In The Bureaucratic Phenomenon Michel Crozier demonstrates that bureaucratic institutions need to be understood in terms of the cultural context in which they operate. The originality of the study lies in its association of two widely different approaches: the theory of decision-making in large organizations and the cultural analysis of social patterns of action.The book opens with a detailed examination of two forms of French public service. These studies show that professional training and distortions alone cannot ex plain the rise of routine behavior and dysfunctional vicious circles. The role of various bureaucratic systems appears to depend on the pattern of power relation ships between groups and individuals. Crozier's findings lead him to the view that bureaucratic structures form a necessary protection against the risks inherent in collective action.Since systems of protection are built around basic cultural traits, the author presents a French bureaucratic model based on centralization, strata isolation, and individual sparkle-one that that can be contrasted with an American, Russian, or Japanese model. He points out how the same patterns can be found in several areas of French life: education, industrial relations, politics, business, and the colonial policy. Bureaucracy, Crozier concludes, is not a modern disease resulting from organizational progress but rather a bulwark against development. The breakdown of the traditional bureaucratic system in modern France offers hope for new and fruitful forms of action.
Author(s): Crozier, Michel
Edition: 1
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2017
Language: English
Pages: 347
City: New York
Cover
Half Title
Title
Copyright
Acknowledgements
Introduction to the Transaction Edition
Contents
Introduction
PART ONE THE CASE OF THE CLERICAL AGENCY
1. The Over-all Organization and the Employees' Individual Adjustments to Their Tasks
THE OBJECTIVES OF THE CLERICAL AGENCY AND ITS OVER-ALL CHARACTERISTICS
THE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF PERSONNEL
THE ORGANIZATION OF WORK AND PRODUCTIVITY
EMPLOYEES' WORK SATISFACTION
The importance of the work load
The feelings about work
The decisive influence of social status
2. Interpersonal and Intergroup Relationships and the Problem of Routine
EMPLOYEES' SOCIAL PARTICIPATION AND INTEGRATION
Employees' evaluations of the Agency
Social isolation and the lack of friendship ties
The negative solidarity of the personnel and the extent of union activities
AUTHORITY RELATIONSHIPS
The supervisors' predicament
THE OVER-ALL PATTERN OF ROUTINE
PART TWO THE INDUSTRIAL MONOPOLY
3. The Social System at the Shop Level: The Plant Subculture and the Formal Authority System
THE OVER-ALL ORGANIZATION OF THE MONOPOLY
THE ORGANIZATIONAL GIVENS AND THE WORKERS' ATTITUDES
The work load
The seniority system
Mechanization and the technological environment
THE CONTENT OF THE WORKERS' SUBCULTURE
THE FORMAL AUTHORITY SYSTEM
The reactions of the subordinates
The nature of formal authority in the plant
4. The Social System at the Shop Level: The Relationships between Groups and the Adjustment Patterns of Groups
THE GROUP RELATIONSHIPS
The relationship between production workers and foremen
The relationship between production and maintenance workers
The relationship between foremen and maintenance workers
THE ADJUSTMENT PATTERNS OF EACH OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORY
The production workers' type of adjustment
The maintenance workers' type of adjustment
The supervisors' type of adjustment
THE SYSTEM OF POWER RELATIONSHIPS IN THE SHOP: ITS EQUILIBRIUM AND ITS LIMITS
5. Power Relationships at the Management Level
THE CAREER PATTERNS OF THE FOUR MEMBERS OF THE MANAGEMENT TEAM
THE EXISTING PATTERNS OF CONFLICT
The comptroller-versus-director conflict
The assistant director-versus-director conflict
The conflict between technical engineer and assistant director
THE PATTERNS OF ADJUSTMENT OF EACH OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORY
The technical engineer's pattern of adjustment
The director's adjustment pattern
The assistant director's adjustment pattern
THE MEANING OF CONFLICT IN A BUREAUCRATIC SYSTEM OF ORGANIZATION
PART THREE BUREAUCRACY AS AN ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEM
6. Power and Uncertainty
POWER AS THE NEW CENTRAL PROBLEM OF THE THEORY OF ORGANIZATION
THE EXAMPLE OF THE INDUSTRIAL MONOPOLY
The production workers
The maintenance workers
The lower supervisors
The management team
THE ROLE OF POWER WITHIN AN ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEM
The problem of the supervisor-subordinate relationship
The problem of the work standards
THE INFLUENCE OF POWER RELATIONSHIPS ON ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
THE EVOLUTION OF POWER RELATIONSHIPS SYSTEMS
THE PRIMACY OF ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS AND THE LIMITS OF THE POWER STRUGGLE
7. The Bureaucratic System of Organization
THE PROBLEM
THE THEORY OF BUREAUCRATIC DYSFUNCTIONS: THE "HUMAN RELATIONS" APPROACH TO BUREAUCRACY
THE PROBLEM OF THE ACHIEVEMENT OF CONFORMITY
THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF A BUREAUCRATIC VICIOUS CIRCLE
The extent of the development of impersonal rules
The centralization of decisions
The isolation of the different strata and the concomitant group pressure on the individual
The development of parallel power relationships
The vicious circle
THE PROBLEM OF CHANGE IN A BUREAUCRATIC SYSTEM OF ORGANIZATION
THE BUREAUCRATIC PERSONALITY
THE INDIVIDUAL'S STAKE IN BUREAUCRACY
PART FOUR BUREAUCRACY AS A CULTURAL PHENOMENON: THE FRENCH CASE
8. The French Bureaucratic System of Organization
THE PROBLEM OF INTERPERSONAL AND INTERGROUP RELATIONSHIPS
THE PROBLEMS OF AUTHORITY AND THE AVOIDANCE OF FACE-TO-FACE RELATIONSHIPS
THE PROBLEM OF CHANGE AND THE PARADOXICAL WEAKNESS OF POWER
OTHER POSSIBLE MODELS OF BUREAUCRATIC SYSTEMS OF ORGANIZATION
The Russian system
The American system
9. The Importance of Bureaucratic Patterns of Action in the French Social System
BUREAUCRATIC PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
THE FRENCH EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
THE FRENCH LABOR MOVEMENT AND THE FRENCH PATTERN OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
THE FRENCH POLITICO-ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM
The administrative subsystem
The policy-making subsystem
The revolutionary grievance-settling subsystem
The interrelations between the three subsystems
THE FRENCH COLONIAL SYSTEM
10. The Bourgeois Entrepreneur and Bureaucracy
THE LIMITS OF THE BUREAUCRATIC SYSTEM AND THE ENTREPRENEURIAL ROLE
BOURGEOIS STATUS AND THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SYSTEM
THE OPPOSITION BETWEEN THE WORLD OF FREE ENTERPRISE AND PATERNALISM AND THE WORLD OF STATE BUREAUCRACY
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO SYSTEMS AND THE PROBLEM OF INNOVATION
THE FRENCH MODEL OF CHANGE AND ADJUSTMENT TO CHANGE
11. The Bureaucratic Phenomenon and the "French Model" as Part of the Over-all Development of Industrial Society
THE PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED
BUREAUCRATIC SYSTEMS OF ORGANIZATION AND THE EVOLUTION OF INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY
THE GROWING THREATS TO THE FRENCH BUREAUCRATIC PATTERNS
THE MODEL'S POSSIBILITIES OF RESISTANCE: THE CASE OF FRENCH PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
THE FRENCH BUREAUCRATIC CONTRIBUTION
Subject Index
Index of Names
