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The book starts with the necessity for the existence of bureaucracy (formal organization). Bureaucracy is usually attacked for being unadaptive and stifling the humanity of employees. Perrow argues that these sins result from a failure to bureaucratize properly rather than bureaucracy itself. In fact, if we want our material civilization to continue, we will have to have large-scale bureaucratic enterprises in the economic, social, and governmental areas. The development of industrialization has made this the most efficient way to get the routine work of a society done. Perrow introduces Weber’s model of bureaucracy in detail which contains three groups of characteristics: those that relate to the structure and function of organization, those that deal with means of rewarding effort, and those that deal with protections for the individuals. Perrow then summarizes the development of managerial ideologies. Before 1870, the classical management study focused on specific problems like planning and coordination. Then came some more general models like the social Darwinism which says that only the fittest survives. With the appearance of unions, people began to notice the collective power. Around 1915, scientific management emerged. Separation of management and skilled craftsman became possible. This theory suggests that it is the cooperation between labor and capital that brings success. After World War I, Dale Carnegie proposed that the managers needed to manipulate the workers in order to have them work. Then Elton Mayo suggested in mid-1930s that it was natural cooperation, rather than manipulation, that made workers work. On the whole, the changes in management ideology are toward cooperation. Perrow then introduces several different models on organizations in turn. First, he discusses the positives and negatives about the human relations model. This model was inspired by the “Hawthorne effect”—the productivity is increased when a group of workers are picked out and work with the knowledge that they are in an experiment. The researchers believed that the productivity increased because the workers felt special, not because the objective conditions had been improved. This model concentrates on group norms and sentiments as the bases for explaining behaviors. It counters the extreme rationality of scientific management with a “romantic rationality” wherein all sorts of unconscious needs are posited. But Perrow points out that little empirical evidence supports this school, that one cannot explain organizations by explaining the attitudes and behavior of individuals or even small groups within them.
Approximate Word count = 1547
Approximate Pages = 6.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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