Weber\'s Conceptualization of Bureaucracy

Weber's conception of bureaucracy and "Office Space"

Although 'red tape' and bureaucracy have become synonyms with inefficiency, the German sociologist Max Weber saw the development of bureaucracies as a positive rather than a negative development in human society. Weber believed in an ideal of an unbiased, efficient, rational bureaucracy, governed by uniform laws like a legal code as the best way to structure a fair society. Bureaucracies were superior to what had existed before in primitive, traditional societies, in which tasks and duties were not well defined for the economic participants. Bureaucracies were also superior to patronage-dependent totalitarian or charismatic authorities ruling society, which focused around the devotion to a particular individual rather than getting things done. Rational bureaucracies were based on neatly defined rules and jobs and promotions were strictly based on technical competence.

However, in the film "Office Space," the rules the main protagonist Peter must follow are absurd. The work he does seems purposeless and unclearly defined. The layoffs pending at his company seem unjustified, as people seem randomly selected to be let go. So the dissatisfied employee engages in a white-collar crime, stealing from the company. The film suggests that Weber was in error, that bureaucracy does not create productivity because it subverts employee creativity and makes following rules rather than getting the job done the priority. In the face of such formulaic workplace standards, employees do not have an incentive to be efficient. And when their contributions are ignored, they will lash out at the system, biting the hand that promised to feed them, but now threatens their job security. The world of "Office Space" is so formulaic, even the chain restaurant where Peter's girlfriend works is governed by rules.

In the film's conception, in return for job security and financial rewards, the office workers have given up creative and personal satisfaction, locking themselves in a bureaucratic "iron cage." Because money is the desired result, and now security has been taken away from Peter and his friends, dishonesty is provoked in the employees' hearts because of the pending losses of their jobs. They feel betrayed, so they betray the company in kind.

However, the first difference between the Weberian ideal and "Office Space" is that the Weberian bureaucracy proceeds according to rational rules, while the film's office proceeds according to illogical rules. Weber's bureaucracy was objective in the way that it functioned and dispensed rewards equally. Petty tyrants of faceless middle managers rule the workplace of "Office Space." One could argue that "Office Space" does not depict a Weberian bureaucracy of rationality and rules, but a dictatorship or tyranny where rules are arbitrary, or even in a traditional society where rule-governed behavior is not the norm, but employees are forced to labor at unclearly defined tasks.