Bureaucracy

One of the characteristics off eructation school/organization is specialization. Specialization is concentrating on a specific task for example; bursar as one of the school officers regulates finances of the school. According to Weber as cited in Ho and Missile (1 991 ) â€Å"division of labor and specialization means that the regular activities required for the purposes of the bureaucratically governed structure are distributed in a fixed way as official duties† (p: 104). This is to say, work in schools is divided into different task hence everyone have his/her specific task.Teachers are specializing by teaching a specific subject for example, Mathematics. Mathematics teacher specialize by teaching only Mathematics to all the grades in the school that is, form one, two and three. This is advantageous due to the fact that it makes one's job easier and to be of high quality since he/she deals with a specific subject. Furthermore, specialization goes hand in hand with what is ca lled division of labor. Light, Keller and Calhoun (1989) state â€Å"in bureaucracies the work to be accomplished is broken down into clear-cut division of labor and people are trained to specialize in performing each task† (p: 219).This is division of labor which refers to dividing work into small and manageable tasks. Therefore since tasks in schools are too complex to be performed by a single individual, division of labor is crucial. Everyone in a school has a position for example; there is a head teacher who is responsible for the running affairs of the school and teachers who are responsible for imparting knowledge to students or simply instruction delivery. Division of labor among positions improves efficiency. Ho and Missile (1991) postulate that division of labor produces specialization hence efficiency increases.And this is because specialization helps employees to be knowledgeable and expert at performing their prescribed duties. So the authors suggest â€Å"such d ivision enables the organization to employ personnel on the basis of technical qualifications. Hence, division of labor and specialization produce more expertise in school personnel† (p: 105). This is to say that workers are employed for the type of work they have skills on. Another characteristic of bureaucratic school/organization is a hierarchy of offices.According to Ho and Missile (1991) offices are arranged hierarchically; ACH lower office is under the control and supervision of a higher one. In agreement YMMV. Clientà ¨les. Com suggests that the structure of a bureaucracy is called a hierarchy because it includes a series of levels from the most menial worker in the organization to the highest executive. Each level has clearly defined authority and responsibilities. Therefore, this makes work to be easier and more manageable since everyone knows his/her responsibility in the school/organization. Light, et al. (1989) state that when an organization's operation is divide d into smaller, more manageable tasks; the arioso activities must be put together. Thus, the solution is to organize workers into a hierarchy with each person being responsible to the person directly above in the chain of command. This means that everyone will have a supervisor. For example, senior teachers can supervisor teachers to assess the efficiency of their work in the classroom. Moreover, a hierarchy of offices helps in keeping order within the organization since everyone understands his place very well and what is expected of him/her.According to Stark (1989) â€Å"all employees in the organization must know who their boss is and each errors should always respect their chain of command† (p: 594). To support this, employees should respect those in authority or their supervisors by doing what they expect them to do. They should also follow a channel of communication within the organization. The author also postulates â€Å"in this way the people at the top can be sure that directives arrive where they are meant to go and know where responsibility lie† (p: 594).Therefore, a hierarchy of offices is very important characteristic of a bureaucratic school/ organization as it allows workers to focus on their responsibilities since it Leary define them. It also encourages carefulness among workers as it is easier to trace who is not doing his/her work properly. Www. Baccalaureate's. Com/excerpts suggests that a formal hierarchy is the basis of central planning and centralized decision making of a bureaucratic school/organization.This is due to the fact that these offices are for the people who are responsible for the operation of the school/ organization hence; they plan and make decisions together on how best to do that. Stark (1989) postulates ‘to ensure order in decision making, business is inducted primarily through written rules, records and communication† (p: 593). This is to say, planning and decision making is central to a hie rarchy of offices within the school/organization due to the fact that it is where written rules, records and communication are found.Rules and regulations are one of the characteristics of bureaucratic school/organization. In any organization rules and regulations are very vital because they ensure that there is order. Weber as cited in Stark (1989) â€Å"stressed that rational bureaucracies must be managed in accordance with careful developed rules and principles that can e learned and applied†¦ † (P: 595). To support this, a bureaucratic school should have rules that guide employees' behavior since they are applied equally to everyone of them. They cannot be broken due to the fact that by doing so punishment will follow.Therefore, rules and regulations are important in a bureaucratic school since they promote self-discipline and self- control among workers. This will help the organization to run smoothly and efficiently since workers need not to be followed to do their work as they are guided by the rules and regulations. Rules and regulations maintain control thin the organization as according to Ho and Missile (1991) â€Å"†¦ By taking advantage of the screening functions of bureaucratic rules, administrators can gain and maintain some control over organizational activities.They anticipate that general and impersonal rules will be good because they provide direction without creating status distinctions. Control is the us maintained by using bureaucratic rules†¦ † (P: 109-110). Moreover, to ensure that rules and regulations are the characteristics of bureaucratic school/ organization; Bernard, Burgess and Kirby (2004) suggest that a bureaucratic school/organization should have a body of rules that governs it. For example, employees usually have a code of conduct. According to Fragrant (1980) a code of conduct is a set of rules for professional conduct since teachers are professionals.These rules are divided into two; a commitmen t to the students and to the profession. A commitment to the students are rules which outline what the teacher should do and not to do to students for example, the teacher disclosing information about students without their permission. And a commitment to the profession are rules which outline hat they society expects from the teacher for example, the teacher should not dress in an unprofessional manner. Ho and Missile (1991 ) state that rules and regulations provide continuity of operation and help to coordinate activities.This is because employees are guided by rules on what they should do and not to therefore, rules and regulations in a bureaucratic school promote cooperation within the organization since employees work well with each other. Lastly, one of the characteristics of bureaucratic school/ organization includes rewards based on merit. According to Light, et al. (1989) â€Å"positions in a bureaucracy are awarded on the basis Of technical qualifications (as measured by tests, educational degrees and diplomas and other standardized yardsticks) not on the basis of who one knows† (p: 220).This is to say that jobs and promotion in a bureaucratically school/ organization are obtained through qualifications. For example in Botswana, for one to be a secondary school teacher should have at least a certificate of Diploma in Secondary Education not just passed form five and then be employed as teacher. Employees should be employed for the job they qualify or so that work cannot be difficult for them since they will be doing what they are trained for. This will in turn, helps the school/organization to be effective and efficient.Furthermore, rewards based on merit will allow us providers to give promotions to the ones who are qualifying for those positions. This is to say they will not give promotion on the basis of favoritism like to their relatives and friends. Stark (1989) states â€Å"to ensure expert management, appointment and promotion are base d on merit rather than favoritism and those appointed treat their positions as full-time, primary arrears† (p: 593). To support this, people are rewarded because of the efforts they put in their work.So that's why in schools teachers can be promoted and given positions such as, from being a subject teacher to a subject coordinator. Nevertheless, giving jobs and promotions to people because one knows them, will make the school/organization to suffer since they do not qualify for those works. Ho and Missile (1991) suggest â€Å"promotion is dependent on the judgment of superiors† (p: 105). This is to say that promotion is made by supervisors but even though, it is upon them they should do it fairly.