The ascension of Kafkaesque bureaucracy in private sector organizations

• Autores: Randy Hodson, Vincent J. Roscigno, Andrew W. Martin, Steven H. Lopez
• Localización: Human Relations, ISSN-e 1741-282X, Vol. 66, Nº. 9, 2013, págs. 1249-1273
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Although Weber�s ideal typical model of bureaucracy was developed primarily in relation to the state, studies of private sector organizations typically adhere to its formal-rational conceptions with little adjustment. This is unfortunate since bureaucracy in private sector economic organizations has many elements that are poorly captured by and potentially significantly at odds with Weber�s thinking. Most notable in this regard is the pervasiveness of particularistic and often informal, emergent arrangements - arrangements well documented for many decades by workplace ethnographers. This has significant implications for the conception of modern private sector organizations and indeed offers a picture that is more Kafkaesque than Weberian. Significant support for this point is provided by an analysis of content coded organizational ethnographies. Weberian dimensions of bureaucracy - most notably coordinated and specialized organization and training - are predominant in public institutions; private sector establishments, in contrast, witness significantly more particularism as well as uncertainty and fear as core organizing principles. Importantly, and as delineated in our over-time comparisons, such Kafkaesque elements of bureaucracy and organization appear to be increasingly