Max Weber´s Theory of Bureaucracy and its Negative Consequences

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Ergonomics, grade: 1,0, Technical University of Chemnitz (Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Professur für Organisation und Arbeitswissenschaft), language: English, abstract: The text at hand deals with Max Weber¿s theory of bureaucracy and its negative consequences in Robert K. Merton¿s functional analysis. The starting point is the description of what Weber understands as rationalization and his conceptualization of the three types of legitimate domination. The purest and most rational type of legal domination is in Weber¿s eyes bureaucracy with its benefits of precision, calculability, controllability and efficiency ¿ in short, with its technical superiority. Weber¿s position concerning bureaucratization is ambivalent, because he also sees the negative consequences in dehumanization and excessive control, which ends in an ¿iron cage¿. Merton analysis outlines the dysfunctions resulting from bureaucratic structures. The negative consequences he identifies are the displacement of goals, the trained incapacity, over-conformity and esprit de corps of the officials and the depersonalization of relationships.