Introduction
Bureaucratically operated firms often receive negative attention from the public. They support ideologies based on “group thinking” instead of supporting issues that relate to society (Carter, 1999). This paper intends to explain the meaning of bureaucracy under diverse contexts. In essence, it will discuss the term from a traditional to a modern context. Traditionally bureaucratic individuals represented a section of non-elected government officials who often introduced an agenda that contradicted parliament motions (Hara, 2005). Such groups made policies and they sought an audience from the society to strengthen their stand. Similarly, there are bureaucratic organizations that mostly support policies that do not correlate with the expectations of society. The following submission will equally discuss control systems lengthily while outlining their merits and demerits.
Bureaucracy
Concerning organizational setup, bureaucracy refers to a set of managerial structures that oversee a big foundation. In society today, big organizations incorporate global and multinationals such as Apple Inc., Samsung, KFC, and Coca Cola among others. Experts often measure bureaucracy by assessing societal and employee complaints concerning the company leadership.
Bureaucracy remains the cornerstone of an organizational structure since it supports the ideologies of the company executives. It would be impossible for ordinary employees to transform an organizational structure of a powerful and affluent executive within the firm. In a capitalistic country, the government provides room for the growth of private institutions (Clegg, 2011). The leaders of these organizations have different personalities and perceptions about life. Also, their business experiences are different. Such factors shape the leadership styles they adopt within the organization.
This leadership style reflects in form of bureaucracy. This means that it would be impossible to eradicate bureaucracy in a society where large organizations emerge daily. Also, people are naturally different, and this contributes to the ideas they develop for their organizations. Most multinationals face allegations of supporting bureaucracy, especially during data mining, product development, and recruitment of employees (Ricketts, 2012). There is a growing trend in society today in which CEOs have successors from their families or home countries. These among other forms of favoritism explain how companies support bureaucracy today.
Principles of Bureaucracy
Tyranny
Bureaucracy concerns the tyranny of numbers in which the majority have their way. Bureaucratic individuals are likely to influence other people into believing in their ideologies. Through the tyranny of numbers, bureaucrats oppose the ideas of others within the organization. Contrary to the traditional perception of bureaucracy, modern multinationals use tyranny to venture into new markets. In the 18th century, most non-elected members of the parliament used bureaucracy to oppose high taxation in France. As such, before qualifying for a bureaucratic position, an individual needs to display professionalism and commitment to the group. When used properly, this principle helps people to abolish autocratic governments and companies that oppress people (Tisdell & Hartley, 2008).
Rational Thinking to Propagate Bureaucratic Ideologies
According to bureaucratic thinkers, it would be impossible to oppose certain ideologies without understanding their content and implications. The second principle suggests that only rational thinkers have a chance to support their ideologies and emerge successful in the exercise. Rational thinking involves the ability to study the environment and the people properly. Without rational thinking, scholars such as Max Weber, and Karl Marx would be incapable of assessing the benefits of this concept in society (Carter, 1999). When used properly, the bureaucracy would cause major economic changes in society. By spreading bureaucratic ideologies, people learn about the advantages of capitalism in the improvement of societies.
Success and Promotion of Favoritism
Most successful organizations support bureaucratic ideologies. Their rationale is that when they develop a firm that stands about something, they must fulfill it irrespective of any external influences within the environment. Bureaucracy has nothing in common with democracy even though it has a popular representation. Its main objective is to achieve success and to make other people follow a similar trend. In most cases, relatives and friends lead organizations and the definition of success depends on their perception. Without bureaucracy, all organizations would be the same, and this means that growth would be impossible (Krause, 2009). For instance, Apple Inc. and Under Armour (UA) are examples of organizations dealing with allegations of supporting bureaucracy. They are exceedingly successful, and they only reflect activities in various multinationals across the world. Such groups made policies and they sought an audience from the society to strengthen their stand. Similarly, there are bureaucratic organizations that mostly support policies that do not correlate with the expectations of society.
Reasons for Dysfunctionality
Sometimes the three principles may be dysfunctional for organizations due to the following reasons:
- Lack of consensus between the internal and external publics;
- Inability to think rationally;
- Contradictory of ideologies in which the non-bureaucratic individuals are powerful.
Recommendations
Promoting democracy
Organizations need to represent the views of the highest number of people. Tyranny is not the only way to influence people to adopt certain bureaucratic ideologies. Democracy encourages the introduction of many centers of power (Mieczkowski, 1991). This helps employees and clients to seek justice when necessary.
Avoiding Succession Strategies Based on Relations and Friends
Companies should diplomatically encourage succession strategies. Various multinationals assume seniority levels in which successors are family members or people from the same country as the retiring CEO. They should replace this with fair procedures; in fair procedures, success depends on academic qualifications, merit, and individual leadership skills (Heckscher, 1995).
Consulting experts
Many consultants provide advice to firms across the world. Bureaucratic companies should consult people who have no personal interest in the affairs of the corporation. This would help in achieving social realism and fairness.
Importance of Control
When developing systems, people need to consider relevant control measures. Control involves the development of a set of procedures that assist in the management and coordination of activities within an administrative environment. Control matters since in each organization, the managers need to direct functions, get feedback, and regulate systems. Control systems are most common in production firms, especially when developing new equipment (Wijnhoven, 1995). There are open and closed systems, but each organization adapts one that coincides with the strategic goals of the target firm. Control helps in identifying authority and regulation of communication to achieve organizational objectives. Besides, control assists in the management of damage. For instance, organizations operate in volatile environments. They are likely to experience changes within the area of operation (Huddleston, 1995). Control enables them to develop risk management strategies to deal with changes and to overcome challenges. As such, organizations have to embrace the principles of control because, without such knowledge, they will not succeed.
Designing Control Systems
Identifying the Need
Control systems perform different functions in the organization. System developers have to research to identify the needs of the target audiences. For instance, in an environment in which delays occur due to poor communication, the best system would be a technologically powered efficient system. Research is vital to avoid developing dysfunctional systems. Besides, the public has contradictory demands, and research helps in establishing the right way to fulfill the needs of most people. During the development of control systems, experts should understand the capabilities of the system administrators (Owens & Fernandez, 2014). For instance, the communication system developed needs an administrator who has sufficient knowledge in Information Communication Technology (ICT). When designing control systems, it is extremely crucial to carry out a pilot project to assess the reception levels of the target population.
Establishing the Importance of Control in the Environment
Control systems need to provide seamless communication between people. During the process, they need to prevent damages and inform the public about risks within the external environment.
A control system needs to improve performance instead of impeding progress. When this fails to happen, the system developers have an additional task of reviewing and improving it. Good control systems often benefit the organization and support the target population. For instance, introducing ICT will involve communication through emails, memos, and social media. Its implementation would only occur after weighing its importance against the demerits (Wijnhoven, 1995). The ICT administrator has to ensure that the new control system serves the internal and external public perfectly. Control does not entirely eradicate a problem. Instead, it offers an opportunity for the internal and external team to improve from the past. No organization establishes systems to experience losses.
Developing Feedback Channels
When designing a control system, it would be impossible to ignore feedback loops. Feedback makes it possible to evaluate the system’s performance capability. Administrators play a significant role in identifying and correcting the hitches. Control systems have inputs that convert to outputs through a throughput. Identification of feedback is the last stage of designing a control system. Even though control systems provide regulation services, they also need evaluation by experts (Blanning & King, 1996). Without control, people are likely to misinterpret information. Others would use the information to support bureaucratic ideologies. As such, control is extremely significant for the internal and external environments of organizations. Companies spend many resources on establishing good control systems, but they enjoy the benefits later. A system that has quality feedback loops often assures the target audience that an organization cares about the welfare of consumers.
Principles of Designing Control Systems
Control systems should have a clear purpose within the environment of an establishment to reduce losses and to encourage performance. Another principle of control system development is the ability to ensure that amount used for the project does not exceed the value it will bring to the organization. Finally, a control system should benefit both the organization and the target population without any biases.
Importance of the principles
These principles are vital since they provide a guideline for control system development. They help developers to understand that the system concerns many people and not developers only (Leavitt & Pondy, 1973).
Design changes in organizational structure and control systems
Bureaucracy will remain a huge problem for many successful organizations. Most scandals often arise following media assessment of bureaucratic activities. XYZ has a responsibility of developing components for passenger aircraft, but traditional bureaucracy is likely to affect the possibility of acquiring another company tender. The following solutions will be key in addressing the two significant problems:
Growth Opportunity
Providing parts for a passenger craft is dissimilar from providing similar components to military crafts. Other organizations including the space program operators need the services of XYZ and this is a major growth opportunity. To deal with the bureaucracy in this organization, it will be important to recruit employees from different demographics (Hara, 2005). Also, they will have to display academic professionalism in the field of aviation and natural skill in the area. According to critics of bureaucracy, dealing with this concept requires the introduction of “outsiders.” Such people offer an opportunity to neutralize the ideas of the bureaucratic individuals within XYZ. Wilson (2012) states, “One reason is that bringing in “good outsiders.” XYZ needs a chance to prove its prowess in the competitive industry. It cannot afford to lose the growth opportunity due to bureaucratic leadership. Introducing experienced individuals in the field would encourage clients from the government and the military to trust XYZ. Stone (2002) explains that professionals have vast knowledge in the field and they would offer objective solutions to the target clients. XYZ will target fresh graduates from various universities that offer aeronautical engineering and other higher institutions without favoritism. In summary, experience in the aviation industry will be an important qualification for all engineers. The selection process will not focus on bureaucratic employment strategies.
Dealing with Complaints
When dealing with complaints at XYZ, media presence and communication are principal elements. According to the XYZ engineers, throughout the twenty years of operation, the quality of their products was excellent (Huddleston, 1995). XYZ has the responsibility to return 10% of the order even though this will be overly costly for the organization. Effective communication with the client through multimedia will help in changing consumer perception. Communication through the customer-care desk will make it easy for the administrative, finance, and human resource department to address the issue promptly. XYZ will only reimburse 10% after assessing the complaint properly. The company’s duty will be to assure the clients that a repeat of the same action will never take place. XYZ will also provide follow-up services to other clients after dealing with the complaint. Concerning media coverage of the issue, XYZ will release a press statement to all media houses to address the issue. Moreover, XYZ will organize a documentary to highlight the success stories of the company over the past twenty years. This will be significant in redeeming XYZ’s brand image. Additionally, XYZ will be able to win the goodwill of the government for future projects. Failure to do this would make the military to award the tender to another contractor.
Designing Changes for the Two Issues
Complaints within a company could affect its growth capability. To address these issues together, XYZ should change the perceptions of the internal public. They include employees, employers, sponsors, competitors, sponsors, and clients. From the CEO’s point of view, it would be important to introduce a democratic leadership style. Through this, clients, and employees will play a significant role in designing aircraft components. The structure will equally promote effective communication in that it will enable the company to handle complaints internally to avoid eavesdropping. The CEO should encourage people to respond to the products of the company through effective advertisements, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and philanthropy. According to Archibald & Hoffman (1969), communication and technology incorporated with good leadership structures will help the company deal with bureaucracy allegations.
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