COMMUNICATION AND ORGANIZATIONS

THE PROFESSIONAL BUREAUCRACYPART TWO

Lecture 8b

ENVIRONMENTAL OVERVIEWA Reminder

2. 1.

STABLE

SIMPLE

COMPLEX

DYNAMIC

SIMPLESTRUCTURE

MACHINEBUREAUCRACY

2A.DIVISIONALIZEDBUREAUCRACY

3. PROFESSIONALBUREAUCRACY

BOX 3: ENVIRONMENT SHAPES COMMUNICATION

• WHY COMPLEX STABLE?• YOU’VE ALREADY GOT MINTZBERG’S LANGUAGE ON THIS• MORE DETAILED EXAMPLE

- Hospitals and doctors- Because the core operators – Dr.’s for example – are supposed to

deal with each client separately – that’s the “complex” – at one level people are unique

- But maintain the same type of relationship with them – that’s the “stable”.- Individual people become a diagnosis – a case – put in a

mental pidgeon hole- Old phrase – but effective - based on the idea of organizing

knowledge into easily accessible categories or “slots” in the memory

PIDGEON HOLES OF THE MIND

• When we sort information into categories – each of which are labelled – it’s easier to recall the information by recalling the label – the label is the door to the slot – the pidgeon hole.

ENVIRONMENT SHAPES COMMUNICATION

• For Dr.’s - what are these slots - pidgeon holes in the mind?- A large set of labels for diseases each of which

binds together- An idea of the illness and its symptoms, - Possible causes, - Possible developments and consequences,

and - Possible interventions to cure or mitigate the

illness.

BOX 3: STANDARDIZATION OF SKILLS

• Enormous amount of information to recall – takes years of education (after a BSc) – and years of practice (internships) to learn

• We put a high social value (and price) on this learning

• We have specialized institutions to teach this BEFORE a Dr. can formally join a hospital

• This is the essential difference between machine bureaucracies and professional bureaucracies- In the first, many of the job skills can be learned “on the job.”- In the second – Hospitals, Universities, Law firms – job skills,

including pidgeonholing – must be learned BEFORE getting the job.

ORGANIZING PROFESSIONALS• Drs. need to know what to do without being told what

to do or having detailed job descriptions- They have to respond to particular patients on the spot

• They can’t be told what to do by supervisors and they can’t tell their colleagues what to do either- Freedom and power to do well- Freedom from oversight if they do poorly

• They are also free from doing the everyday work of the organization – their time is too expensive- We want expensive professionals to be free to do the one thing they

know how to do…deal with patients, clients, students• So they have a staff - as the number of them grows the

support staff grows exponentially – gives us the shape of the professional bureaucracy

THE PROFESSIONAL BUREAUCRACY

SmallTechnostructure

Autonomous Operators in the Core

SmallMiddle Line

Strategic Apexfor Techno andSupport Staff

Large Support Staff

POWER OF OPERATING CORE IN THE PROFESSIONAL BUREAUCRACY

SUPPORT STAFF(MACHINE ORG)

OPERATING CORE(PROFESSIONAL ORG)

MANAGER COMMITTEE

STRATEGIC APEX

KEY OPERATORS

Nurses

Doctors

LEADERSHIP AT THE STRATEGIC APEX

• Highly educated operating core - averse to supervision.

• Administrative Leaders rely heavily on coordination and compromise.- They handle discrepancies that arise from the imperfect

pigeonholing process. - They act as a liaison between the organization and the

outside world. - Professionals abandon some decisions for the comfort of

their craft. This is where leadership enters – more careful and nuanced – no orders, commands.

• Highly educated operating core also averse to innovation and change.- Particularly if seen to “pushed” by administration

LEADERSHIP AT THE STRATEGIC APEX

• HOW DID SEVERAL UNIVERSITY AND HOSPITAL PRESIDENTS DESCRIBE THEIR ORGANIZATIONS WHILE I WAS WORKING THEIR AS A CHANGE CONSULTANT?

• ORGANIZED CHAOS• PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS MAY NOT

BE THE BIGGEST – UNLIKE DIVISIONALIZED MACHINE BUREAUCRACIES – BUT THEY ARE CERTAINLY THE MOST COMPLICATED.

- PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND IF YOU INTEND TO WORK IN ONE OR ARE A CLIENT