FOLLOW UP WITH EMPLOYEE FROM SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY:
ANGEL: Tell me a little bit about the hiring process at Social Services Agency.
ESC: Ok. So, you just go in and apply for whatever position you are seeking to fill. Each position has a job description with expected duties and responsibilities enclosed. Because clerk positions and eligibility positions require no degree, one must take a test to become eligible for employment. After the test is when you are either deemed "qualified" or "unqualified" for the position you've applied for.
Weber: Feature number one of bureaucracy is fixed jurisdiction in which there are fixed duties, people are bound by rules, and lastly, there must be qualified personnel.
ANGEL: So it seems as though there are sectors of employment like clerks, and eligibility workers, etc. Are there any other categories of workers?
ESC: The order goes like this. Clerks, Eligibility Support Clerks, Eligibility Workers, Supervising Clerks 1 and 2, Program Managers, and then Client Advocates. The highest position is the director position.
ANGEL: Would you call that a hierarchy?
ESC: Yes.
Weber: The second feature of bureaucracy is hierarchy of positions/offices.
ANGEL: Have you ever heard the term bureaucracy?
ESC: Yes.
ANGEL: What does it mean to you?
ESC: I don't really have a clear concept of what it is but when I think bureaucracy in my mind an image of loads of paper come to mind. (giggle)
ANGEL: Ok. (chuckle) Is that image coming from the multitude of cases that you see social workers with?
ESC: No, actually. Social Services no longer has paper cases or files. Now, all paperwork is uploaded and stored in a web file system. Basically, the documents come in they are sent to imaging, scanned, and uploaded to the database. Same with our distribution of funds. We no longer issue paper checks we issue EBT cards (Electronic Benefit Transfer) in which our clients receive their aid, and food stamps. Kind of like a debit/ATM card, it is accepted at most stores, venues, etc. Only landlords are given paper checks.
ANGEL: So basically there is no room for losing documents, or misplacing papers?
ESC: Nope.
ANGEL: What if the database has a glitch or fails?
ESC: We have back up systems that are updated nightly, so that is very unlikely.
Weber: Hmmm... I thought Social Services might have been the perfect example of a bureaucracy but they are faulty on the third feature of bureaucracy which is organization based on management through documents.
ANGEL: So back to the hiring process. Is any training involved?
ESC: We have on-the-job training, on site. The current staff trains the new hires. There is no class or seminar that we must attend before beginning to work. As long as you pass the test, you will be ok.
ANGEL: Tell me a little more about the entrance exams. Are the questions based on common sense or are you given a pamphlet to study? How does this work?
ESC: The test is composed of math, reading, and composition. Mind you these are entry positions, which are usually the lowest paid positions.
ANGEL: So the questions asked have nothing to do with the actual job itself? The position described in the job description?
ESC: No. Not at all. They are very basic questions.
WEBER: This is bad. This is really bad! This does not seem very expert oriented to me! Social Services Agency is falling off! In order to comply with my idea of bureaucracy there must be expert training in the field. The epitome of specialization!
ANGEL: How many hours do you work per day?
ESC: 7.5
ANGEL: Do you ever take your work home with you?
ESC: No. The law requires that our work to be locked up every night. We cannot leave out any case numbers, or social security numbers. Nothing can be visible when we leave. We have to log off of our computers on breaks for security reasons. With all the fraud and identity theft that is going on everything must be put away as safely and secure as possible! NO EXCEPTIONS! Each station is locked up.
WEBER: Alas! Social Services Agency has come back home to papa! They've jumped back on board with their strict idea of separation of work and home.
ANGEL: I hear you saying a lot of "must" and "cannot." Are the things you've described apart of the rules?
ESC: Yes.
ANGEL: Can you share with me some of the other rules that you all must abide by?
ESC: Ok. Because of all the injuries involved with the job, workers' compensation law requires that the employees get up and walk around for ten minutes at least three times before and after lunch. So we go on break at nine twenty am, ten twenty am, eleven fifty am, then we have lunch from twelve noon until one pm and after that we gone on break three more times...You get the idea!
ANGEL: Yes. What are some other rules? Are there any rules about dealing with clients over the phone? Or how long one may make a personal call?
ESC: Um, yes. First and foremost you shouldn't take personal calls unless you are on a break or lunch. Of course we have to make exceptions at times but technically we should only take or make personal calls on breaks.
ANGEL: Is there a time limit on your personal call even though you are on break? If one doesn't have a cell phone most likely he or she would be using the phones provided by social services agency.
ESC: No. There are no implicit time restrictions but you can only be on a personal call as long as you are on break. Thus, our phone calls are limited to ten minutes or how ever long our lunch break will be.
ANGEL: I see. Are your phone calls monitored?
ESC: Definitely. If I've extended a call for longer than ten minutes I will get an email from my boss telling me how long I've been on the line and to get off of the phone soon.
ANGEL: Wow. So there aren't many ways to maneuver the rules?
ESC: No. We are watched pretty closely.
WEBER: Social Services seems to be having a Foucaultian moment there (visibility=power) but they are still in a favorable position with me. Social Services is clearly managed based on a set of rules.
REFLECTIONS:
The comments that are highlighted in bold are the ones that confront Weber's theory in one way or another. The first is Weber's third feature of bureaucracy which is organization based on management through documents. This feature is characterized by enormous amounts of paperwork, paper trails, and documents, etc. Social Services Agency has modernized this feature by taking every document and transforming it into a PDF type file. The documents have not disappeared or wavered in necessity but the methods in which they are viewed, pulled up, etc is different now. For example, instead of going into a big, dark, dusty room full of paperwork one can log onto the database and pull up the information there. It is much easier to handle and much more efficient for staff other than imaging. The imaging team has the joyous task of uploading all this paper. (NOT!) In all actuality the paper has disappeared for most workers but not all, so there is still hope for Weber's ideal type of bureaucracy to manifest itself in the agency.
Social Services Agency also challenges Weber's forth feature of expert training. This feature is characterized by ultimate specialization like taking on a trade. Even though Social Services Agency requires entrance exams, these exams have little to nothing to do with the position at hand. There are rules but there are no formal training sessions. So it is up to the worker to watch and learn by experience, to fend for themselves, which is the greatest expertise to some, but not in Weber's presentation of bureaucracy.
So in a way Social Services Agency coincides and deters from Weber's theory of bureaucracy. The individuals are deemed "qualified" for positions through tests that do not asses the ability that the position truly requires. Therefore, feature one and feature four begin to clash. How can you have qualified personnel without expert training? The question remains unanswered. However, for now I've found that Social Services Agency has stricken four out of six features of Weber's ideal bureaucratic system.
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