Bureaucracy represents a model of management based on the principles that were established by Marx weber, a German sociologist who was also regarded a political economist. Bureaucracy as described by Marx Weber as a management theory exemplifies six characteristics. This essay describes the six characteristics of bureaucracy and relates them with alienation in workplaces described by Karl Marx. All these are discussed in relation to the movie Office Space, developed in US to show how American organizations applied bureaucratic model in the workplace.

Weber considers specialization in the organization as the first characteristic of his model. Jobs in an organization should be assigned according to employees according to their skills. The employees are kept on a routine that enhances their specialization. The second characteristic of bureaucracy that is closely treated to other of specialization is the technical competence required for the employees. All the employees of an organization are highly trained and are assigned duties according to their expertise and specialty.

The third characteristic of bureaucracy is hierarchical ranking of offices. In this structure, each office is controlled by the office directly above it. This design was associated with a central decision making design. The low level managers could, therefore, be neglected in the decision making process as the decisions were made in the top management and enacted downwards to the lowest level.

Fourthly, bureaucracy is characterized by the strict application of rules in management. According to the proponents of this theory, the strict rules are important in enhancing consistent compliance and execution of rules made at the top management. These rules were exemplified in the routine work done by employers following a set of standard rules. These rules also include code of dressings and working hours.

In addition, bureaucracy theory is characterized by impersonality. Employees and clients re treated equally which has been described as “faceless bureaucracy”. Within the organization, all employees were considered equal with no relation based privileges. Likewise, the clients or customers are treated equally and must follow the set rules. This creates what is commonly referred to as red tape management.

Lastly, bureaucracy is characterized by formality in communication. The management may use memos to communicate to the employees about a particular agenda and expect all the employees to follow.

Alienation in work place is a concept introduced by Karl Marx to describe the estrangement felt by workers toward their work or organization. Bureaucracy is considered a management theory that enhances this form of alienation. According to Karl Marx, production is different or estranged from the means of production.

The movie, “Office Space”, exemplifies alienation in that the strict rules workers work in demotivates them in the work place. Their only motivation is securing their job rather than what they do. In the movies, Lawrence and Peter illustrate the Weberian alienation in that they are supposed to work confided in separate rooms and cannot communicate with each other despite them being close to each other.

Karl Marx considered man’s history as one of alienation. In the movie, Milton illustrates this through consistent control by other people. Being one of the lowest ranked employers is taken advantage of by everybody in the office.

The similarity between Marxist and Weberian forms of alienation is that both see this method of organization as efficient and increasing production in the work place. They, however, differ in that Karl Marx considers alienation as transitory leading to man’s emancipation while Weber does not consider the bureaucracy as changing soon. To him it is there to remain.