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Identify And Explain The Difference Between Weber And Foucault

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Power is an invisible form and has the capacity to control or influence the behaviour of a person. The claim given states that ‘employees are not the bearers of power but they suffer the effects of power’ draws attention to the key aspect of power in the organisations. For this reason, this essay will points toward the Weber’s theory for bureaucracy and how Foucault use the Panopticon as a metaphor to define the concept of power. Despite bearing some complementary perspectives, the differences between Weber and Foucault approaches to concepts of power and domination are pronounced. Weber (1968) defined power as the ability of an individual or group to achieve goals even against the resistance of others (Lukes, 1986). In contrast, Foucault (1976) …show more content…

The top management is the one who look after the entire bureaucracy. Weber suggests the bureaucracy within organisations are more rigid and authoritative, tend to be centralised, highly specialised, do not encourage empowerment, and high formalisation (Best, 2002). As a results, Weber’s conception of power connected with his interest in bureaucracy and office hierarchy (Sadan, 2004). Many organisations rely on bureaucracies to operate whether it is private or public sector such as government, hospitals, and schools. Therefore, everyone must follows the standardised procedures in order to produces similar results in the productivity and to promote the efficient attainment of the organization 's …show more content…

In Weber’s conception of power, the bureaucratic domination is required within the organsations in order to pursue the organisational goals effectively. However, the discussion of bureaucracy and post-bureaucracy still taken in the consideration in the generation nowadays. There is no right or wrong between the views of Weber and Foucault because it depends on how an employers decide to adopt a suitable organisation structure to fit with their mission and vision of the organisations. For example, Yahoo and Google may refer to the Foucault’s view because it is particular on the creative idea and innovation conversely manufacturing industries may refer to the Weber’s view because it is very particular on the results of

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But first what is Power? When researching Power words such as authority, control, direct, command and influence all appear. These words all support the following statement “Power is the ability to influence and control the behaviour of others.” The problem with power is that it often leads to those in power abusing it. As Lord Acton famously quoted “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

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The bureaucracy is a major base of power that can be difficult to control. Max Weber believed that bureaucracies shared certain characteristics: chain of command, division of labor, and impersonality. The chain of command is a form of organization characterized by a hierarchical structure of authority. In a military context, for example, the chain of command is the line of authority and responsibility along which orders are passed within a military unit and between different units. The division of labor is when work is divided among specialized workers in order to improve productivity.

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Imagine a life where everything you ever wanted was yours. F. Scott Fitzgerald a man who was born in St. Paul, Minnesota (F. Scott Fitzgerald) didn’t really have everything especially since he lived Minnesota a place that is very similar too North Dakota. The Great Gatsby was one of Fitzgerald’s biggest books that made him famous. The story is narrated by Nick Carraway who served in World War I and is now trying to learn about the bond business. He moves to west egg a very rich area in Long Island and is now stuck with a big mess.

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They are in a generation where they accept the logic of organizational power in short being a conformist. Even though a bureaucratic system is obvious in our government today we are still not made aware of it specially its complications and its consequences. Up to this date we still experience complications in a bureaucratic government also in a bureaucracy mandated business. A bureaucratic government isn’t all negative it has its pro’s specially being a well-organized government as well as a well-organized business organization. but in this paper were going to talk moreover on the negative or the cons of a bureaucratic government.

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(ii) Power and Conflict: The capacity the one person has the influence over the other persons such that other persons act in accordance with his/her wishes can be defined as ‘Power’. Conflicts could be both positive and negative. Good conflicts could be encouraged but bad conflicts ought to be prevented.

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1. Does this case support or contradict Weber’s arguments about the monolithic power position of bureaucracy in society? Both cases, How Kristen Died and The Columbia Accident supported everything Weber described. Weber wanted to maximize efficiency as well as eliminate favoritism. Weber’s overall reason for creating bureaucracy was so that a new administrative system could be created that would treat all humans equally.

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A bureaucratic organization was originally intended to have a hierarchical or pyramidal structure to help achieve the most rational and efficient operation at the lowest cost. The term bureaucracy is a combination of French and Greek words respectively. The word ‘bureau’ means desk or office and the word ‘kratos’ means rule or political power. It was first used by the French economist Jacques Claudes Marie Vincent de Gournay. In order to study the origins and nature of the expansion of bureaucratic organization, weber constructed an ideal type of Bureaucracy.

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Power as conceptualized by critical theorists. Power is one of the words that holds great effect. It is defined by Webster (2015) as “the ability to control people or things; a person or organization that has a lot of control and influence over other people or organizations”. In general, a person or organization that holds power has authority over others. Thus, power is conceptualized in the organizational communication by critical theorists.

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Based on Stuart Hall’s (2006) discussion of Foucault’s theory of discourse, a discourse is generally consisting of a group of statements that together offer a way of talking about a par-ticular knowledge on a certain topic. Many individuals can produce it together, in different institutional settings. The discourse thereby enables the construction of a topic in a specific way which at the same time limits other constructions of the same topic. A discourse is made up not only from one but a multiplicity of statements that all share the same style to talk about the same topic. However, it is not a closed off system, it draws statements from and into other discourses.

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The German sociologist Max Weber [3] described many ideal-typical forms of public administration, government, and business. Weber agreed that bureaucracy constitutes the most efficient and rational way in which human activity can be organized, and that thus is indispensable to the modern

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Athena Kennedy Philosophy Professor Berendzen Kant vs. Foucault December 1, 2015 Kant vs. Foucault Humans question their surroundings every day, weather it is “is how I am acting the way I want to portray myself,” “am I doing the right thing in this situation?” All questions can and should be debated, In philosophy we find new ways to questions everything, weather it is another’s opinion or our own, we form new ways of thinking critically and new ways to obtain answers that will satisfy our thirst for knowledge. Philosophers believe that you need to be able to question everything because there is always new knowledge out there for us to absorb and to question. In critical thinking you evaluate an issue you believe is present in order

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To Weber the word refers to the structure found in modern large organisations, whether they are government departments, business firms, armies or organised religion. It is a continuous organisation of official functions bound by rules. Weber thought that bureaucratic organisation was the most rational means of deploying power in any setting (Brown and Steel, 1979, p.160). In this essay, I am going to discuss how Max Weber’s theory of bureaucracy had a major impact on the development of public administration systems. Classical organisation theory evolved during the first half of this century.

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Weber is regarded as one of the founding fathers of sociology along with Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx. But unlike Marx and Durkheim, Weber believed that the study of society should focus on social action and not so much on the social structures. He argued that structures in society were not independent of individuals but were an effect of interplay of human actions and it was sociology’s task to find the true meaning of those actions. If Weber somehow came to know about the influence his theories wield in the field of management today, he would be more than bemused.

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The term bureaucracy refers to a particular type and technique of administrative organization. In the 1930s Max Weber, a German sociologist and political economist; he wanted to find out why people in organizations obeyed those in authority above them. He wrote a validation that described the bureaucratic form as being the ultimate way of organizing government agencies. Weber’s study of business was centered on understanding the need for stability and consistency in achieving competence.

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1.2 Power Definition Of Power Power is "The ability to effect the outcomes you want, and if necessary to change the behavior of others in order to make this happen" – Nye We can say that power is about a relationship whose strength and domain will vary with different contexts. Those with more power in a relationship are better placed to make and resist change. Empirical studies have shown that the more powerful are less likely to take on the perspective of others . Power is one of the most important thing to the politic. This is because politik is base on some form of power and its sources may be highly varied and complex .

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