论官僚组织的本质及其效率源泉

Abstract

大型组织一般都是某种形式的科层组织,其典型形态是官僚组织。在组织理论中,自韦伯提出官僚组织的思想原型以来,所受到的批评乃至抨击便不绝于耳。但迄今为止,有关的批评往往局限于道德层面上的谴责,未能把握住官僚组织的本质,所谓官僚组织行将就木的预言也缺乏事实根据。官僚组织的基本特征可归纳为两个,即高度的规则化和结构的层级化。以官僚组织为典型形态的科层组织之所以成为大型组织普遍采用的组织形态,主要是因为科层组织符合效率原则。通过建立一个科层组织的数学模型,可以揭示这种组织形态的效率源泉,以此可解释科层组织的适用性。

Generally speaking,most large scale firms adopt certain form of hierarchical organization of which the bureaucratic organization constitutes the typical form.The theoretical model of the bureaucratic organization is originally conceited by Max Weber in the early 20th century.Upon the appearance of the model various critic has never ceased in the field of organization theory.So far,however,such critic seems to be constrained in the moral condemn rather than on the basis of grasping the nature of the bureaucratic organization.The relevant prophecy claiming that form of organizations will come to an end is not substantially supported by the fact.This paper attempts to grasp the nature of bureaucratic organization through highlighting two fundamental characters of the organization,i.e.,strict regulation and structural hierarchy.The reason why hierarchical organization has been adopted as the dominating form of business organization may be accounted for by the efficiency principle of economic organization.For this reason,this paper builds up a compact mathematical model to analyze the source of efficiency of a hierarchical organization.The conclusion drawn from the model analysis strictly supports our judgment that the hierarchical organization has its capacity for survival.