Weber was a German sociologist and formulated ideas on the ideal management approach for large organizations. Unlike Taylor and Fayol who tried to solve practical problems related to the activity of managing, Weber was more concerned with the basic issue of structuring the enterprise. He developed a set of ideas about the structure of an organization that define what we know as "bureaucracy."
The characteristics of an ideal formalized organization or bureaucracy as described by Weber consist of the following set of typical characteristics:
- Division of labor : authority and responsibility are defined very clearly and set out as official duties;
- Hierarchy of authority: office positions are organized in a hierarchy of authority resulting in a chain of command or what is known as "the scalar principle";
- Formal selection: employees are selected on the basis of technical qualifications (merits) through formal examinations, education or training;
- Career managers: managers are not owners of the units they administer, but professionals who work for fixed salaries and pursue "careers" within their respective fields;
- Formal rules: administrators must function according to strict formal rules and other controls regarding the conduct of their official duties. These rules and controls would be impersonal and uniformly applied. .
Because of the emphasis on efficiency that had developed around the turn of the 20th century, many management scholars and practitioners interpreted Weber's writings on bureaucracy as a prescription for organizing. However, Weber was more interested in developing his bureaucratic type as a method for comparing organizational forms across societies. He believed firmly that not one single organization would conform to the dimensions of his bureaucratic model. He only believed that some organizations would have a close resemblance to his ideal type of bureaucracy. Weber was merely testing his thesis of the modernization of society which is especially characterized by rationalization. The more modern societies become, the more rational the citizens will become and the greater the need to create bureaucratic organizations. It was Weber's interest in the rationality of social life that directed his attention to the study of organizations.
