|
| |
"BUREAUCRATIC EXPERIENCE, THE" (RALPH HUMMEL).
Term Paper ID:23782
|
|
|
Essay Subject:
Critical review of work on organizational behavior, modernity, bureaucratic language & thought, philosophy.... More...
|
6 Pages / 1350 Words
1 sources, 10 Citations,
APA Format
$24.00
Return to List of Papers
|
Paper Abstract:
Critical review of work on organizational behavior, modernity, bureaucratic language & thought, philosophy.
Paper Introduction:
Introduction
In The Bureaucratic Experience, Ralph Hummel is concerned with the human condition in today's environment. Hummel focuses on how humans behave in organizations, and, in turn, how those organizations shape them, but his emphasis is on the human condition as a whole, and he cites "experts" as diverse as Freud and Heidegger throughout the text. Hummel uses citations similar to those found in scholarly articles and books, but his writing includes more anecdotes than would typically be found in a strictly scholarly approach to the topic. At the same time, he has provided the research to support his ideas, and has done so in a rigorous manner; these two apparently contradictory factors may have contribute to a lack of acceptance of the work in either popular or scholastic circles. Hummel presents five different themes: modernity, bureau
Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.
Hummel holds that the modern world is split by cultural conflicts thatare played out as conflicts between society and bureaucracy (strugglesbetween quantity and quality in organizations) and in political andcultural wars (68). Reference Hummel, R. Hummel's contribution in considering bureaucracy in light ofphilosophy is that a new philosophical framework is needed in order tofully understand modern man. Conclusion Hummel's work is not likely to be forgotten soon after the book isfinished. Becausebureaucracies have a centralized structure, they have advantages overfragmented political institutions. Instead, this bookrequires reflection on the ideas that Hummel presents, and consideration ofthe relevance of those ideas. The Bureaucratic Experience. Bureaucracy as a New Culture Hummel suggests that the calls for total quality management,privatization, downsizing, re-engineering and the other trends which haveswept through management circles in the 198 s and 199 s focus attention andintellectual energies lower than they ought to be. (1994). According to Hummel, bureaucratic language and thinking are both aboutpower and how power can mold social reality with instrumental values.Language and thinking are also concerned with how members of organizationsshould structure their thinking (188). Hummel uses an imaginary philosophical chess game which begins withtwo opponents but then adds a third to illustrate the necessary movementfrom tragedy to hope. This is not a trendy management book whichoffers tips that can be quickly read and forgotten. Hummel may indeed be correct inhis assertion that the demand for any genuine politics poses the issue ofwhat it means to be fully human, but it can also be forcefully argued thatbureaucratic institutions (public and private) are indispensable tocontemporary society. Hummel refrains from presenting apost-modern organization model because he suggests that any such modelwould have the same rigidity as modernity itself (222). Hummeluses citations similar to those found in scholarly articles and books, buthis writing includes more anecdotes than would typically be found in astrictly scholarly approach to the topic. Modernity According to Hummel, modernity represents little more than the effectof instrumental values over every aspect of our lives; technology andscience have produced the world where control of the human environmentresults in power (75). Further, the bureaucracy produces anabridged version of politics which rests on bureaucratic assumptions which,in turns, obscures the possibility of human politics reaching its fullpotential (241). Bureaucracy and Philosophy Where Hummel has spent much of his effort to this point by chippingaway at modernity, he now recognizes that modernity brings with it somebenefit. Hummel thus presents asweeping attack on modernity and warns against becoming too engrossed inthat which is new and different for the sake of its being new anddifferent. Hummel presents his views in orderly fashion, with the opinions of"experts" clearly identified as such. Bureaucracy and the Polity Hummel suggests that the bureaucracy conceals and denies thebureaucratic experience and that while the bureaucracy is politicallyactive, it also generates its own power by monopolizing how public issuesare defined. P. The Language and Thought of Bureaucracy Hummel finds that bureaucratic language is one way of denaturinglanguage itself, and that bureaucratic language makes it difficult for usto understand the source of the power which controls our lives. Thus, according to Hummel, when thebureaucracy confronts politics, the bureaucracy turns public problems intotechnical and administrative issues. Bureaucratic language is one directional (speakingwithout listening) and secretive. Hummel calls onSearle, Wittgenstein and Heidegger (again) to compare social language andbureaucratic speech. Hummel's difference is that he provides a careful and thoughtfuldiscourse as to why we are, on the whole, dissatisfied with both the modernworld and the bureaucracy which runs that world. At this point, Hummel returns to the issue of work: politics needs torecognize the human potential, which leads in the direction of a post-bureaucratic political environment (249). Hummel's discussion of politics and bureaucracy is frustrating becausehe does not provide any comparisons as to the implications of the trendtoward post-bureaucratic politics. Modernity takes a particular beating at the hands of Hummel,and bureaucracy is soundly criticized. Both of these activities areregularly engaged in by anyone who has criticized the post office and itsinefficient operations, or by those who lament today's modern pace andyearn for a simpler time. Introduction In The Bureaucratic Experience, Ralph Hummel is concerned with thehuman condition in today's environment. The bureaucracy also provides necessary stability forcounteracting the irrationality that is found in politics. The book is wellwritten, but the concepts which Hummel is putting forth require intenseconcentration by the reader. New York: St.Martin's Press. It is not a work which should be takenlightly, and it is not a work which does not demand active participation bythe reader. Above all, it is a work which causes the reader to carefullyconsider his own role in bureaucracy and the effect that bureaucracy has oneach of our lives. At the same time, he hasprovided the research to support his ideas, and has done so in a rigorousmanner; these two apparently contradictory factors may have contribute to alack of acceptance of the work in either popular or scholastic circles.Hummel presents five different themes: modernity, bureaucracy as a newculture, the language and thought of bureaucracy, bureaucracy and politics,and bureaucracy and philosophy. Hummel uses Heidegger to suggest that theindividual is being absorbed into an inauthentic public world, and MaxWeber to show that an overreliance on science and technology can strip awaya sense of the sacred from our modern lives (266). Such an environment wouldconsist of process politics which would better satisfy human social valuesand personal needs. The problem is that this benefit is hidden within instrumentalpower. Hummelsuggests that this can be accomplished by overcoming the practice ofdomination by developing a critical philosophy of administration. The end result of this is that Hummel finds that wemay well be in an intellectual no-win situation, where we wonder whetherthere are any other roads besides the one we have taken. He puts himself in the position ofinterpreting those experts who are deceased, and supports his arguments(and theirs) with both anecdotal and scholarly sources. Hummel embraces Heidegger to provide hisphilosophical framework, but there is certainly room for other contributorsin this area. By focusing on Heidegger, Hummel may take the reader awayfrom consideration of other philosophical approaches, but he alsointroduces the concept that additional consideration is necessary, and thatmodern man must begin to consider the philosophical implications of hispresent condition if he is to move beyond the intellectual limits whichbureaucracy imposes (275). He does not provide concrete solutions, or easy suggestions, forchanging the status quo, but by recognizing that bureaucracy may not be theinevitable consequence of our development raises a challenge to the rest ofus. To change modernity, humans must change this power. Social language is reciprocal and causal(social language users share a context with others). The reader might infer that the UnitedStates is a model for what will occur in all countries, but Hummel does notstate this in clear, unequivocal terms. By examining the effectthat bureaucracy has on each of our lives, Hummel identifies the areas inwhich it exercises control over us and the ways in which we interact withit. Work, on the other hand, is a societal functionthat is shared by people; in short, an endeavor that gives definition bothto the self and to external reality (75). That challenge is to find a way to improve our situation, to overcomethe limitations which bureaucracy imposes, and to avoid condemning humanityto the morass that bureaucracy represents. Hummel focuses on how humansbehave in organizations, and, in turn, how those organizations shape them,but his emphasis is on the human condition as a whole, and he cites"experts" as diverse as Freud and Heidegger throughout the text. In the first checkmate, Hummel illustrates howHeidegger's thinking convinces us of the inherent limitations of science.The second move on this chessboard involves confronting our fate, and thefinal move (involving the third player) focuses on the concept of being.The individual is in the Truth of Being when he is authentically a uniqueperson of relationships and potentialities (271). Language,according to Hummel, provides a valuable tool for obscuring the problemsthat we face both as a society, and within that society. Hummel's view ofbureaucracy as culture is not a reassuring one. His arguments and ideas are thought-provoking, and not alwayscomforting. Hummel suggests thatbureaucracy is both a new society and a new culture, and one which shouldbe roundly questioned as it is wielded as an instrument of control.Rationality has been reduced to an abstract procedure of efficientcalculation and a job is a hierarchical, organization configuration that iscontrolled by management.
If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:
or
Click here to request an essay written just for you.
|
|
|
