PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ADMINISTRATIONS

We must be able to answer:

O Why are we studying and what are these two
O iIIerences: what and why
O $imilarities: what and why
O What do scholars think about it
O #ole oI public & private administrations in developed countries
O #ole oI public & private administrations in developing countries
O #espective roles in pre-LPG: divergence
O #espective roles in post-LPG: convergence
O inal analysis
4 &ltimate aim
4 Whither Iuture and how should the change be directed (in both cases)


With the change in economic milieu world-over, the role oI public and private sectors is being
reviewed and reoriented to meet the emerging challenges oI society.

DIFFERENCES

The diIIerence in their values, objectives and contribution to society Iundamentally diIIerentiates
the business oI public and private administrations. Simon, Stamp and Drucker endorse this
viewpoint.

1. Service motive and general welfare of the public are the ends oI public administration, while
private administration by contrast, is basically oriented towards earning proIit.
2. Public administration operates under constitutional laws, rules and regulations. While the
private administration works under market environment recognized by greater autonomy,
competitiveness and Ireedom.
3. Public Administration enables accessibility to all, any deviance is exposed to public gaze and
censure. While discrimination on the other hand, is almost a part oI business culture.
4. Public administration is exceedingly complex, with lots of pulls and pressures and political
directions. Private administration by contrast, is much more well-knit and single minded in
operation.
. Urgency and comprehensiveness of functions ranging social, cultural and economic activities
identiIies the Public administration. Natural calamities and man-made disasters Iorce the
government to provide immediate relieves without waiting Ior the private sector to help.
6. Efficiency criterion oI private sector is guided by socially narrow tests of resource use, while
eIIectiveness in terms oI achieving speciIic policy goals assumes critical signiIicance in public
administration. 'Managing for Performance puts public administration at higher pedestal
than the private administration.

SIMILARITIES

O $everal aspects oI public management are generic to both. There are many grey areas
where the line oI separation between the two is not well-marked.
O Organisational structures, managerial processes and office techniques are quite similar in
the two.
O ierarchy, planning, communication, budgeting and reporting are well-practiced in the
two administrations.
O Fayol, Urwick and Follett believe that same principles can be applied to both irrespective oI
the size, description and purpose oI the organisation.
O Lateral entry system in USA, movement oI retired bureaucrats to private sector in 1apan and
the recently initiated lateral entry of public servants in private sector in India at higher
levels well endorse the similarities in the two sectors.










ROLE IN DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

O n developed countries like &$A, private administration plays an important role in economy
and society. There is blurring of lines rather than a distinct biIurcation oI responsibilities.
O n developing countries like ndia, public administration plays instrumental role in societal
change while mixed role oI both directs economic development.




CANGING ROLE OVER TIME

O The public-private relationship has undergone an overhauling change from divergence in
pre-1990 period to convergence later on. While the public administration is adopting
practices oI private management, private administration increasingly subject to government
regulation in public interest e.g. the Investment Commission` was constituted with
corporate involvement to explore ways to attract investment in ndia. Corporate planning and
perIormance budget have become the buzz words today, which clearly demonstrate their
merging roles.








CONCLUSION

&ltimately the aim oI governance is to provide people`s self development and empowerment.
Public and private administration are the tools to achieve this and by directing and accelerating
the change in development enterprise. The public administration needs to be aggressively
managerialized and given entrepreneur tilt, while private administration must realize that the
whole enterprise can not just be about higher proIits, there must also be a higher purpose.


































PUBLIC COICE APPROAC

The Public Choice Approach is basically an application of economics to political science. ts
principal contributors have been micro-economists like Buchanan, Tullock, Niskanen and Ostrom. t
is essentially a state-reducing and market-expanding doctrine, justiIied by its view that
government decision making is not based on individual citizens` interests.

The Public Choice Approach is based on the behavioral assumptions that human beings are:-
O Individualistic, and
O Rational-economic

n other words, humans in general are utility-maximizers seeking to Iurther their selI-interest. n
particular, it is true Ior actors in the politico-administrative spheres. Thus civil servants are self-
aggrandizing bureaucrats interested only in expanding the activities under their charge, and
increasing their departments` budgets. $imilarly the political leaders are vote seeking politicians,
maximizing their votes Ior perpetuating their stay in power as their sole end. or this, they go on
recklessly promising more and more programmes to their constituents.

The natural consequence oI this is state overload or enlargement of the public sphere. n turn, this
overload has Iollowing consequences:-

1. The government machinery becomes unwillingly large. This calls Ior an increased public
revenue and thereby increases the tax-burden on the citizens. Most oI it is spent on
maintaining the government and very little is leIt Ior actual provision oI goods and services.
2. n the absence oI market conditions, there is no compulsion to innovate or raise quality and
reduce costs. The government activities become increasingly bureaucratic, leading to
ineIIiciency.
3. A large government increases the powers of bureaucracy threatening individual liberty.
4. n the absence oI organizational pluralism, a citizen has no Ireedom oI choice. This is anti-
democratic.

aving this built up a case against governments, Public Choice Approach gives the following
prescriptions:-

1. The role oI the state needs to be minimized. n particular, no role to be played in the
production and distribution oI goods and services, social or economic. As large a sphere oI
activities as possible should be handed over to the private sector, operating under the market
mechanism.

2. ven in those activities in which the state must keep itselI, there should be multiple
agencies delivering the same public good. $uch kind oI institutional pluralism ensures
competition. I possible, even these services should be contracted out or leased to private
parties.

This has the following benefits:-

1. Market ensures competition. There can be as many players as warranted by demand. $uch
organizational pluralism is in accord with democracy, the Ireedom to choose, that
competition also results in efficiency, innovation and price reduction. This beneIits the
citizens.
2. ue to roll back oI state, there are several beneIits. The size oI the government comes down
and thereby, reducing the tax burden on citizenry alongwith the power of bureaucrats
and politicians.
3. Government can focus on regulating common goods better, providing public goods and
rationally design other goods and services.
4. With the cutting oI all unnecessary Iunctions, the government can concentrate on important
activities like deIence, law & order, and Ioreign policy.

CRITICAL APPRAISAL

t is a Iact today that governments have become very big, even unwieldy. $everal oI their Iunctions
are plain unnecessary. This naturally leads to avoidable expenditure and reduce eIIectiveness. n this
context, the call Ior roll-back oI state by the Public Choice theorist seem correct and timely, and it
Iinding wide acceptance too.

Public Sector Undertakings are being privatized Irom New Zealand to China to ndia, and being
disinvested. ownsizing oI government is accompanying a re-definition of its functions. #educing
Iiscal deIicit is the Iocal concern. Countries like USA and Germany have gone in Ior outright
privatization, allowing the market a Iree play bin the economy. Australia and Singapore are shiIting
operating responsibilities Irom the central departments to speciIic decentralized agencies. This allows
competition. Most developing countries Irom ndia to South Africa to Malaysia are undergoing
structural adjustment which is only shifting the economic balance from government to the private
sector. Overall the trend is towards state-minimalism.

Nevertheless, the theory has certain weaknesses for which it has been criticized:-

1. t is a throwback to laissez-faire. This, we know leads to the state monopoly being
substituted by the Iar more dangerous private monopoly.
2. The market-mechanism does not automatically ensure competition. Big multi-national
corporations Iirst establish and then exploit their market dominance to eliminate other
players. Citizens` choice is thus constricted. $candals in &$A and other developed countries
in private sector are not unknown.
3. Market has no sympathy for those who cannot afford. This is especially a cause oI
concern Ior developing countries which have a large no. oI poor, even destitute population.
4. t looks like a new right ideology being propagated by the capitalist states like America
to open the lucrative markets in the Third world to their rapacious trans-national companies.
. ts criticism oI political leaders and civil servants as being motivated solely by self-
interest is unIair.
6. t Iorgets the important role of the state vis--vis the market. The state has to enIorce
contracts, adjudicate disputes, curb monopolies and build physical inIrastructure. No market
is possible without these.
7. t is crudely ahistorical. n the early stages oI development, a country e.g. ast Timor or
AIghanistan may not have any private enterprise. $tate is the only instrument oI
development there.
8. The assumption about human nature- individualistic and utility-maximizers is too
simplistic. Plural societies need communitarianism than selI-centered individuals.
9. n advocating market-led development, it prescribes 'one-best way.
10. To say that efficiency is the sole aim of government is to trivialize government. The
latter has higher goals like equality, equity and welIare.
11. The theory justiIies consumption oI ever increasing amounts oI goods and services, and so
apotheosizes the western way of life.









E-GOVERNANCE IN INDIA: PROBLEMS CALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES


-Governance is a new version and a novel variety of governance. -governance is not only the
new, but also the now trend occurring in ndia. t is Iast taking the Iorm oI a movement. Many
beneIits are Ilowing Irom its adoption in various spheres oI administration. $everal advanced
governments oI the world have switched over and many other seem to be switching over to electronic
administration. India lacks however, a national perspective one-governance, although, there is
space oI Ilourishing eloquence among some ministers, bureaucratic techno experts and other pundits
combined with a Iairly widespread awareness and more or less universal realization oI the positive
aspects oI this inIormative revolution.

With most aspects oI citizen liIe and most sectors oI governmental Iunctions coalescing, in a
mutually beneficial, friendly ambience through an electronic convergence system, there will emerge
one day, a one stop, non stop shopping approach in the governments, involving cross-cutting`
over-joined up governance the idea simply being to create capability Ior providing the citizens
access to government services across departments though electronic networks.





There is no doubt that seriously implementing e-governance programme calls Ior basic restructuring
of an age-old archaic and colonial procedures it indeed involve almost wholesale elimination oI
the existing dysIunctional system oI governance. What is urgently needed is change in the mindset
of the people in government, change in the philosophy, spirit and processes in bureaucracy,
development of a national infrastructure, and a governing body on e-governance for the whole
country.


There seems to have come about a welcome change, rather dramatic. naugurating the Iirst meeting oI
state T ministers on July 1, 2000 in New elhi, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced
major initiatives aimed at propelling development oI T and telecom inIrastructure in the country.
These included the end oI V$NL`s monopoly on international band width access, Iull deregulation oI
the national long distance telecom market to private competition and Iormation oI a task Iorce on
human resource development in T. As 13-Point Common Action Plan Ior promoting T in ndia has
been adopted, divesting the &nion and $tate governments to promote e-governance and to improve
eIIiciency.

People have long been a harassed lot in their relationship with the government with endless Iorms,
regulations, by-laws, paperwork, delays, secrecy, authoritarianism and negativism. They would not
take these any more and hence the demand for good governance` slogan, for paperless office`;
cry for transparency and death of secrecy and insistence on right to information. Technology can
give them all that stands Ior good governance. E-governance is the other name of good governance.

People cannot go without good governance. t is their right to have it. t is government`s duty to
govern, and govern well. Government is a mandated pledge that has to be IulIilled. The state has to be
welfare oriented, people directed and service driven. Government can justiIy the existence only by
providing good, transparent and eIIective governance.

$uddenly, e-governance through a technological revolution have brought in healthy changes. The
basic character of governance, operational methodology, functional style, ideological orientation
has undergone changes. n Iact much more transparency, demolition oI discretion and arbitrariness,
and above all, clientele orientation and citizen savvyness have been brought about by the e-
governance.




The IT Act 2000 has been passed. Chapter oI the act deals with electronic governance. The Act
marks a watershed in the conduct of affairs in the government, signaling a new beginning in the
oIIicial transactional mode. More importantly, paper work, files fastened by red tape, elaborate
noting and drafting all delay producers may be a relic of the past, iI in Iuture, e-governance
becomes the order oI the day. And there is no reason why it should not.

Areas targeted Ior bringing in inIormation technology are revenue carving departments such as
registration department, commercial tax department, ration-card and public distribution system,
treasury, health department, municipality Iunctions etc. If future is the place where we have to live
the rest of our lives, we all must have stake and concern for its regulation, control and
development. T is the tool Ior that. T is an instrument Ior enrichment oI quality oI people`s liIe. T
is the promise Ior a brighter Iuture.

-governance is certainly a legitimate hope, and not a tall order to be sure, that our traditionally
lethargic, leisurely and old worldly public administration must sooner than later, rid itselI oI its
inherited 'burdensome baggage through the intervention oI T. The need Ior conceptual clarity to
realize mutually reinforcive relationship between IT and public administration is indicated.
Applying and developing T in diIIerent spheres oI activities and other programme sectors oI
development administration in our country that the poor people, illiterate masses, underIed men,
particularly inhabiting the rural interiors, the under-privileged, disadvantaged and handicapped
sections oI our society can get a better deal in liIe. ThereIore, Iull potential oI T need to be tapped
and harnessed in the Iollowing Iields: ducation, health, banking, tax administration, water and power
supply, transport system, export and import, ports and docks and shipping administration, traIIic

control, immigration, public distribution system law and order maintenance, security, criminal justice
administration and environmental protection etc.

Prosperity through IT is at our door step. We must open the door fully, and not keep it shut. We
have lived in the past, in the dark, for far too long. E-governance is the future, and we must go
in for it, to make the future secure for our future generations.


IT REDEFINED TEORY AND PRACTICE OF ADMINISTRATION

As Iar as the theory of administration is concerned, no other change was as penetrating as the one
brought about by T. t has aIIected the theory in the Iollowing ways:-

O Principles of management:
O $impliIication oI Hierarchy
O Centralization in organizations
O xpansion oI $pan oI Control
O nhanced Co-ordination

O Change from emphasis on structures to delivery
O Reduced role of human element: this has reduced the element oI errors in administration.
However, T can only supplement and support but cannot supplant the human Iactor.
O Change from generalist to specialist administration

As Iar as the practice of administration is concerned, IT has far reaching positive consequences
Ior the governments as well as the citizens.

O or the government as an organisation, T has brought in systems like MIS (Management
nIormation $ystem) and DSS (ecision $upport $ystem). urther, it has redeIined the
POSDCORB activities of Gulick and revolutionalized the Communication across the
various levels oI government horizontally as well as vertically. t has helped in the
improvement oI work culture in the government transIorming an ivory tower approach into
a people centric one.
O or the government as a State, T has improved the reach, speed and quality oI various
government driven programmes and policies.
O More than Ior any other thing, the practice of IT in the form of e-governance has beneIited
the citizens most. The SMART administration ($mall, Moral, Accountable, #esponsive and
Transparent) has had a direct impact on the application of 4Es (IIiciency, IIectiveness,
conomy and quity) on the citizens.

O Besides, e-governance also helped in the evolution oI a participative-governance, ultimately
leading to the empowerment oI citizens.

ROLE OF IT IN MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIZATIONS

The inIormation technology revolution has been called as the second industrial revolution. Both
computer technology and communication technology has grown very rapidly, contributing to each
others` growth; the two have become very interdependent. The term T has come into common use
since the mid 80`s with the integration of the computer technology and the communication
technology. Today, T provides integrated solutions Ior development oI inIormation systems in
organizations and society. Information system is the nervous system of any organization and
since qua non for its survival. nIormation lies at the heart oI any management process, inIormation
systems are playing greater role in providing integration in organizational and pubic Iunctioning. The
developments in T have aIIected every industry and every proIession.

The main subsystems or components of information systems are:

(i) nIormation storage, selection and retrieval (data base) system.
(ii) nIormation consolidation system (data and text processing)
(iii) nIormation communication system (networking) and
(iv) nIormation analysis (decision support) system.


Operational inIormation is used daily and routinely and allows the organization to carry on its daily
tasks. It serves the operational level of functional units of the organization. The inIormation needs
oI planning consists oI knowledge oI current and past perIormances, Iorecasts on Iuture perIormance,
view oI government policies, technological developments, market changes, and a Ieel Ior the political,
social and economic climate. IIective control requires detailed inIormation on perIormance at the
lowest level oI the organization.

OPTIMUM UTILIZATION OF IT IN PUBIC ADMINISTRATION

There is a need Ior improvement in quality oI services rendered by the government. The importance
oI computers can be attributed to its speed, accuracy, deterministic characteristics and connectivity,
which has conquered time and distance. Today, IT is more than a resource, it is an environment.
evelopment is a complicated process, which involves not only economic aspects, but also social,
political and environmental Iorces. The major challenge Iacing the systems analysts and designers is
to overcome the built-in resistance in the bureaucracy and official systems that do not permit
changes many a times.

IT is an integrated technology, which includes within its sphere, computer, telecommunication
and broadcasting products, by recognizing the technological convergence oI these three Iields. T is
an essential pre-requisite Ior providing basic inIrastructure inputs to secure the desired industrial
development and economic progress.

Adequate dissemination of information is essential for social change. Government should
understand the enormous potential oI T not only as a tool for improving governance and creating
more jobs, but more significantly as a means to greatly enhance the standard of living of the
people. &se oI it in enhancing the delivery oI government services leads to a very responsive and
transport administration, Iacilitating empowerment oI people, satisIying their right to inIormation.

The following steps could be taken to enhance the quality of administration:-

1. nsure involvement of people from professional bodies in governmental decision-making
process
2. $hiIt to performance orientation, rather than a procedure oriented bureaucratic set up
3. nsure Iull participation of personnel working at all levels of management
4. dentiIy the common Iactors and diIIerentiating characteristics in developing a model
information service.
. Besides strong political will, a programme/ project needs honest implementation with a
deIinite and clearly deIined objectives
6. T strategy must stem Irom business models to ensure that mission critical applications get
top priority

SUGGESTIONS TO ENANCE IT APPLICATIONS

O Management comprises three levels: operational, tactical and executive (in ascending order).
The data requirement varies which the level oI management. As one moves up the hierarchy,
the data gets reIined, Iiltered and in the process quantity oI data is reduced but its quality is
enhanced. The application oI T should thus be consistent with the goals and objectives of
management.
O mphasis should be on IT training rather than IT education. $chools need to shiIt Irom
mere teaching technology to teaching application oI technology as well.
O One has to look at specific application areas of IT that can make a real impact on the ndian
scene during the next two decades. The contents and subject matter to be available through
these technologies must be consistent with the need oI diIIerent categories oI users.
O The oIIicers should be linked by network, and the businessman may get a single - window
clearance.
O xperiment with the new may be made only when existing and available resources have
been optimally utilized and fully exploited.
O One department at national level should be responsible for the development and import of
required hardware and application soItware to be used by other departments in the country.
This would save time, energy and resources.

EXAMPLES OF IT PRO1ECTS IN INDIA

1. BOOMI - Karnataka - Land reIorms
2. APSWAN - Andhra - $ecretariat
3. WARNA - Maharashtra - Co-operatives
4. GYANDOOT - M.P. - ducation
. RA1SWIFT - #ajasthan - Organisation IIectiveness
6. FRIENDS - Kerala - elivery $ervices




















MARXIST VIEW OF BUREAUCRACY


Marx did not write extensively on bureaucracy. Yet, what he did write was not insigniIicant. He
placed bureaucracy and studied it, in the context oI his study oI state oI in the capitalist society. or
him, it was the apparatus oI the state i.e. civil service.

PERSPECTIVE ON ADMINISTRATIVE REALITY

Marx`s assumptions are the following:

1. He saw the individual human being as selfish in nature, promoting his selI interest. n
particular, the bureaucrat is selI-seeking and selI-aggrandizing.
2. This was a materialist conception of the state, in contrast to Hegel`s idealist view that
regarded state as an ethical entity.





In regarding state as representing the interests of the capitalist class, there are 2 marxist
positions:

1. Fundamentalist model Aaronovitch sees bureaucracy as directly manned and controlled
by the ruling class. Thus, given that top civil servants and members oI government advisory
bodies are directly connected to the capitalist class, it will naturally Iavour this class.
2. Relative Autonomy Model Poulantzas says that bureaucracy need not necessarily be Irom
the ruling class to serve the latter`s interests. $tate as part oI superstructure being conditioned
by the base, bureaucracy automatically represents the interests of capital. This in Iact,
better serves the capitalist class as Iree Irom internal squabbles oI groups within the class,
bureaucracy serves the whole class and also it can easily portray that it serves the entire
society.

OW DOES TE BUREAUCRACY PROMOTE INTERESTS OF CAPITAL?

n explaining this, Marxists Westergaard and #esler are explaining the 20
th
century state, welIare
state.

1. $tate makes laws to safeguard private property, the basis oI exploitation oI the subject
class.
2. Bureaucracy is engaged in a large no oI activities that appear to benefit the subject class in
particular or society as a whole. These include regulatory legislation to improve health and
saIety in the workplace, direct provision through national health services and Iree education
Ior all and also distribution i.e. security beneIits as old-age pensions and unemployment and
sickness insurance.
3. These it says are meant to act as safety-valves to diffuse working class unrest that might
threaten ruling-class dominance. But these activities only smoothen the rough edges oI
insecurity while leaving the basic structure oI inequality intact. urther, even these have been
Iinanced Irom the wages oI those they are intended to beneIit, resulting in little redistribution
oI wealth.
3. $tate`s direct production role in economy is explained as establishing the basic conditions
for business prosperity and growth. This objective explains nationalization oI basic
industries as energy and transport. $tate also contributes Iinancially to the private sector e.g.
by pubic Iinance institutions.



BUREAUCRACY

1. #epresents interests oI the dominant class i.e. Irom the Iundamentalist model, its own
interests. t only parades these interests as the public interest, iI the people get taken in by
this; it is Ialse-class consciousness.
2. The individual bureaucrat is self-aggrandizing, chasing aIter promotions, high posts and has
excessive attachment to status and prestige.
3. Apart Irom being selIish, bureaucracy is oppressive. Thus it enmeshes and controls civil
society in every aspect oI existence Irom the most important to the most trivial.
4. n turn, it does not submit itself to any control by others. This, it ensures through its
secretive nature secured internally by hierarchy and externally by its character as a
closed corporation. t keeps alooI Irom society, Irowns upon any and complicates its
political consciousness among people, its aIIairs to a degree that most people cannot
comprehend it.
n Iact, Lenin believed, contrary to Weber, parliaments are mere talking shops and
cannot control bureaucracy which really conducts governmental work.
. Not being directly or organically linked to the mode oI production, bureaucracy leads a
parasitic existence.
6. Bureaucracy is inherently incompetent. The superior does not know the speciIics oI the
case, the subordinate does not know the general objectives and thus, none comprehends the
totality oI the situation. Hierarchy oI structure thus means hierarchy oI knowledge too-
Vertical and Iunctional diIIerentiation.
7. A bureaucrat thinks he can do everything but in Iact, lacks initiative and imagination. This
leads to mere combination and mutual reinIorcement oI incompetence.
8. The mentality of bureaucracy is idolatry of authority and is passively obedient oI
authority. n other words, anyone who has authority can direct the bureaucracy to any end.
9. Bureaucracy is and status-quoist, believing in Iixed principles, attitudes, behaviours and
traditions.


FUTURE OF BUREAUCRACY

State, being an instrument of ruling class domination and exploitation of subject class, must be
eliminated. This can only be ensured by changing the nature oI economic base to which the state
bureaucracy owes its position. n other words, with social ownership of means of production,
bureaucracy will disappear. While recognizing the need Ior some Iorm oI administrative
organization in the socialist society, Weber`s ideal typical model was rejected both by Lenin and Mao.

Thus, administrators would be directly appointed by the people and subject to recall any time.
Their wages would not exceed those oI any worker. They would only lead, not command. ivision oI
labour and technical specialization and the proIessional administrator are replaced by a system where
everyone can take care of everything in the organization. Administrative tasks are simpliIied to the
point that only basic literacy and numeracy are suIIicient skills to perIorm them.

Thus, everybody in the community would have the skills necessary to directly administer the
organization as also directly control and supervise it. Thus, all can become bureaucrats for a time
and so no one can become a bureaucrat. Administrative leaders would also spend some time in
actual production, in Iield and Iactories.

The rigid hierarchy will be abolished as it stiIles the energy and initiative oI the masses. ixed rules
and regulations only repress the masses and so will be changed as the masses see Iit.

Thus the repressive state bureaucracies oI the capitalist society will be replaced by a truly democratic
system. The organization would be directly controlled and administered by the masses.

However these prophecies have not come true. n the Iormer &$$#, under Lenin himselI, there was
expansion, than dismantling oI state bureaucracy. ven accounting Ior the transitional dictatorship oI
the proletariat, a mature USSR did not reverse trend of bureaucratization. n Iact AlIred Meyer
says, bureaucracy is the organizing principle of the soviet Society which may be seen as a large,
complex bureaucracy just like any large organization oI the west. As to its exact nature, opinions are
divided. Milovan Djilas says $oviet bureaucrats have directed the polity and economy for their
benefit, exploiting the masses and allowing the latter no opportunity to participate in or control
administration. n Iact, bureaucracy has itselI emerged as an elite a power elite` as Bottommore
and Raymond Aron see it controlling political, economic and military power, using this absolute
and unbounded power Ior selI-enrichment than Ior the society as a whole.

David lane agrees that bureaucratization in &$$# is opposed to democracy but it does not take away
Irom the Iact that the industrialization and the social change brought about by the centralized
bureaucracy has benefited all members of society.

An attempt to remove the bureau was made in China during Mao`s Cultural Revolution. One, there
was role shiIting` i.e. leaders moved to the base oI the organization to empathize with the workers
and minimize status diIIerences. $econdly, there was group-based decision-making i.e. workers
directly participate in decision making in the Iactory. The impact oI these however was as short as the
revolution itselI. Yeo-Chi King saw Mao`s intervention as a kind oI charismatic break from
bureaucratic routine. Weber proved correct and this charismatic authority was rapidly routinized
back to bureaucracy.

MARX VS WEBER

n general, Weber`s work is seen as providing a corrective to Marx`s mono-causal determination
of events. Weber thus responded to most themes touched upon by Marx insisting the comment that he
was having a dialogue with the ghost oI Marx. n particular, both studied bureaucracy.

O To Marx, bureaucracy meant only the bureaucratic apparatus of the state i.e. the civil service.
or Weber however, it had a wider meaning. t meant a form of organization public or private.
Weber`s view was correct hill 190s when both public and private sector organizations were
bureaucratic. $ince then, private sector has started abandoning bureaucracy.
O or Marx, bureaucracy was a specific creation of the capitalist society. Bureaucracy serves
interests oI ruling class. or Weber, bureaucracy is a more general phenomenon - a
manifestation of rationalization i.e. rise oI industrial society. t is Iound in all industrial
societies, capitalist or socialist. $tudies oI Milovan jilas, avid Lane, #aymond Aron and T.B.
Bottommore conIirm Weber`s view.
O Weber believed Parliament can effectively control bureaucracy. Marxists as Lenin have
rejected this view. They say parliaments are mere talking shops; while bureaucracy, away Irom
parliament, really conducts work oI government.
O The nature oI administrative organization prophesied by Marxists Ior socialist society is the
antithesis of Weberian ideal type.
O Weber rejects Marx`s view that bureaucracy is a parasitic entity.
O Marx believed bureaucracy is inherently incompetent and non-rational while Weber believed,
it is the most competent.