Adhocracy and Professional Bureaucracies Considered as Fashionable Structural Designs

The statement echoes the sentiments of Henry Mintzberg who stated “fashion has been shown to have an influence on structure, sometimes driving organizations to favor inappropriate though fashionable structures” (Mintzberg H. , 1980, p. 328).

The question requires an examination of the way in which organisational design is fashioned with particular emphasis on lessons learned from contrasting the features of professional bureaucracies and adhocracies.

The essay will define the main terms that are used in the question and then discuss the concepts and theories that various scholars have advanced on the subject. The essay will then seek insights as to how the resultant knowledge can be applied to real life situations before coming to a conclusion.

The two types of organisations are best defined based on the characteristics that they possess; however, before defining them, it is first necessary to define what a bureaucracy is. A bureaucracy is a system of control based on rational rules, that is, rules meant to design and regulate the whole organization on the basis of technical knowledge with the aim of achieving maximum efficiency. They are characterised by a highly developed division of labour and specialization of tasks.

Bureaucracies were first studied as a form of social organization by Max Weber (Weber, Wright, & Gerth, 1948). According to Weber, bureaucracies are a useful social organization based on a division of labour and formality. Proponents of bureaucracies argue that they have the advantages of precision, speed, certainty, continuity, discretion, unity, strict subordination, reduction of friction and of material personal cost — these are optimised in the strictly bureaucratic administration. Bureaucratic organisational models are favoured by government departments.

A professional bureaucracy is an organisation that depends on standardised skills. In professional bureaucracy type structures duly trained and indoctrinated specialists /professionals...