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The historical origin of bureaucracy is to be

found in four sources:

1.

religion2. the formation of the state

3. commerce

4. and technology

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The growth of trade and commerce adds anew, distinctive dimension to bureaucracy,insofar as it requires the keeping of accountsand the processing/recording of transactions,as well as the enforcement of legal rules

governing trade. In modern capitalist society, private sector

bureaucracy is larger than governmentbureaucracy, if measured by the number of

administrative workers in the division of laboras a whole.

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Both men agree that modern methods oforganization have tremendously increased theeffectiveness and efficiency of production and

organization and have allowed anunprecedented domination of man over theworld of nature.

They also agree that the new world ofrationalized efficiency has turned into amonster that threatens to dehumanize itscreators.

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Weber disagrees with Marx when the latter

sees alienation as only a transitional stage onthe road to man's true emancipation.

Marx had documented in great detail how thecapitalist industrial organization led tot eh

expropriation of the worker form the means ofproduction; how the modern industrial worker,in contrast to the artisan of the handicraft era,did not own his own tools and was hence

forced to sell his labor to those who controlledhim.

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CharismaticDomination

Traditional

Domination

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Charismatic Auhority

Resting on devotionto the exceptionalsanctity, heroism orexemplary character

of an individualperson, and of thenormative patterns ororder revealed or

ordained by him.

Traditional Authority

Form of leadership inwhich the authority ofan organization or aruling regime islargely tied totradition or custom.

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It is also known as rational authority, legalauthority, rational domination, legaldomination, or bureaucratic authority.

Form of leadership in which the authority of anorganization or a ruling regime is largely tiedto legal rationality, legal legitimacy andbureaucracy.

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In traditional authority, the legitimacy of theauthority comes from tradition.

According toWeber, the attributes of modernbureaucracy include its impersonality,

concentration of the means of administration, aleveling effect on social and economicdifferences and implementation of a system ofauthority that is practically indestructible.

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The historical and administrative reasons forthe process of bureaucratization (especially intheWestern civilisation)

The impact of the rule of law upon thefunctioning of bureaucratic organisations

The typical personal orientation andoccupational position of a bureaucratic officials

as a status group The most important attributes and

consequences of bureaucracy in the modernworld

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is personally free and appointed to his position onthe basis of conduct

exercises the authority delegated to him in

accordance with impersonal rules, and his or herloyalty is enlisted on behalf of the faithfulexecution of his official duties

appointment and job placement are dependentupon his or her technical qualifications

administrative work is a full-time occupation work is rewarded by a regular salary and

prospects of advancement in a lifetime career

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As MaxWeber himself noted, real bureaucracywill be less optimal and effective than his idealtype model. Each ofWeber's seven principles candegenerate:

Competences can be unclear and used contrary tothe spirit of the law; sometimes a decision itselfmay be considered more important than its effect;

Nepotism, corruption, political infighting and

other degenerations can counter the rule ofimpersonality and can create a recruitment andpromotion system not based on meritocracy butrather on oligarchy.

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Even a non-degenerated bureaucracy can be

affected by common problems: Overspecialization, making individual officials

not aware of larger consequences of theiractions.

A phenomenon of group thinking - zealotry,loyalty and lack of critical thinking regardingthe organisation which is perfect and always correct by definition, making the organisationunable to change and realise its own mistakesand limitations

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In the most common examples bureaucracy can

lead to the treatment of individual humanbeings as impersonal objects. This process hasbeen criticised by many philosophers andwriters (Aldous Huxley, George Orwell,Hannah Arendt) and satirized in the comicstripDilbert,TV show The Office, Franz Kafka'snovels The Trial and The C astle , DouglasAdams' story The Hitchhiker's Guide to theGalaxy, and the films Br azil and Office Space.