Organizational Elements

 

• Social structure

Normative vs. Behavioral
Formal vs. Informal • Social actors (people) Motivation and Morale
Interest groups, constituents • Goals Official vs. Operative
Individual vs. Collective
Goal succession
Goal transformation-->Diversion & Displacement • Technology Determinate (hard) vs. Indeterminate (soft)
Long-linked, Mediating, and Intensive • Environment General vs. Task
Technical vs. Institutional
Placid vs. Turbulent
 
Central Debates in Organizational Theory
  • Rational-technical vs. socially constructed

• Internal adaptation vs. environmental selection

• Environmental constraints vs. strategic choice

• Individual action vs. collective action

• Neutral technical instruments vs. tools of power and control

Two Dimensions for Classifying Organizational Theories
 
 
Control of Destiny …Purposeful 
…Adaptive 
…Reactive
Relation to Environment    ...Closed 
...Open
 
Classification of Organizational Theories
(Hasenfeld)
  
  Closed Open
Purposeful Rational-Legal Bureaucracy 
Scientific Management		 Contingency Theory
Adaptive Human Relations Negotiated Order 
Political Economy
Reactive   Marxist Theory 
Institutional Theory 
Population Ecology
 
Characteristics of Bureaucracy (Max Weber)
 

• Fixed division of labor among participants

• Hierarchy of offices

• General rules that govern performance

• Separation of personal and official property & rights

• Personnel selection on basis of technical qualifications

• Employment viewed as a career
Principles of Scientific Management

• Shift responsibility for organization of work to manager

• Apply scientific methods to work design

• Select the best person for job

• Train worker to efficiently work

• Monitor worker's performance

  
 
Conditions Conducive to Mechanistic Organizations

• Simple & routine tasks to perform

• Environment is stable

• Product is tangible and repetitive

• When precision is a premium

• When people (workers) are compliant

  


 
 Limitations of the Machine Metaphor

• Inhibits responsiveness to changing conditions

• Can produce mindless and unquestioning bureaucracy

• Does not recognize individual volition and action

• Can have dehumanizing effects on participants
 
• Humans are basically good and want to do a good job

• They want to feel satisfied with their work

• Worker's needs must be met to insure full productivity

• Workers are malleable and capable of perfection

• Organizational goals and individual interests must be compatible
 


 
Characteristics of open systems
 • Permeable boundaries--interaction with environment

• Homeostasis--self regulation and maintenance of steady state

• Entropy/negative entropy--system renewal

• Structure, function, differentiation and integration

• Requisite variety--internal regulatory mechanisms must match diversity in environment

• Equifinality--many ways to reach end state

• System evolution--movement toward more complex forms

Organizational Sub-systems
 • Production sub-system: convert resources into services

• Boundary sub-system: interact with environment to acquire resources

• Adaptive sub-system: information gathering and feedback

• Management sub-system: oversees and coordinates activities of other sub-systems

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