reflection question answers.pdf
- 1. Name: - Jonathan Jude Fernandes. Student Number: - 239575050. Course: - ADMN1206 M Management skills and Secondary research. 1. Max Weber proposed several key principles of bureaucracy, including task specialization, hierarchical authority, and formal selection. Can you think of real-life examples where these principles are applied effectively in organizations? How does adherence to these principles affect an organization's performance? = Max Weber’s principles of bureaucracy that include task specialization, hierarchical authority and formal selection they all focus on being an efficient way to set up an organization and administration, it is also considered as an ideal model for management and its administration to bring an organization’s power structure into focus. It is designed to provide economic effectiveness and efficiency. Speaking of real-life examples where these principles are applied effectively and how they impact an organization’s performance, I would like to explain this with an example of how a real time restaurant works in accordance with the principles of bureaucracy. Let’s speak about task specialization, so in a restaurant the work is always divided among the employees according to their capabilities and specialization in a specific field, like the chefs are allotted to prepping the food while the servers are allotted to serve the food the customers while cleaners are asked to keep the restaurant clean by doing so every individual knows what he or she is supposed to do and it helps in saving time, it is very effective and efficient and helps in the smooth functioning of the restaurant. In a restaurant there is always hierarchical authority which means that they have certain layers of management for example there is an owner after that we have managers then the head chef followed by cooks and then head servers and servers. So by having these layers in management helps the restaurant in doing justice for its purpose so the vision and the growth of the restaurant is looked after the owner while managers look at the smooth functioning of the restaurant, the head chef makes sure that all the other cooks do their jobs well and the head server makes sure that all the other servers serve the customers well, by doing so everyone is aware of their responsibilities and powers they hold in an organization and this indirect helps the organization to run smoothly and grow. Formal selection is one of the important principle of bureaucracy, speaking from a restaurant point of view all the employees are hired on the basis of their skills and ability to perform a particular task which they must have learned during their training or experience for example the head chef of restaurant will be hired for their specialization in their knowledge of the food and cooking skills while also their managerial ability in order to manage the kitchen in the similar way pastry chef will be hired for their ability to make good deserts while a server will be hired for their ability to handle the customers well by having good communication skills and serving skills. And this also helps the payroll team to decide the salaries of the employees as it is based on their skills and job designation. Therefore, this is how adherence to these principles affect an organization’s performance in a good way.
- 2. Name: - Jonathan Jude Fernandes. Student Number: - 239575050. Course: - ADMN1206 M Management skills and Secondary research. 2. The article mentions that modern public administration has evolved from the traditional bureaucratic model. How do you see the role of bureaucracy changing in contemporary society, particularly in the context of technological advancements and the increasing demand for transparency and accountability in government? = According to the article the modern public administration has evolved from the traditional bureaucratic model, which means that the traditional method which followed authoritarian management in order to deliver a better government through the power of bureaucracy changed and evolved into humanizing of workplace human resources policies because they realized that public bureaucracies are not politically neutral, but contribute to the political and policy making process and that authoritarian management styles are sometimes ineffective and inefficient. With that being said let’s understand how the role of bureaucracy is changing in the contemporary society, in regards to technological advancements and the increasing demand for transparency and accountability in government. To begin with technology has been helping the government to provide their services much faster and allows them to be more efficient by helping them to maintain the records and data digitally saving lots of time and other pen and paper processes, it has allowed them to be more transparent and accountable as the technology helps the bureaucrats to give other people access to the information about the decision making process and government activities by providing the information through online platforms. This evolution of use of technology by the bureaucrats where they digitalize the whole process and provide services digitally has been one of the most important and significant changes in the role of bureaucracy in contemporary society and is still evolving to provide better facilities to this digitally driven world. 3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a bureaucratic organizational structure, as highlighted in the article? How might these advantages and disadvantages impact an organization's ability to achieve its goals and serve the public effectively? = According to the article following are the advantages and disadvantages of a bureaucratic organizational structure: - Advantages: - In bureaucracy everyone is treated equal, and division of labour is clearly described for each employee, bureaucracy helps many large organizations to become more structured and work more effectively providing better results, it helps the management to maintain control and make specific changes as and when needed and lastly helps the organization to get consistent output and consistent execution of work by all employees. And therefore, these advantages help the organization by giving it a fixed structure to work by and allows them to get better output and results for example stating the working of a restaurant if everyone in the restaurant performs their duties well for instance the cleaners
- 3. Name: - Jonathan Jude Fernandes. Student Number: - 239575050. Course: - ADMN1206 M Management skills and Secondary research. keep the place clean, the cooks prepare good food, the servers give a good service to the customers and the management looks after everyone’s needs and ensures smooth functioning of all the departments it indirectly will help the restaurant achieve its goal by making more sales and help them serve the public effectively. Disadvantages: - Bureaucracy often comes with a lot of time-consuming agents such as lots of paper work, many desks, a certain office culture and slow communication due to the presence of quite a few hierarchical layers. And because of that the employees don’t really get to mix around or know each other or the organization well making them want to leave and look for better opportunities. Bureaucracy has lots of rules and regulations which restricts the employees to come up with new ideas making them feel left out and this indirectly demotivates the employees and annoys them with the risk that may start disrespecting these rules and regulations just to be heard. Therefore, it is very important for the bureaucrats to keep a balance between what’s good for an organization and find ways to tackle these disadvantages and with the help of technology in this data driven world bureaucrats can stay head-to-head with the demands of the public and help them serve better.