The impact of Bureaucracy on attempt to develop Learning Organisation

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The impact of Bureaucracy on attempt to develop
Learning Organisation
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Summary

• 1. What is the bureaucracy ?
• Definition and concept
• 2. The vicious circle of bureaucracy
• Merton analysis
• Crozier analysis
• 3. Conclusion The impact

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1. What is the Bureaucracy ?
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Weber described the ideal type bureaucracy in
positive terms

• Bureaucracy is a concept in sociology and
  political science referring to the way that the
  administrative execution and enforcement of legal
  rules are socially organized. Four structural
  concepts are central to any definition of
  bureaucracy

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• a well-defined division of administrative labour
  among persons and offices,
• a personnel system with consistent patterns of
  recruitment and stable linear careers,
• a hierarchy among offices, such that the
  authority and status are differentially
  distributed among actors, and
• formal and informal networks that connect
  organizational actors to one another through
  flows of information and patterns of cooperation.

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2. The vicious circle of bureaucracy
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Merton analysis
Merton explains that every need of a customers is
put into categories, and each need has an only
way to be satisfied.
The vicious circle according to Merton appears
when there are troubles within the mechanic
organisation that in order to fix it strengthen
its rules which are the cause of the troubles.
This kind of organisation is not able to learn
from its errors, furthemore the troubles keep
growing more and more.
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Intended
Un-intended
Merton 1936
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Crozier analysis
He wrote The Bureaucratic Phenomenon in 1964 as
the re-examination of Weber concept of the
efficient ideal bureaucracy.
"A bureaucratic organization is an organization
that can not correct its behaviour by learning
from its errors"
He explains the Theory of bureaucratic
dysfunction which shows how much bureaucracy can
be un efficient in a lot of domains.
His theory is based on the observation that in
situations where almost every outcome has been
decided in advance according to a set of
impersonal and predefined rules and regulations,
the only way in which people are able to gain
some control over their lives is to exploit
'zones of uncertainty' where the outcomes are
not already known.
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3. Conclusion The impact.
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Diference between Mechanistic and Organic
organisations
Mechanistic Organic
Structure Rigid Flexible
Tasks Standardised Ill Defined
Change Resisted Receptive
Authority Positional Expertise Knowledge
Control Hierarchy Self Peers
Communication Direction Downward In all directions
Communication Content Instructions Information Advice
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The impact of bureaucracy on attempt to develop
learning organisation is impressive, indeed there
are contradictions between the learning
organisations development and the bureaucracy
effects within the organisation.
Bureaucracy is inadapted to the learning
organisations due to the fact that bureaucracy
is not able to learn from its experience and
that learning organisations are based on their
ability to develop itself.
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Thank you for your attention !