Introduction
Globalization of trade network, sophisticated technologies and constant changes in the world social and economic systems have an inevitable influence on all economic subjects, in particular, corporations and individuals in both public and private sectors of the economy. This dynamic environment, obviously, influences the organization of the economy as a whole, makes it more flexible and opens doors of opportunities. In this case it is often spoken about the movement from bureaucracy to post-bureaucracy, which brings a breath of fresh air to the organizations starting a new postmodern era that has relegated the old bureaucracy to the past. Therefore, let us take a closer look at what bureaucracy and post bureaucracy mean in connection to the organization, and to what extend postmodern organization type has substituted bureaucratic one.
In order to get the idea of a post-bureaucratic organization one should be aware of the original concept, namely, bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is a social stratum of professional managers who are included in the organizational structure and characterized by a clear hierarchy, vertical information flows, formalized methods of decision-making, and a claim to have a special status in society. Bureaucracy can be also understood as a closed layer of top officials, opposing themselves to the society and occupying a privileged position in it, specializing in the management, monopolizing power functions in society in order to realize their vested interests.
The term "bureaucracy" is not only used to refer to a particular social group, but also the organizations of the system, established by the public authorities in order to maximize its functions, as well as departments and agencies included in the branched structure of executive power ("Bureaucracy Definition | Investopedia", 2008).
The emergence of the term "bureaucracy" is associated with the name of the French economist Vincent de Gournay, who introduced it in 1745. The term was integrated into scientific research, through German sociologist, economist and historian Max Weber (1864-1920), author of the most complete and comprehensive sociological study of the phenomenon of bureaucracy. Weber proposed the following bureaucratic principles of the organizational structure:
hierarchical structure of the organization;
the hierarchy of the order, based on the legal authorities;
subordination to a superior employee and responsibility not only for their own actions, but also for the actions of subordinates;
specialization and division of labor function;
clear system of rules and procedures, ensuring consistency of the implementation of production processes;
a system of promotion and tenure, based on skills and experience and measurable standards;
orientation of the communication system in and out of the organization on the previously written rules ("Bureaucracy Max Weber's six characteristics of the bureaucratic form", 2016).
Influence of post-bureaucratic tendencies
As already has been mentioned above, rapidly changing world makes the organization break the rules and become more flexible and open to changes if they want to stay on the market. Globalization tendencies and various improvements in technologies enabled powerful competition on the market, making the organizations defend their market position. It is an open secret that the success of the organization depends mostly on how well the employees are working and whether they are satisfied with their job. Motivated employee is more profitable, creative, innovative and, therefore, contributes to the overall success. This simple truth encouraged organizations to include human relationship factors into the routine, changing the whole formal bureaucratic status to the one, where employees have more freedom to choose tasks, express their opinions and be heard by the management of the organization (Raelin, 2010).
Consequently, another question is gaining more importance: what happens to managerial control under the change to the postmodern organization? Scientists have been arguing a lot to what extend managerial control is needed in the organization and where is so called "golden middle" between formal and informal, strict rules and "everything allowed" (Mills, Simmons & Mills, 2005)? According to our research in most cases it depends on the organization, the field where it is working and the size of the company. Big companies such as MacDonald's, Wall-Mart, KPMG, Deloitte and others tend to more formal bureaucratic organization. For example, "McDonald's does not yet have robots to serve us food, but it does have teenaged whose ability to work autonomously is almost completely eliminated by techniques, procedures, routines and machines. There are numerous examples of this including rules which prescribe all the things a counterperson should do in dealing with the customer as well as a large variety of technologies which determine the actions of workers such as drink dispensers which shut themselves off when the cup is full " (Ritzer & Ritzer, 2008). Having a lot of subsidiaries, production lines and constantly increasing amount of employees makes the organization follow written rules in order not to have a mess and organize the working process effectively. Obviously, it does not mean that such organizations neglect human factor, but taking the amount of employees into account it is very difficult to have personal talks with everyone. An example of movement towards postmodern organization can be the change of the "Human Resource Department" to "People Operations Department" or " Employee Success" ("What's in a Name? 5 New Titles to Replace HR", 2016).
Consequently, post-bureaucratic type of organization is prevailing in start-ups and small young companies. Smaller number of people and cohesion establish rapport in the team and contribute to the atmosphere where every employee feels special and has the desire to share. Company's values become employee's values and he or she does his or her best to fulfill the aim of the organization. The salary in start-ups is not always high enough, though, these companies are based on inspiration and innovation thanks to the human factor.
In addition, post-bureaucratic organizations have an advantage of fast adaptability to the environmental changes and can react almost immediately to the economic situation. It is easier to change the way things are done when there are no strict rules to follow within the organization as in case with formal written rules within bureaucratic environments.
Conclusion
Summing up, nowadays more and more organizations tend to enter post-bureaucratic era, where there is a little place for authority, hierarchy, formality and written rules. Modern economic tendencies such as globalization and advanced technologies make companies invent something new and quickly adapt to changes if they want to stay on the market. Obviously, bureaucracy concept is not totally forgotten, there are companies that still use it, though with slight correction towards human factor. Anyway, it is always up to the organization to decide what way to follow, but this decision has crucial importance because economic subjects such as corporations and individuals can not neglect global economic tendencies and stay apart from them. All in all, post-bureaucratic era has come and, therefore, the bureaucracy has lost its overwhelming power.
References
Bureaucracy — Max Weber's six characteristics of the bureaucratic form. (2016). Bustingbureaucracy.com. Retrieved 9 March 2016, from http://www.bustingbureaucracy.com/excerpts/weber.htm
Bureaucracy Definition | Investopedia. (2008). Investopedia. Retrieved 9 March 2016, from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bureaucracy.asp
Mills, A., Simmons, A., & Mills, J. (2005). Reading organization theory. Aurora, Ont.: Garamond Press.
Raelin, J. (2010). The End of Managerial Control?. Group & Organization Management, 36(2), 135-160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1059601110391252
Ritzer, G., & Ritzer, G. (2008). The McDonaldization of society 5. Los Angeles, Calif.: Pine Forge Press.
What's in a Name? 5 New Titles to Replace HR. (2016). Cornerstoneondemand.com. Retrieved 8 March 2016, from https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/rework/whats-name-5-new-titles-replace-hr
