rise in the size and number of formal organizations. These organizations exist in the industrial educational political and economic fields. Formal organizations define the organizations that are methodically worked-out and cautiously planned. Max Weber was the first person to make a sociological scrutiny of formal organization. In his work, Max Weber has given his notion of formal organization through bureaucracy (Weber, 1978).
Weber™s management theory of bureaucracy concentrates on grouping institutions into hierarchies by forming of control and authority. Weber recommended organizations should form detailed and comprehensive standard working dealings for all routine works. According to Max Weber Bureaucracy surfaced from traditional organization structures for instance feudalism and its increasing supremacy in the contemporary society (Weber, 1978). Weber refers to formal organizations as secondary groups intended to accomplish the set objectives. Bureaucracy is the dominant form of formal organizations. In accordance with Weber, a bureaucracy contains labor division, hierarchy, position replace-ability, impersonality communications, and written rules. Society needs organization of bureaucracies and formal organizations to be able to carry out its daily activities. People rely on the system to fulfill their basic needs and for personal welfare.
Due to the rationality, formal organizations are secondary categories intended to achieve the set objectives and are an essential feature in the modern society. The larger a formal organization is the higher the probability of becoming a bureaucracy. Five features characterize bureaucracies as formal organizations- impartiality written communication together with records written rules sharing of tasks clear tasks having accountability taking upward flow and assignments taking a downward flow. Bureaucracies can be dysfunctional even if they are an efficient component in the social organization. Bureaucratic dysfunctions may include- alienation poor communication among units red tape among others. Even though formal organizations are of beneficial importance they have, a tendency of letting self-perpetuating and small choice dominates them.
As said by Weber, a bureaucratic member is one that is tied by the works in his or her ideological and economic existence (Weber, 1978). Consequently, in bureaucracy the most stable aspect of human social life producing specific behavior in an interconnected method through common experience is an institution. Integrating organizations with value past the technical needs in sight makes loyalty and commitment amongst organizational members a key point to institutionalization. In Mayer and Rowan™s theory people, live lives in their surroundings become aware of their lives in the surroundings and depend on the lives they build in the surroundings. Institutionalization refers to the way of involving individuals to commit in the organization and simultaneously making the individuals the topic of complete organizational control. Institutionalization depends on the personal recognition with the ideas and core values of organization. The problem in institutionalization is the way organizations integrate environmental requirements and demands to survive and prosper.
A successful organization demonstrates its adjustment to a number of institutionalized features in the environment because phenomena largely structure it in the surrounding. As compared to œBureaucracy the organizational adaptation in œInstitutionalized organization are ceremonial. Rowan™s and Meyer™s theory maintains that individuals and organizations are balanced in a network of beliefs rules norms and values. Long-term survival of an organization increases as organization react to institutional rules and state structures definition. Survival relies not only in meeting the ceremonial needs of well-institutionalized surroundings and the boundary spanning links. Myth conformity and efficiency can provide resources legitimacy and finally the organizational survival. Rowan and Meyer structure organizations in a range of technology and output control strength having the production certainty. Where manufacturing organizations are unable to control output relational networks management determines success. The bureaucratic theory cannot provide the legitimacy of resources.
There is doubt if the technical bureaucracy rationality strictly expressed as means and goals can suit all kinds of organizations. Although it appears to apply to companies, which adopt the basic reason of profit maximization and governmental activities, to an extent habitual governmental works this rationality, becomes incompetent and harmful when in application to government activities, which one cannot reduce to controls and pure repetition. It is not possible to assign bureaucratic to hospitals schools among other centers for community services. These centers rely on political decisions and political needs and rational forecasts cannot determine them. œInstitutionalized organization on the other hand can suit all kinds of organizations (March & Simon, 2004). People tailor all the means and goals of institutionalized organization in such a way that they apply to all the organizations. The only concern of institutionalized organization is the core values of the organization.
In conclusion as evidenced in the paper two factors, contribute to formal organization growth- rational organizations tend to be an effective way of structuring work, as economies become boundary spanning and complicated. Because of the complexity in the society growth, there has been a rise in the size and number of formal organizations. Weber™s management theory of bureaucracy concentrates on grouping institutions into hierarchies by forming of control and authority. Bureaucracy is the dominant form of formal organizations. The larger a formal organization is the higher the probability of becoming a bureaucracy. A successful organization demonstrates its adjustment to a number of institutionalized features in the environment because phenomena largely structure it in the surrounding.
References
March, J., & Simon, H. (2004). From organizations: Cognitive limits on rationality. (pp. 532-518).
Princeton
Weber, M., (1978).Bureaucracy. Economy and Society, 2, 1003-956.
