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Organisation Theory Notes!
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Notes from the Organisation Theory classes!
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Organization theoryAn organization is not a material object
An organization is not a number of people
Organization refers to:
- The way people work/act together (interact)
- Structure, order
- Goals, functions
Levels of organizations:
- Micro: small group, classroom
- Mezzo: school, company
- Macro: society
Forms of organization:
- Formal/informal
- Institutionalized
- Ad hoc/temporary
What will you learn?
- Theories are not facts
- Concepts applied in describing organizations
- Concepts applied in describing organizations
- Knowledge and assumptions relationships between concepts
- Different perspectives
- Description and analysis or organizations
- Reflection
Why would you want to learn theory?
- Intrinsic value
o Making sense of the world
- Instrumental value:
o Analyzing, evaluating organizations
o Predicting
o Making decisions, acting
o Communicating
o
A classing example of organization theory
- Adam Smith – division of labor increases efficiency, because:
o People do not have to switch between tasks
o Skill is enhanced by repetition
o Tasks can be matched to talent -> specialization
o Helps the development of specific tools/machines
- Video (what makes the factory efficient)
o Standardization & automatization
o Every one has one job and one job only (break down the tasks)
- Western societies produce more wealth because there is more division of labor:
o Farmers, blacksmiths, bakers, buchers, lawyers, inventors.
o All sorts of finer divisions
- People focus on a limited task and become more efficient than people elsewhere.
, Why is division of labor is stronger in the west?
- Increased liberty in Western societies:
o Freedom to trade and barter on markets increases specialization
o Markets guide human behavior like an invisible hand
o This mechanism is more effective than central planning
- Video: leave people alone and let them do what they want to do – an idea of freedom.
So, what is the value of this theory of division of labor?
- Very interesting insight
- Very useful in practice:
o For governments
o For planning complex work processes
o For staffing decisions
o For communication: ‘we need more division of labor’
o For..
- Liberalism as an ideology had conquered the world.
Theories are never the whole truth
Differences between scholars and ‘schools’
- Different ontological and epistemological positions
o Ontology: the nature of phenomena and their existence (basic discussions, how we
see things).
Study, theory, or science of being of that which exists
The existence or non-existence of things and how things relate to each other
The study of being (what is there, what is reality, how can we understand
existence?) What is it?
o Epistemology: how do we know what exists, how do we establish valid claims about
the world?
The study of knowing (how do we know, what is valid knowledge, how can
we obtain it? Why is it? / how you know it?
http://www.differencebetween.net/science/health/difference-between-
ontology-and-epistemology/
- Positivism and subjectivism
o Positivist: ‘’objective’’ facts only, observable, measurable
o Subjectivists: validity of individual experiences*
o * note that the endings ‘ism’ and ‘ist’ refer to belief systems and ideologies
- Managerialism and critical perspectives
o Many scholars adopt managerialist perspectives
How can we improve management in society/factory? They develop ideas to
help manager manage the organization.
o Other scholars criticize this ‘managerialism’ and point at the need for other
perspectives (as well)
We don’t need to help managers to do better – to suppress their workers –
we need people to step away from managers and look at other people in the
organization (ex. Customers or workers). Less wel off and less in position.
Let us consider organizational goals:
- Do organizational have goals? No – goals belong to people.
- How can we establish the goals of Facebook?
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