COMMUNICATION AND ORGANIZATIONS THE PROFESSIONAL BUREAUCRACY PART TWO Lecture 8b

ENVIRONMENTAL OVERVIEW A Reminder COMPLEX 3. PROFESSIONAL BUREAUCRACY 1. 2. MACHINE BUREAUCRACY SIMPLE SIMPLE STRUCTURE 2A.DIVISIONALIZED BUREAUCRACY DYNAMIC STABLE

BOX 3: ENVIRONMENT SHAPES COMMUNICATION WHY COMPLEX STABLE? YOU’VE ALREADY GOT MINTZBERG’S LANGUAGE ON THIS MORE DETAILED EXAMPLE Hospitals and doctors Because the core operators – Dr.’s for example – are supposed to deal with each client separately – that’s the “complex” – at one level people are unique But maintain the same type of relationship with them – that’s the “stable”. Individual people become a diagnosis – a case – put in a mental pidgeon hole Old phrase – but effective - based on the idea of organizing knowledge into easily accessible categories or “slots” in the memory

PIDGEON HOLES OF THE MIND When we sort information into categories – each of which are labelled – it’s easier to recall the information by recalling the label – the label is the door to the slot – the pidgeon hole.

ENVIRONMENT SHAPES COMMUNICATION For Dr.’s - what are these slots - pidgeon holes in the mind? A large set of labels for diseases each of which binds together An idea of the illness and its symptoms, Possible causes, Possible developments and consequences, and Possible interventions to cure or mitigate the illness.

BOX 3: STANDARDIZATION OF SKILLS Enormous amount of information to recall – takes years of education (after a BSc) – and years of practice (internships) to learn We put a high social value (and price) on this learning We have specialized institutions to teach this BEFORE a Dr. can formally join a hospital This is the essential difference between machine bureaucracies and professional bureaucracies In the first, many of the job skills can be learned “on the job.” In the second – Hospitals, Universities, Law firms – job skills, including pidgeonholing – must be learned BEFORE getting the job.

ORGANIZING PROFESSIONALS Drs. need to know what to do without being told what to do or having detailed job descriptions They have to respond to particular patients on the spot They can’t be told what to do by supervisors and they can’t tell their colleagues what to do either Freedom and power to do well Freedom from oversight if they do poorly They are also free from doing the everyday work of the organization – their time is too expensive We want expensive professionals to be free to do the one thing they know how to do…deal with patients, clients, students So they have a staff - as the number of them grows the support staff grows exponentially – gives us the shape of the professional bureaucracy

THE PROFESSIONAL BUREAUCRACY Strategic Apex for Techno and Support Staff Large Support Staff Small Technostructure Small Middle Line Autonomous Operators in the Core

POWER OF OPERATING CORE IN THE PROFESSIONAL BUREAUCRACY (PROFESSIONAL ORG) STRATEGIC APEX SUPPORT STAFF (MACHINE ORG) COMMITTEE MANAGER Doctors KEY OPERATORS Nurses

LEADERSHIP AT THE STRATEGIC APEX Highly educated operating core - averse to supervision. Administrative Leaders rely heavily on coordination and compromise. They handle discrepancies that arise from the imperfect pigeonholing process. They act as a liaison between the organization and the outside world. Professionals abandon some decisions for the comfort of their craft. This is where leadership enters – more careful and nuanced – no orders, commands. Highly educated operating core also averse to innovation and change. Particularly if seen to “pushed” by administration

LEADERSHIP AT THE STRATEGIC APEX HOW DID SEVERAL UNIVERSITY AND HOSPITAL PRESIDENTS DESCRIBE THEIR ORGANIZATIONS WHILE I WAS WORKING THEIR AS A CHANGE CONSULTANT? ORGANIZED CHAOS PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS MAY NOT BE THE BIGGEST – UNLIKE DIVISIONALIZED MACHINE BUREAUCRACIES – BUT THEY ARE CERTAINLY THE MOST COMPLICATED. PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND IF YOU INTEND TO WORK IN ONE OR ARE A CLIENT