Max Webber

Maximilian Carl Emil Weber

Personal background

Early life and family relationships

— Maximilian Carl Emil Weber was born in Erfurt in Thuringia, Germany. He was the eldest son of Max and Helene Weber. His father was an aspiring liberal politician who soon joined the “National-Liberals” and moved the family from Erfurt to Berlin, where he became a member of the “Prussian House of Deputies” (1868–97). The elder Weber established himself as a fixture of the Berlin social milieu and entertained prominent politicians and scholars.

— Max Weber is best known as one of the leading scholars and founders of modern sociology, but Weber also accomplished much economic work in his life time.

— He was a German political economist and sociologist who was considered one of the founders of the modern study of sociology and public administration. He began his career at the University of Berlin, and later worked at Freiburg University, University of Heidelberg, University of Vienna and University of Munich. He was influential in contemporary German politics, being an advisor to Germany's negotiators at the Treaty of Versailles and to the commission charged with drafting the Weimar Constitution.

Contribution to the evolution of management

— Weber is regarded as one of the founders of modern sociology, although in his times he was viewed primarily as a historian and an economist.

— Max Weber embellished the scientific management theory with his “bureaucratic management theory” which is mainly focused on dividing organizations into hierarchies, establishing strong lines of authority and control. Weber suggested organizations develop comprehensive and detailed standard operating procedures for all routinized tasks.

Bureaucratic Management

— According to Weber, bureaucracy is a particular type of administrative structure developed through rational-legal authority. Bureaucratic structures evolved from traditional structures with the following changes:

1. Jurisdictional areas are clearly specified, activities are distributed as official duties (unlike traditional form where duties delegated by leader and changed at any time).

2. Organization follows hierarchical principle -- subordinates follow orders or superiors, but have right of appeal (in contrast to more diffuse structure in traditional authority).

3. Intential, abstract rules govern decisions and actions. Rules are stable, exhaustive, and can be learned. Decisions are recorded in permanent files (in traditional forms few explicit rules or written records).

4. Means of production or administration belong to office. Personal property separated from office property.

5. Officials are selected on basis of technical qualifications, appointed not elected, and compensated by salary.

6. Employment by the organization is a career. The official is a full-time employee and looks forward to a life-long career. After a trial period they get tenure of position and are protected from arbitrary dismissal.

— Max Weber said that bureaucracy resolves some of the shortcomings of the traditional system. Described above was his ideal-type construct, a simplified model (not a preferred model) that focuses on the most important features.

— Weber's view of bureaucracy (or bureaucratic management) was a system of power where leaders exercise control over others -- a system based on discipline.

— Weber stressed that the rational-legal form was the most stable of systems for both superiors and subordinates -- it's more reliable and clear, yet allows the subordinate more independence and discretion. Subordinates ideally can challenge the decisions of their leaders by referring to the stated rules -- charisma becomes less important. As a result, bureaucratic systems can handle more complex operations than traditional systems.

Books contributed by Max Weber

— Roman Agrarian History

— "Roscher and Knies and the Logical Problem of Historical Economics"

— "The Objectivity of the Sociological and Social-Political Knowledge.

— The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

— Economy and Society.

— Politics as a Vocation

— General Economic History.

— The Methodology of the Social Sciences.

Relevancy of Weber’s theories in modern organizations

— Division of labor is an economic concept involving the specialization of the functions and roles of production. To social theorists, such as Karl Marx, Adam Smith and Max Weber, the division of labor is more than economics; it is rooted in their own individual philosophy of life and society.

— An organization, by its most basic definition, is an assembly of people working together to achieve common objectives through a division of labour. Here, they have highlighted the concept of division of labour which was a major contribution of great management scholar, Sir Weber.

— An organization provides a means of using individual strengths within a group to achieve more than, which can be accomplished by the aggregate efforts of group members working individually. In this concept the efficiency and the effectiveness of the organizations increase.