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CHAPTER COMMENTARY

The aim of this chapter is to introduce the main principles of organization and to examine

both formal and informal patterns of association.

An organization, a large impersonal group of people set up to achieve specific objectives, is

an increasingly familiar form in contemporary society. Organizations loom large from cradle

to grave and much of social life depends on the smooth activity of organizations (such as

hospitals, educational institutions). It is a mixed blessing, as organization bestows increased

predictability but inexorably draws more and more of our lives into its web (more and more

demands are made on us by its needs) and infringes our personal freedom.

Having set the scene, the text moves on to examine the work of two of the most currently

influential theorists, Weber and Foucault. Central to the former’s work is bureaucracy, or

rule by officials. The main features of Weber’s ideal type are laid out in Classic Studies Box

19.1, namely hierarchy, written rules, salaried posts, separation between post and person

and removal from direct control of the means of production. Weber’s emphasis upon

formal relations within organizations is contrasted with Blau’s study of informal relations in

a government agency. This shows that everyday working practices ran counter to written

protocols, because loyalty to social group overrode formal reporting links. Such informal

practices are commonplace even in the most apparently rigid organizations, offering both an

aid and encumbrance to that organization’s activities. The shortcomings of bureaucracy are

further developed with reference to the work of Merton and also Burns and Stalker.

Merton’s interest in the dysfunctions of bureaucracy concentrated on ways in which the

very principles of bureaucratic organization could ultimately become self-defeating. Burns

and Stalker’s famous distinction between mechanistic and organic organizations makes the

argument that structures are at least partly a function of product market situation.

The next sub-section section contrasts bureaucracy and democracy as ideal-types. The text

points out the extent to which personal information about citizens is collected and stored.

The spectre of Orwell’s ‘Big Brother’ is invoked, and there is an overview of the recent

debate in the UK about the introduction of identity cards. Such worries have long

preoccupied those mistrustful of bureaucracy’s anti-democratic tendencies. Counted among

this group are both Weber and his student Michels, who concluded that these tendencies

amounted to an iron law of oligarchy in all modern societies. The text observes that the

tension between these two phenomena is an ongoing one and that those at the top do not

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always have as much control as it might be believed. Using Your Sociological Imagination

Box 19.1, showing the gates of Auschwitz, assesses Bauman’s judgement upon the

Holocaust as the quintessential expression of bureaucratic organization. It showcases Paul

du Gay’s important defence of bureaucracy, in which he argues that its central principle,

namely that of equal treatment for all, is profoundly ethical and humanist and his argument

(against Bauman) that the Holocaust was a distortion of bureaucratic principles.

Attention is drawn to the physical characteristics of organizations and the way that buildings

become symbols of organization. This leads on to a discussion of Foucault (a Classic Study

here), who pointed out the architectural reality of Weber’s abstract ideas. Above all,

however, Foucault is known for his emphasis on surveillance within organizations. The need

for effective supervision of labour often leads to groups of workers operating in open spaces

in direct sight of superiors. Alternatively (or additionally) surveillance can involve files of

information that record the performance of those within the organization. Finally, Foucault

notes the need for activities to be ‘coordinated in time and space’ through timetabling and

regularized work patterns. Foucault’s ideas came together in his studies of prisons; he came

to feel that all organizations were to some extent based on the logic of the prison. Foucault

drew on Jeremy Bentham’s concept of the Panopticon, a prison design where the prisoners

could be seen at all times by the guards, who themselves remained behind blinds. Links are

made back to the previous debate about bureaucracy by pointing out that even in a

surveillance society there is considerable scope for resistance, resentment and revolt.

Authority does not invariably triumph.

The next section does full justice to transnational organizations – ‘organizations that span

the world’. These are of two types, international governmental organizations (IGOs) and

international non-governmental organizations (INGOs). Short summaries of each type are

presented.

The commentary moves on to cover economic organizations, namely those that operate

within capitalism. The reader gets a micro-primer in economic history, as the text traces the

emergence of large business corporations. In the face of this increasing industrial

concentration, the entrepreneur continues to persist and prosper within small and medium-

sized enterprises. However the large corporations will always have the power of monopoly

or, more commonly, oligopoly. These features of contemporary capitalism are put in

historical context with an overview of three stages or types of economic organization –

family capitalism, managerial capitalism, and welfare capitalism. On top of this is the

emergence of institutional capitalism.

Back in the contemporary world, the focus is on the international division of labour and

Perlmutter’s three types of transnational corporation: ethnocentric, polycentric and

geocentric. Such is the scale of these bodies that they can ‘plan on a global scale’ using four

webs – the Global Cultural Bazaar, the Global Shopping Mall, the Global Workplace and the

Global Financial Network. It is the ability to utilize these four webs that differentiates the

large corporations of the early twentieth century from those of the early twenty-first.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is ‘the ways in which a business seeks to align its

values and behaviour with those of its various stakeholders’ (Mallin 2009: 1). Given that the

latter may include government, suppliers, customers, employees and campaigning interest

groups, this is not an easy task, as their diverse values and behaviour may be in conflict. CSR

is part of the attempt to create a sustainable business model over the longer term by

improving relationships with key stakeholders.

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At this point the discussion turns to gender and explores the literature that has identified

organizational forms as inherently inimical to women. In this view, it is either that there are

not enough women in positions of power within organizations, or more fundamentally, that

such structures will remain male by their very nature. Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s contribution

is foregrounded, and then counterposed to that of Kathy Ferguson.

The next section focuses on alternatives to the hierarchical bureaucratic model of

organization. It examines a number of features of Japanese companies which make them

different from Weber’s ideal type. These are:

(a) bottom-up decision-making through suggestion schemes and quality circles;

(b) reduced specialization through job rotation and broader training;

(c) job security and payment in accordance with seniority;

(d) group-oriented production in cooperative teams;

(e) the merger of work and private lives, through company uniforms, songs and

leisure activities.

Such increased employee involvement can lead to greater commitment and effectiveness.

Global Society Box 19.1 looks at the changing face of McDonalds fast food stores following a

fall in sales.

Given the success of parts of the Japanese approach, the text observes the influence of

Japanese ideas on two recent innovations in Western management theory, namely human

resource management (HRM) and corporate culture. Brief portraits of these practices are

provided and both are seen as supportive of management, helping forms to better organise

their affairs. However, in recent years a body of work known as critical management

studies has challenged such conformist positions. CMS calls into question the neutrality of

currently dominant management training methods and courses, taking an essentially

conflict theoretical position. A second recent perspective is actor-network theory which

emerged from sociological studies of scientific practice. ANT tries to bring in non-human

actors to the study of organizations and networks, what its advocates call ‘the missing

masses’. Machines, buildings, documents and other ‘artefacts’ are taken into ANT accounts

of the operation of organizations and the suggestion that people may not be the central

part of such accounts has been particularly controversial.

The next section on networks documents the way that the effects of information technology

are modifying Foucault’s view of organizations as physically located in space. Drawing on

Castells’s concept of the network society and the network enterprise, the text uses

Benetton as an example of a networked business operation. The chapter closes with a topic

that has come to prominence, namely the whole well of research dealing with social capital,

not initiated but certainly energized by Putnam’s Bowling Alone which reaches pessimistic

conclusions about the impact of mass media. However, the chapter closes on a more

optimistic note, rehearsing some recent empirical research which may suggest not the

decline but simply the reinvention of community in a global and digital age.

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TEACHING TOPICS

1. Formality and informality in organizations

The aim here is to cover the issue raised in the section on ‘Organizations’. The emphasis is

on understanding what bureaucracy involves, and appreciating its potential worth as well as

its dangers.

2. Foucault, surveillance and organizations

This topic is drawn from the material dealing with Foucault within ‘Organizations’. There are

two specific aims here: first, to draw attention to the influential debate about surveillance in

organizations, and, second, to deal with the issues of time and space which it raises, and

which are integral to the Giddens's approach.

3. Bureaucracy and after

This aims to pull together a wide range of narratives about ‘new’ forms of organization that

have come into being to rectify the faults of traditional or ‘bureaucratic’ structures. It also

offers an opportunity to assess the extent and nature of organizational change in the

contemporary world.

ACTIVITIES

Activity 1: Formality and informality in organizations

A. Read pages 828-32 of Sociology including Box 19.1 ‘Defending bureaucracy’ on Bauman

and du Gay. Then look at the following passage:

BUREAUCRACY. The word conjures up images that range from inability to get

anything done, to fat cats abusing power. It is now considered almost heretical to

have any business structure that remotely resembles a bureaucracy. But I believe

that bureaucracy still has a place in today’s organisation …

The rules of the bureaucratic organisation were devised to make appointments and

promotions on the basis of a candidate’s ability to do the job at a time when

nepotism was the norm. However the increasing importance of customer service

for many organisations means that the bureaucratic structure has come to be

regarded as, at best, inadequate and, at worst, debilitating. But is this really so?

There are several management techniques available that offer to monitor and

control customer service. Three areas, in particular, use similar methods to those

recommended for bureaucracy.

Quality assurance, BS 5750, ISO 9000 and Investors in People are all examples of

systems set up to guarantee that procedures are carried out to agreed

specifications. Most involve the creation of a network of checks and balances to

ensure compliance with the expectations of stakeholders. One has to ask how this

kind of system differs from the rule-based system defined by Weber: both involve a

set of exhaustive rules to cover every situation, and from which employees can

learn.

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There will be many proponents of ‘quality’ systems who are keen to stress the

differences between their systems and bureaucracy. But the fact remains that both

systems seek compliance from, and the close monitoring of, employees’ work.

Quality systems are comparatively new, but there are already examples of

employees following procedures that have not changed in accordance with

customer needs. ‘Quality’ people will argue that the integrity of the quality

procedure is still intact and that the problem lies with those who administer the

quality procedures. Weber could say the same for his bureaucratic model.

(Mike Healy, ‘Max Weber’s comeback, wearing topical hats’, People Management,

11 Jan. 1996)

1. Based on a reading both of the text and the passage, think about ways in which

bureaucratic rules and procedures could be regarded as both help and hindrance.

2. Try to recall situations when you have been either the victim or the beneficiary of

bureaucratic organization.

B. Now read the following extracts from Blau’s classic account of informal practices in an

employment agency:

The receptionists were responsible for screening clients. They had a list of all

occupations for which job openings were currently available. Clients in these

occupations were told by the receptionist to wait for an interview; the others were

sent home and given a date for a reappointment. This was not a pleasant task. The

receptionist had to tell many clients, some of whom needed a job desperately, that

they could not be helped on a certain day.

Rules governed the ‘due-date’ procedure, that is, the reappointment date that

receptionists had to give to applicants who could not be referred to a job. … All five

receptionists interpreted this procedure liberally. They exercised discretion,

frequently giving earlier due dates than specified, and occasionally seating a client

for an interview who should have been sent home …

The receptionists’ liberal interpretation of the due-date procedure did not interfere

with operations directly. … The supervisor made allowances for clerical discretion

because it contributed to work satisfaction without disrupting those operations for

which he was responsible.

However, the discretion of receptionists had the result that more clients than could

be handled came to department X and that applicants did not receive equitable

treatment. It was consequently dysfunctional for the regulation of the flow of

applicants and for their impartial treatment.

(Peter Blau, The Dynamics of Bureaucracy, rev. edn, Chicago: University of Chicago

Press, 1963, pp. 28–31)

1. Reflect on your reactions to the passage. Would your views change if you placed yourself

in the position of (a) a receptionist; (b) a manager; (c) a client?

2. Think about the relationship in organizations between process and product. If it is

necessary to have strictly observed codes of conduct in order to prevent, for instance,

racial discrimination or sexual harassment, do the ends justify the means?

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3. Now turn your mind to your own organization, which is in this case a school, college or

university. On your own or in groups try to identify the main rules and procedures which

govern your activities and those of your tutors.

Activity 2: Foucault, surveillance and organizations

A. Read pages 832-4 and Foucault’s boxed Classic Study 19.2 on pages 835-6, then

consider the following passage:

The character of disciplinary space, according to Foucault, derives primarily not

from the association of an organization with a specific piece of territory but from

the farming of space. Lines, columns, measured walled intervals are its

distinguishing features. It is not any particular part of the building that matters, but

its overall relational form. The classroom exemplifies this phenomenon. In the

eighteenth century, in France and elsewhere, classes come to be divided internally

into clearly delimited rows, externally separated by a connecting system of

corridors. These are curricular as well as spatial divisions. Individuals move through

such partitions not only in the course of the day but also during their educational

careers …

Discipline depends upon the calculative division of time as well as space. The

monastery, after all, was one of the first places in which the day was temporally

regulated in a precise and ordered fashion. The religious orders were the masters of

the methodical control of time, and their influence, diffuse or more direct, was felt

everywhere …

The Gobelins school was one instance of a general trend in eighteenth-century

education, in Foucault’s words an expression of a ‘new technique for taking charge

of the time of individual existences’. … Some seventy years after the school was set

up, a new type of training was initiated for the apprentices; it was first of all

complementary to the existing modes of procedure. Unlike those modes of

procedure, it was based on the careful serial arrangement of time. The children

attended the school for two hours a day. Classes were divided according to ability

and previous experience. Allotted tasks were carried out in a regular fashion,

appraised by the teacher and the most able rewarded. Progression between classes

was governed by the results of tests administered to all pupils. Day-to-day

behaviour was recorded in a book kept by teachers and their assistants; it was

periodically looked at by an inspector.

(Anthony Giddens, The Constitution of Society, Cambridge: Polity, 1984, pp. 147–9)

1. Once again, gauge your own reactions to this portrait of organization. Decide whether

you feel it is oppressive and regimented, or efficient and effective.

2. With reference to the organization of your own course of study, make notes on the ways

in which timing and spacing come into play inside the institution. Try to evaluate (in a

constructive way!) how effectively this operates.

B. Now look at this extract:

Though modern surveillance originated in specific institutions such as the army, the

corporation, and the government department, it has grown to touch all areas of

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life. This was brought home to me personally during a recent move from Britain to

Canada. My family and I could not fully participate in Canadian society until our

details had been transferred into a number of databases. This began on arrival at

Toronto International Airport, as the travel-tired family lined up at Employment and

Immigration Control. Details had to be keyed into the computer before we could

continue to our destination in Kingston, Ontario.

No sooner were we installed in Kingston than we had to obtain health care cards,

Social Insurance Numbers, bank cards and a university staff card, each of which

relates to personal details stored in a computer database. We could not be

employed, acquire medical or accident coverage, or obtain money without these.

However much we like cycling, it is hard to get around without a car, so we had to

get drivers’ licences, which again link our records by computer. Surprisingly soon

after arriving, we started receiving ‘personal’ advertising mail which indicated once

more that yet other computers contained data about us, gleaned from the

telephone company, which also lists – and sells – essential facts about us. Other

agencies than the phone company do just the same.

As soon as we began the process of buying a house, the quest for electronic

verification intensified. Mortgage companies demanded details of the crucial Social

Insurance Number (which would reveal immediately whether we were bona fide

citizens, permanent residents or temporary workers) because such financial

transactions are of interest to the tax authorities. Equipping ourselves with a

cooking stove, washing machine and fridge involved similar proof of (credit-)

worthiness in terms of bankcard and credit-card numbers. As a university professor,

I find myself in the relatively privileged position of either possessing the right

number of sequences to unlock these electronic doors or of being able to explain

that things will soon be in place. But the same processes are clearly experienced in

quite different ways by those lacking access to the appropriate plastic cards or

numbers.

(David Lyon, The Electronic Eye, Cambridge: Polity, 1994, pp. 5–6)

1. Make a list of all the objects you have with you which provide identification or access to

some important resource. Consider your feelings in relation to them. Does their

existence provide you with reassurance or anxiety?

2. Make a list of as many social situations you can think of where some form of surveillance

is involved. Some possibilities are:

• a ‘neighbourhood watch’ patrol

• closed circuit camera outside a sports stadium

• the logging of the visits you make to internet sites

• baby-sitting

Activity 3: Bureaucracy and after

A. Read pages 845-8 of the text. Make careful notes on the main features of the new

management practices and how they differ from bureaucratic ones.

B. Do some research to find out more about how a Japanese-style factory actually operates.

Look for features that remind you of Weber’s ideal-type. How much room is there for the

sort of informality described by Blau earlier in the chapter?

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REFLECTION & DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Formality and informality in organizations

If bureaucracy is so powerful, why do workers so often find scope for informal

practices?

Can you think of situations where it is to your advantage to be dealt with in a

rigidly bureaucratic manner?

What did Merton mean when he wrote of bureaucracy becoming ‘dysfunctional’?

Foucault, surveillance and organization

Is surveillance a problem if you have nothing to hide?

Can a modern society operate without the organization of time and space?

Would it still be possible to live in society without forms of identification?

Bureaucracy and after

Is there something inherently male about large organizations or do they just need more

women in them?

Are ideas about corporate culture any less rigid than the administering of bureaucratic

rules?

Would it be wise to run a whole economy on the principles of making French bread?

ESSAY QUESTIONS

1. Given that bureaucracies seem so singularly unloved, why do they continue to exist in

contemporary societies?

2. Assess the relationship between the work of Max Weber and Michel Foucault in their

approaches to organization.

3. Explain and evaluate Manuel Castells’s claim that the ‘network enterprise’ is the

organizational form best suited to a global information economy.

MAKING CONNECTIONS

Formality and informality in organizations

The discussion of Blau’s work in this context would be an excellent way into exploring the

material on social interactions and ‘front region, back region’ in Chapter 8. Both extracts

concern the organization of work activities and thus they can usefully be read in conjunction

with the material from Chapter 7.

Foucault, surveillance and organizations

The structuring of time and space in Foucault’s work can be further developed through

recourse to the discussion of space and time in Chapter 3. The emphasis on the disciplinary

character of organization might usefully be combined with material on prisons and

punishment in Chapter 21. The more ambitious might want to explore parallels between

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Lyon’s comments on electronic data and the ‘information age’ concept covered in Chapter

4.

Bureaucracy and after

The recent trends in organizational structures could be tied into labour market flexibility

(Chapter 7) or any of the treatments of global forces that recur throughout the book. Barbie

appears as a cultural symptom of globalization in Chapter 4. For the more ambitious the

arguments about the persistence of face to face working arrangements might be tied back

to the treatment of social interaction in Chapter 8.

SAMPLE SESSION

Formality and informality in organizations

Aims: To introduce the concept of bureaucracy and to assess the applicability of Weber’s

ideal type in organizational situations.

Outcome: By the end of the session students will be able to:

1. List the characteristics of a Weberian ideal-type bureaucracy.

2. Distinguish between formal and informal relations.

3. Apply theories of organization to empirical case studies.

Preparatory tasks

Read the relevant sections of Sociology. Then complete Tasks A1 and A2.

Classroom tasks

1. Tutor to write up features of bureaucracy from Sociology. List to remain on

board/flipchart throughout the session. (5 minutes)

2. Students offer examples of encounters with organizational bureaucracy. Tutor to help

by listing key ideas arising on board. (10 minutes)

3. Tutor issues extract by Blau for students to read. Class read and then tutor leads

discussion on questions 1 and 2 which follow. (15 minutes)

4. Split class into small groups and direct them to carry out Task B3. (10 minutes)

5. Groups report on their deliberations. General class discussion of the extent to which

rules identified are followed. (10 minutes)

Assessment task

Essay: With reference to an empirical example, discuss the validity of the distinction

between formal and informal relations in organizations.