CHAPTER 7: BUREAUCRACY AND FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS

[Pages:4]CHAPTER 7: BUREAUCRACY AND FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS ________________________________________________________________________

Web Link

Office of the Secretary of Defense Organization Chart

Annotation: This organizational chart shows the titles of all officials in the Office of Secretary of Defense. The square representing each official is linked to a web page describing in some detail the responsibilities of that official.

Learning Objective: To develop appreciation for the capacity of bureaucracy to rationalize the coordination of many people, each of whom is doing multiple, complex tasks.

Faculty Note: After analyzing the concepts of bureaucracy, the next step in understanding the power of this concept is to see how it is used to coordinate very large organizations, with many people, each of whom is doing many, complex tasks. The exercise below provides students with detailed insight into a single large bureaucracy, so they can see how the elements of bureaucratic organizational structure are applied in the real world.

Activity: Have students click on the web link "Office of the Secretary of Defense Organization Chart." Have them explore the duties of some of the officials by clicking on the boxes in the chart. Ask students to write a paper in which they use examples from the chart to show how this particular organization embodies the characteristics of bureaucracies that are described in this chapter of the textbook.

Additional Resources: To see how the Office of Secretary of Defense fits into the organization of the entire Department of Defense go to . The "U.S. State and Local Gateway" provides links to government units and agencies at federal, state, and local levels.

Test Question: (Essay) Large organizations typically adopt a bureaucratic structure because that structure works better than any other does. What strengths of the bureaucratic organizational structure does the "Office of the Secretary of Defense Organization Chart" exemplify?

Answers might include: Coordination of many people and tasks, clear lines of authority and responsibility, written rules, division of labor. ____________________________________________________________________________________________

Video Activity II (Premium Resource CD Rom) Food Safety

Annotation: This video shows government officials and critics discussing the division of the federal government's food-safety enforcement activity, which critics assert results in adequate protection for the public. A Clinton Administration proposal to consolidate federal food-safety enforcement under a single "food safety czar" is discussed. The video is followed by two questions about bureaucracies.

Learning Objective: To appreciate the complexity of some problems that government tries to solve, and the difficulty of structuring a coordinated response to such problems.

Faculty Note: The rational division of labor offered by the bureaucratic organizational form would seem to offer an ideal structure to tackle even the most complex tasks. Some tasks, however, are so complex they may be beyond the capacity of bureaucracy to perform successfully. The exercise below offers students insights into the complexity of some social problems and the limits of bureaucracy to solve them. Video clips are provided on the Premium Resource CD Rom.

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Teaching Tool Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach

Activity: Have students view Video II, "Food Safety." Then have them go to "Administration Statement on Behalf of The President's Council on Food Safety" and read at least the first three sections of the Statement (I. Introduction, II. The U.S. Food Safety Team, and III. Building an Effective Food Safety System). Ask students to write a paper in which they summarize the structural obstacles to ensuring that all food is safe, including qualities of food products, the food distribution system, consumers, and government.

Additional Resources: The web page, "Can Your Kitchen Pass the Food Safety Test?" provides a simple, 12-question, multiple-choice quiz for the public to apply to their own food handling habits and facilities. The questions in this quiz suggest many aspects of food handling that would be especially difficult for government to regulate.

Test Question: (Short answer) What behaviors and characteristics of American consumers make it difficult for the government to ensure that the food they eat is safe?

Answers might include: Consumers want a great variety of foods requiring different storage conditions to keep the foods safe until they are eaten, consumers frequently eat outside the home (so their food is handled by more people), more people are living longer (with weakened immune systems associated with old age). _____________________________________________________________________________________________

Sociology and the Internet

Study Groups Who Oppose the McDonaldization of Society

Annotation: Links are provided to the "McLibel" case (a suit brought by McDonald's Corporation against a small group of detractors in England), an interview with George Ritzer (who coined the term "McDonaldization of society") and suggestions by George Ritzer on how people can resist McDonaldization.

Learning Objective: To develop greater awareness of how the increasing uniformity of life in Western societies-- expressed in the term "McDonaldization"--is difficult to resist, because it is an expression of rationality.

Faculty Note: George Ritzer rails against a phenomenon he perceives to be evil, the increasing uniformity of life in Western societies brought about by the standardization of products and services by very large corporations. This "McDonaldization of society" is difficult to resist because it is one form of rationality. The exercise below encourages students to think critically about McDonaldization and what they would be willing to compromise to resist it in their own lives.

Activity: Have students click on and read George Ritzer's suggestions for resisting McDonalization. Have them write an analysis of several of the suggestions in which they specify the personal compromises they would be making in adopting these suggestions. Ask students to articulate the criteria that they are using to evaluate these suggestions. You might give them some hints about the criteria they are using (e.g., monetary costs, familiarity, security, convenience).

Additional Resources: The McDonald's Corporation web page reflects the public image the corporation wants to project, in contrast to the negative forces suggested by the term "McDonaldization."

Test Question: (Essay) McDonald's is a very popular place to eat, even though many people think that McDonald's serves "junk food." Focussing on the concept of "rationality," explain why McDonald's is so successful.

Answers might include: Large-scale purchasing and distribution system makes it possible to provide low-cost meals at a profit, standardization of products and facilities makes the experience of eating there familiar, corporate control ensures food safety and predictability. _____________________________________________________________________________________________

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Chapter Seven Bureaucracy and Formal Organizations

Video Activity (Premium Resource CD Rom) Women Entrepreneurs

Annotation: This video features former Vice President Gore and several women who praise the on-line "Women's Business Center," which provides information helpful to women starting their own businesses.

Learning Objective: Understand the entrepreneurship of women who start their own business as one adaptation to the "hidden" corporate culture.

Faculty Note: There seems to be a difference between men and women who start their own businesses. These men and women follow different career paths and have different motivations. An important motivation for some women entrepreneurs, which students will learn about in the exercise below, is escaping the restrictions on women that exist within the "hidden" corporate culture. Video clips are provided on the Premium Resource CD Rom.

Activity: Have students go to the "Women's Business Center," the website described in the video . Have them click on "Articles" and then "Women-Owned Businesses--Making A Difference." Ask students to read this article and write a summary of the differences men and women give for starting their own businesses, and the differences in the paths they follow in doing so. _____________________________________________________________________________________________

Sociology and the Internet Why Do People Form Cooperatives?

Annotation: Both cooperatives and small businesses are offered as alternatives to careers in bureaucracies. Links to websites offering information about starting/joining cooperatives and starting small businesses are provided. Students are asked to compare cooperatives and small businesses and then choose which of the two organizational forms appeals to them more.

Learning Objective: Become aware of the practical skills, personality characteristics, and personal costs associated with success in starting a small business.

Faculty Note: The allure of starting a small business, rather than working within a large bureaucracy, is very attractive to American youth, particularly at a time when some enterprising people have become incredibly wealthy through internet start-ups. The exercise below confronts students with the realities of small business entrepreneurship, and helps them understand why most people prefer the relative security of working within existing organizations.

Activity: Have students scroll down the Sociology and the Internet page to "Why Do People Form Cooperatives?" Have them click on and read the practical issues they would need to consider before starting their own business. Next, have them go to "The Small Business Advisor" in the right-hand column, under "Articles--choose a category," and have them choose "Starting a Business." Next have them choose "Are You an Entrepreneur?" Have them read Robert Sullivan's "Entrepreneurial Aptitude" checklist. Ask students to evaluate themselves honestly by the criteria listed here, and determine whether they have the requisite entrepreneurial aptitude to enable them to be successful small business owners.

Additional Resources: "Sell It on the Web" offers much advice and many useful links for people who are considering starting an internet-based business.

Test Question: (Short answer) List five qualities a person should have to become a successful small business owner.

Answers might include: Leadership ability, self-confidence, unlimited energy, organizational skill, competitiveness, willingness to work long hours, financial resources, good health, a unique product or service, family support, willingness to make short-term sacrifices, willingness to take risks, communication skills, adequate experience in the kind of business s/he is starting. _____________________________________________________________________________________________

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Teaching Tool Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach

Web Links Why Teams Don't Work

Annotation: An excerpt of Harvey Robbins and Michael Finley's book, Why Teams Don't Work: What Went Wrong and How to Make It Right is presented. Flaws in leadership are asserted to be responsible for organizational failure. Some 24 kinds of leadership flaws are described, along with strategies for counteracting the potentially destructive consequences of those flaws.

Learning Objective: To develop an appreciation for the complex skills required for successful organizational leadership, and the relationship between leadership skill and organizational success.

Faculty Note: Leadership styles are covered briefly in the textbook. The exercise below expands this discussion of leadership qualities and offers students insights about the broad range of skills required to lead an organization successfully.

Activity: Have students click on the web link "Why Teams Don't Work" and read about the many different kinds of leadership failure, as well as the strategies for counteracting that failure. Ask students to write about a personal experience they (or someone they know) have/has had in an organization. Have them describe the strengths and weaknesses of the leader(s), as well as the ways the organization adapted to those strengths and weaknesses.

Additional Resources: "The Leadership Network" offers programs, resources, and strategies to help people become leaders in public service. Note that this is a bilingual web site.

Test Question: (Essay) Explain why a good leader allows failure, and sometimes, even rewards it.

Answers may include: Leaders must allow subordinates to take risks. If they punish all failures, they will be discouraging the creative risk-taking behavior necessary for success. Symbolic rewards of egregious failure can be used humorously to build morale.

Careers in Sociology

How Can Sociologists Provide a Buffer to the Bureaucracy?

Annotation: As society grows more complex and the world seems to shrink around us, life seems to be more and more of a bureaucracy. Companies no longer have a "real person" answer the telephone. Instead we listen to an automated voice telling us to "choose one of the following options." Sociologists are "people oriented" and can assist others in making sense of our complex and confusing lives.

Learning Objective: To introduce the student to the types of work a sociologist does as a "helping person."

Faculty Note: Faculty can be helping people too. And students also find help from other students in solving the problems created by the bureaucracy.

Activity: Have the students review Careers in Sociology. This section of the Companion Website can be accessed from the menu bar on the left of the screen. Then have them develop a list of five problems they have encountered over the past six months that can be attributed to alienation and being a victim of the bureaucracy. With each detailed problem, have the students add how their problems affected them, how it was eventually solved, and who assisted in the problem's resolution. Hint: There are "bureaucracies" on campus.

Additional Resources: There are several good websites that explain bureaucracy in greater detail. Students may elect to type "Max Weber and Bureaucracy" into one of the search engines available to them for more information. Two helpful sites include and . The Sociology by the Numbers section of the menu also includes an article on "Patterns of Alienation toward Large Social Institutions," which may be of help.

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