Bureaucracy in Tigbao Primary Multi Purpose Cooperative Inc.

INTRODUCTION Bureaucracy refers to the management of large organizations characterized by hierarchy of authority, fixed rules and regulations, impersonal relationships, rigid adherence to procedures, and a highly specialized division of labor. Bureaucracy is often associated with large entities such as government, corporations and non-governmental organizations. This includes businesses, government, education and religion. Bureaucracy connotes a rational, efficient method of accomplishing organizational goals as this would contribute to coordination and control in an organization. Max Weber, a German sociologist and political economist, gave much importance on rationality wherein efficient administration of formal rules and procedures takes place. This rationality usually occurs in almost all aspects replacing the traditional methods of social organization. Weber’s study on bureaucracy is based on ideal-type analysis and to develop this, Weber noted and has set ideal-type characteristics of bureaucratic organizations. These ideal characteristics include fixed division of labor, hierarchy of authority, creation of rules and regulations, selection based on qualifications and impersonality on personnel matters. Although not all organization acquire these characteristics, and does not fit exactly ideal type of bureaucracy, these would serve as criteria on an ideal bureaucracy present in the organization. Tigbao Primary Multi-Purpose Cooperative Inc. (TPMPCI) Tigbao, Libagon, Southern Leyte Ideal Characteristics of Bureaucracy Fixed division of labor. This refers to how the various tasks of a certain organization are divided up and being performed. The Tigbao Primary Multi-Purpose Cooperative Inc. does not possess this characteristic since their business focuses only on merchandising or trading goods and offer loan ervices to customers. In their trading business, as long as an employee knows the job and has a good educational background, she/he is qualified for the position held. Their work is not that too hard and does not require too much skills and specialization that’s why each employee can work in behalf of the other, if due to some cases such as absent, as long as he/she is very well-oriented. Also, in their loaning service, they hire employees based on his ability to handle the work and being able to know the work. Thus, the cooperative does not necessarily hire specialized experts and division of labor does not take place within the organization. Hierarchy of authority or chain of command. The hierarchy of authority in an organization is designed to benefit the company and the employees. The company grows with the strength of a competent managerial staff, and employees look to management to provide career development. A hierarchy is also a method of maintaining managerial integrity. When someone becomes a manager, she must prove to be competent, or else she will experience employee turnover. The hierarchy of authority in an organization is important to the sustained success of the company. The principles of office hierarchy and of levels of grade authority is present in the organization wherein their president or high ranking officer control and supervise the lower office or the lower levels in the organization. This clearly shows that the organization follow a chain of command which is very essential to the productivity and efficiency in the sense that lower levels also maintain the right to appeal the decisions made by the higher office. Thus, formal hierarchy would contribute to its centralization of the decisions made. Explicit Rules and Regulations. Rules and regulations are essential to one organization since it will be an aid in promoting workers efficiency. The Tigbao Primary Multi-Purpose Cooperative Inc. has certain rules employed by the organization to govern performance of workers. One of these is a standard rule in their organization that they should be on-time and avoid tardiness but these rules was not that clearly followed since the organizations’ wages and salaries are based on percentage yield. In their trading business, if the organization has no client or customers who will purchase their goods, they also have no salary. That is why employees should work hard as early as 07:00 in the morning so that they can also have a great percentage. Meanwhile in their loaning service, employees tend to follow the first come first serve basis so that there is an equal treatment among the clients. The written rules provided by the organization determine the performance of workers thus, absent of these rules in their organization would lead to inefficiency of the workers. Qualification-Based Employment. Selection, recruitment and hiring in the organization rely on specific qualification such as educational background and personality of the applicants. Their organization discourages favoritism and family connections such as â€Å"backers† since it is not an acceptable criterion for employment. Their organizations employment is largely based on technical qualifications, but not necessarily on the field of expertise but as long as he/she have the knowledge about the job. Impersonality on Personnel Matters. This means that workers should work based on their official status not on personal feelings thus there should be a detached approach on this. Officials in the said organization separate their personal feelings among clients or co-workers. This idea also means that they treated all employees equally and customers equally. They interact according to their official status. Through this impersonality, workers can work effectively without caring for their individual safety. Thus, it enables workers to be more productive in their work. Shortcomings or Problems: Inefficiency and Rigidity. Policies and procedures in the said organization contributed to inefficiency and rigidity in the sense that they follow the step-by-step procedures rather than getting the job done correctly by means of providing solutions to problems. Example of this, in their loans service, is when there were urgent transactions, they tend to follow the correct procedures in having a negotiation with their clients instead of considering their situation. But in some cases when they tend to loan in the service and withdraw money, and if they have their valid reasons, they consider their reasons. One thing employees consider in their organization is that they ear that if they were not able to follow the norms and violated the norms of impersonality, they can be accused to favoritism or â€Å"bias† thus, making if inefficient one since it takes a lot of time in following such procedures. Also, on the part of their trading business, employees were told not to let clients to have a credit during t he end of the month or if they have an inventory, that’s why most clients were mad since some tend to consider others. This leads to inefficiency since there is unequal treatment present thus making it ineffective in catering the needs of customers. Resistant to change. This refers to the action taken by individuals and groups when they perceive that a change that is occurring as a threat to them. In their organization, unfortunately, they do not have new technologies which they can utilize for the betterment of their organization and improve its productivity. But if they acquire new technologies such as computer for their paper works, they will utilize it and willing to adapt to changes. Since they had considered that through the new technologies, their transactions will be more accurate and their work is more convenient and fast also can make workers boost their competence on their work. This problem regarding bureaucracy on their organization is not that a great barrier on their part to promote efficiency on their work since when they select and in hiring process of employees, they based it on the employees’ computer literacy thus enables them to productive. Perpetuation of Race, Class and Gender Inequalities. The problem regarding treatment of employees unequally in their organization does not occur since they have equally treated their employees. Racial class inequality does not occur in their organization since employees have the same races and if they have this racial class inequality, this is not imperative in the organization. Regarding social class, middle class employees and working class employee have an equal chance to be promoted. They consider the performance since it would contribute to the success of their organization, Also the gender is not the basis in employment. If you have the qualification, whether you are a male or female applicant, you have the chance to be employed in their organization. Solutions: To solve these arising problems on their organization, first, they should set specific policy which are clear and understood by workers to promote productivity and profitability of the organization and competence among employees. Since their major problem on their organization revolves around the improper implementation of the rules and regulation, they should also set alternatives on how to solve this such as stated earlier. Management by rules should be applied by the organization wherein it follows consistent set of rules to control decisions and thus executed effectively by the lower levels of the organization. Second, if employees acquire the characteristics of being resistant to changes, they have to have orientation about the new technologies used by the organization that would contribute to employees knowledgeable skills being applied in the organization. Through orientation and training, they will learn how to operate the computers, if they have. Being resistant to change plays a big role in the organization since it will boost individual’s incompetence of his/her work thus they should employ the â€Å"adaptive to changes†. Third, with concerns about division of labor, they should hire specialized experts to have a fixed division of labor present in their organization. Work is to be done obviously by specialists and people should be organized into units based on the type of work they do or skills they have. This is an essential tool in organizations so that works will be delegated among them and being expert in the field one is into is also vital in attaining the goals and objectives of the organization. Lastly, personnel should be hired based on technical competence. The appointment to a position within the organization should be made on the grounds of technical competence. Work should be assigned based on the experience and competence of the individual. Conclusion: Tigbao Primary Multi-Purpose Cooperative Inc. has these several characteristics of bureaucracy namely hierarchy of authority, wherein the order in which authority and power in an organization is wielded and delegated from top management to every employee at every level of the rganization; explicit rules and regulations, wherein rules are designed to control the conduct of those to whom it applies and regulations too are official rules, and have to be followed; qualification based employment, wherein the basis of acquiring employees is largely based on specific qualifications, and impersonality, wherein there is a degree of separation of personal status and feelings except for the fixed division of labor thus, this organi zation has applied the ideal type of bureaucracy. Although there were few problems present in their organization, but it is not that an impediment towards organizations efficiency on attaining their goals. Through these characteristics present in their organization, these would contribute a lot to their success and effectively catering the needs of the consumers. Therefore, bureaucracy can be seen as a way to make their organization more productive and efficient. And to sum up all, an ideal-type of bureaucracy do possess these characteristics.