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Human Management Theory

In: Business and Management

Submitted By zann
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1. Biography

Max Weber, a prominent German sociologist born on 21th April 1864 in Erfurt, was the eldest son among his seven younger siblings. His father, Max Weber Sr is a famous politician and his mother Helene Weber was a devout Calvinist who practiced a more tolerant theology (Radkau 2009).

In 1882, Weber’s law studies were interrupted due to his conscription into the military. Thereafter, Weber continued his studies in Berlin and begun his career as a lawyer. Weber married his distant cousin, Marianne Schnitger in 1893, and moved to Freiburg where he was appointed as a professor in the University.

Weber resigned and subsequently became an editor. He published his masterpiece “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” which focuses on the relationship between different religious ideas and economics. Weber feels that the modern system stems from rational capitalism and attempted to explain how the process occurred. In Weber’s perception, money is not the main driving force that inspires man to work hard; religious convictions can also influence their thinking (Weber 1904).

Weber’s theory of bureaucracy is modeled on the rationalizing of organizations. Some characteristics of bureaucracy are division of labor and managerial hierarchy (Wren & Bedeian 2009). Bureaucracy, being the most efficient way of managing an organization has its disadvantages. Viewed like an “iron cage”, individuals feel trapped with no room for creativity where rules and regulations take precedence.

Weber’s life ended in Munich on 14th June 1920 due to pneumonia. Nevertheless, he is recognized as a leading scholar of modern Sociology among his other achievements.

2. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Influences from his mother’s devout Calvinism clearly encouraged his study of Calvinism. Weber attempted to develop rationales and analyzed how

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