Weber Essay -- essays research papers

Max weber was the first to observe and write on bureaucracies which developed in Germany during the 19th century. He considered them to be efficient, rational and honest, a big improvement over the haphazard administration that they replaced. The German governing body was better developed than that in the United States and Britain and was nearly equal to that of France. Weber saw that modern decreeddom functioned according to six principles (1) Fixed and official jurisdictional areas which are ordered by rules, that is laws and administrative regulations. (2) Hierarchy and levels of rate authority where the lower offices are supervised by the higher ones. (3) counsel is based on official documents (the files). (4) The officials have thorough and expert cookery. (5) It requires the full time work of the official. (6) Management follows rules. While these principles seem obvious today, German government agencies were pioneering modern administration to replace practices dating b ack to the meat Ages owing loyalty to the king, dukes and the church. From the perspective of the official, Weber observed that office holding is a "vocation," that is it is a calling requiring a prescribed course of training for a long period of time and having examinations which are a necessity for employment. He is to be loyal to the office he holds, not to a patron. By virtue of his position, the official enjoys high social esteem. (Weber notes that this is especially pale in th...