IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v23y2012i1p244-266.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

PERSPECTIVE—The Sociological Ambivalence of Bureaucracy: From Weber via Gouldner to Marx

Author

Listed:
  • Paul S. Adler

    (Department of Management and Organization, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089)

Abstract

Reports of the demise of the bureaucratic form of organization are greatly exaggerated, and debates about bureaucracy's functions and effects therefore persist. For many years, a broad current of organizational scholarship has taken inspiration from Max Weber's image of bureaucracy as an “iron cage” and has seen bureaucracy as profoundly ambivalent—imposing alienation as the price of efficiency. Following a path originally sketched by Alvin Gouldner [Gouldner, A. W. 1954. Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy . Free Press, Glencoe, IL], some recent research has challenged this view as overly pessimistic, arguing that bureaucracy need not always be coercive but can sometimes take a form that is experienced as enabling. The present article challenges both Weber's and Gouldner's accounts, arguing that although bureaucracy's enabling role may sometimes be salient to employees, even when it is, bureaucracy typically appears to them as ambivalent—simultaneously enabling and coercive. I offer an unconventional reading of Marx as a way to make sense of this ambivalence.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul S. Adler, 2012. "PERSPECTIVE—The Sociological Ambivalence of Bureaucracy: From Weber via Gouldner to Marx," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 244-266, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:23:y:2012:i:1:p:244-266
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1100.0615
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1100.0615
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.1100.0615?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Howard, M. C. & King, J. E., 2008. "Karl Marx And The Decline Of The Market," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(2), pages 217-234, June.
    2. Paul S. Adler & Seok-Woo Kwon & Charles Heckscher, 2008. "Perspective---Professional Work: The Emergence of Collaborative Community," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(2), pages 359-376, April.
    3. Thomas Ahrens & Christopher S. Chapman, 2004. "Accounting for Flexibility and Efficiency: A Field Study of Management Control Systems in a Restaurant Chain," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(2), pages 271-301, June.
    4. Olivier Boiral, 2003. "ISO 9000: Outside the Iron Cage," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(6), pages 720-737, December.
    5. Forrest Briscoe, 2006. "Temporal Flexibility and Careers: The Role of Large-Scale Organizations for Physicians," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 60(1), pages 88-104, October.
    6. Paul Osterman, 2000. "Work Reorganization in an Era of Restructuring: Trends in Diffusion and Effects on Employee Welfare," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 53(2), pages 179-196, January.
    7. Deborah Dougherty, 1992. "Interpretive Barriers to Successful Product Innovation in Large Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(2), pages 179-202, May.
    8. Johan P. Olsen, 2005. "Maybe it is time to rediscover bureaucracy?," ARENA Working Papers 10, ARENA.
    9. Seok-Woo Kwon, 2008. "Does the Standardization Process Matter? A Study of Cost Effectiveness in Hospital Drug Formularies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(6), pages 1065-1079, June.
    10. Mahmoud Ezzamel & Hugh Willmott & Frank Worthington, 2001. "Power, Control and Resistance in ‘The Factory That Time Forgot’," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(8), pages 1053-1079, December.
    11. David P. McCaffrey & Sue R. Faerman & David W. Hart, 1995. "The Appeal and Difficulties of Participative Systems," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(6), pages 603-627, December.
    12. Nelson, Richard R., 1990. "Capitalism as an engine of progress," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 193-214, June.
    13. Gouldner, Alvin W., 1955. "Metaphysical Pathos and the Theory of Bureaucracy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(2), pages 496-507, June.
    14. Kallinikos, Jannis, 2004. "The social foundations of the bureaucratic order," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 162, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. John C. Henderson & Soonchul Lee, 1992. "Managing I/S Design Teams: A Control Theories Perspective," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(6), pages 757-777, June.
    16. Wouters, Marc & Wilderom, Celeste, 2008. "Developing performance-measurement systems as enabling formalization: A longitudinal field study of a logistics department," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 488-516.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Julie Ricard, 2022. "Accroissement de la complexité des décisions dans un contexte de prolifération des règles," Post-Print hal-03633895, HAL.
    2. Christian Jung-Gehling & Erik Strauss, 2018. "A Contemporary Concept of Organizational Control: Its Dependence on Shared Values and Impact on Motivation," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 70(4), pages 341-374, November.
    3. Ronald Fischer & Maria Cristina Ferreira & Nathalie Meurs & Kubilay Gok & Ding-Yu Jiang & Johnny R J Fontaine & Charles Harb & Jan Cieciuch & Mustapha Achoui & Ma Socorro D Mendoza & Arif Hassan & Don, 2019. "Does organizational formalization facilitate voice and helping organizational citizenship behaviors? It depends on (national) uncertainty norms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(1), pages 125-134, February.
    4. Cristina B Gibson & Patrick D Dunlop & John L Cordery, 2019. "Managing formalization to increase global team effectiveness and meaningfulness of work in multinational organizations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(6), pages 1021-1052, August.
    5. Andrea Signoretti & Silvia Sacchetti, 2020. "Lean HRM practices in work integration social enterprises: Moving towards social lean production. Evidence from Italian case studies," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(4), pages 545-563, December.
    6. Senthil Kumar Muthusamy & Ramadevi Kannan, 2023. "Profits crisis: evolving patterns of firm size and performance in traditional U.S. industries," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 50(3), pages 575-603, September.
    7. Rodrigo Canales, 2014. "Weaving Straw into Gold: Managing Organizational Tensions Between Standardization and Flexibility in Microfinance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(1), pages 1-28, February.
    8. Anand Chand, 2018. "Expanding Gouldner’s Theory of Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy: Looking Back and Moving Forward," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 317-334, May.
    9. Pasi Aaltola, 2019. "Strategic thinking and accounting: potentials and pitfalls from a managerial perspective," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 323-351, October.
    10. Blake E. Ashforth & Kristie M. Rogers & Michael G. Pratt & Camille Pradies, 2014. "Ambivalence in Organizations: A Multilevel Approach," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(5), pages 1453-1478, October.
    11. Frank Martela, 2019. "What makes self-managing organizations novel? Comparing how Weberian bureaucracy, Mintzberg’s adhocracy, and self-organizing solve six fundamental problems of organizing," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 8(1), pages 1-23, December.
    12. Pratono, Aluisius Hery & Mahmood, Rosli, 2014. "The Moderating Effect of Environmental Turbulence in the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Management and Firm Performance," MPRA Paper 58493, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Neirotti, Paolo & Pesce, Danilo & Battaglia, Daniele, 2021. "Algorithms for operational decision-making: An absorptive capacity perspective on the process of converting data into relevant knowledge," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robbins, Geraldine & Lapsley, Irvine, 2015. "From secrecy to transparency: Accounting and the transition from religious charity to publicly-owned hospital," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 19-32.
    2. Jody Hoffer Gittell, 2001. "Supervisory Span, Relational Coordination and Flight Departure Performance: A Reassessment of Postbureaucracy Theory," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(4), pages 468-483, August.
    3. Boedker, Christina & Chong, Kar-Ming & Mouritsen, Jan, 2020. "The counter-performativity of calculative practices: Mobilising rankings of intellectual capital," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    4. Ewelina Zarzycka & Justyna Dobroszek & Lauri Lepistö & Sinikka Moilanen, 2019. "Coexistence of innovation and standardization: evidence from the lean environment of business process outsourcing," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 251-286, October.
    5. Chenhall, Robert H. & Moers, Frank, 2015. "The role of innovation in the evolution of management accounting and its integration into management control," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-13.
    6. van Erp, Wil & Roozen, Frans & Vosselman, Ed, 2019. "The performativity of a management accounting and control system: Exploring the dynamic relational consequences of a design," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(4).
    7. Sameer B. Srivastava, 2015. "Intraorganizational Network Dynamics in Times of Ambiguity," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(5), pages 1365-1380, October.
    8. Benjamin Benoit, 2014. "Is there a manager in the plane ? The remarquable absence of the manager in enabling control [Y a-t-il un manager dans l'avion ? Ou la relative absence du manager dans les approches capacitantes du," Post-Print hal-01899013, HAL.
    9. Thomas Borup Kristensen & Henrik Saabye, 2021. "Increasing the enabling use of performance measures: a longitudinal quasi natural experiment," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 401-433, September.
    10. E. Van Der Hauwaert & W. Bruggeman, 2012. "The balanced scorecard as an enabling technology – the role of participation," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 12/816, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    11. Chenhall, Robert H. & Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2017. "The expressive role of performance measurement systems: A field study of a mental health development project," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 60-75.
    12. Kraus, Kalle & Kennergren, Cecilia & von Unge, Amelie, 2017. "The interplay between ideological control and formal management control systems – A case study of a non-governmental organisation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 42-59.
    13. Bedford, David S. & Speklé, Roland F. & Widener, Sally K., 2022. "Budgeting and employee stress in times of crisis: Evidence from the Covid-19 pandemic," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    14. Florian, Mona, 2018. "Unlikely allies: Bureaucracy as a cultural trope in a grassroots volunteer organization," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 151-161.
    15. Bisbe, Josep & Kruis, Anne-Marie & Madini, Paola, 2019. "Coercive, enabling, diagnostic, and interactive control: Untangling the threads of their connections," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 124-144.
    16. Chenhall, Robert H. & Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2013. "Performance measurement, modes of evaluation and the development of compromising accounts," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51294, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Siedlok, Frank & Hibbert, Paul & Sillince, John, 2015. "From practice to collaborative community in interdisciplinary research contexts," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 96-107.
    18. Paula M. G. Veen-Dirks & Marijke C. Leliveld & Wesley Kaufmann, 2021. "The effect of enabling versus coercive performance measurement systems on procedural fairness and red tape," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 269-294, June.
    19. Junne, Jaromir, 2018. "Enabling accountability: An analysis of personal budgets for disabled people," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 46-62.
    20. Millo, Yuval & Barman, Emily & Hall, Matthew, 2016. "Accounting measurement tools and their impact on managerial decision making," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 17(2), pages 17-23.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:23:y:2012:i:1:p:244-266. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.