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Samenvatting Organization Theory, ISBN: 9780071189620 Organisation Theory (MAN-MOR001)
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- Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (RU)
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- Organization Theory
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Summary Organization Theory - Tensions and ChangeChapter 1 introduction: definitions and conceptions
Organizational theory has become a multi-perspective or multi-paradigmatic field of study. This
means that there are a wide variety of ways to approach, or get a grip on, the central elements of an
organization.
Scott’s Elements of an organization:
Social structure – refer to those activities, relationships and interactions that take on a
regular pattern (decision-making process, authority structure, relationship between workers
on assembly line). There is an informal and a formal social structure.
Participants – humans who people the organization, human factor of production (line
supervisors, middle managers, production workers)
Goals – conceptions of desired ends, that is what the organization trying to achieve (low-cost
assembly of high-quality modular auto parts)
Technology – transform the raw materials of the organization, physical, informational or
human, into some final product (team-based assembly line)
Environment – all things outside the boundaries of the organization that are either shaped
by or influence a particular organization. (suppliers of components for modular parts; large
automakers who purchase the finished products).
Three major perspective used to analyse an organization:
Rational system perspective – organizations are collectivities oriented to the pursuit of
relatively specific goals and exhibiting relative formalized social structures. Goals and
informal structure are the key elements.
Natural system perspective – organizations as collectivities whose participants share a
common interest in the survival of the system and who engage in collective activities,
informally structured, to secure this end. Informal activities, role of human participants
open system perspective – organizations are coalitions of shifting interest groups that
develop goals by negotiations; the structure of the coalition, its activities, and its outcome
are strongly influenced by environmental factors. Emphasis on environmental elements
denotes that must negotiate with both human participants and other organizations.
The term metatheoretical implies a grand theory of how people theorize about organizations.
When sociologists use the term collectivity, they are suggesting a group of human who have
something in common. Additional characteristics of organizations that are listed by Hall – boundaries,
norms, authority, communication, and coordination – are the mechanisms designed to reconcile the
potential conflict between collective and individual interest. Boundaries distinguish who is inside and
who is outside the organization.
The definition of Hall attempt to identify three distinct but interrelated aspects of organizational
reality:
structure – boundaries, norms, hierarchy, communication, and coordination mechanism
processes – highlight active processes that are goal directed
outcomes – considers the consequences of organizational structure and process on
members, the organization, and society at large.
,How we should define, understand, and conceptualize organizations depends on our mental images
of the essential shape and feature of the organizations most definitions and theories can be
associated with a particular organizational metaphor (machines, organisms, brains, culture, political
system, psychic prison, or instruments of dominations). Morgan’s images of the organization
The machine metaphor views organizations as technical instruments used to produce some
outcome. The elements of the organization, including humans, are part of a structure that work
together with mechanical-like efficiency to achieve a particular goal. In different definitions the
organization is views as ‘tools’ or ‘instruments’.
Organizations are also conceptualized as brains. They are defined as information-processing,
decision-making, or learning entities. The primary focus in this metaphor is on the ability to access,
use, and process information for the purpose of learning, decision making, and assessment. In this
metaphor organizational success requires the right kind of decision-making structure, data gathering
apparatus, analytical tools and collective mid-set able to translate information into improved
organizational processes.
Morgan’s images and metaphors provide an additional framework for sorting organizational theories.
It is important to recognize that metaphors both illuminate and obscure. They focus our attention on
particular realities of organizational life while at the same time blinding us to the other equally
important components.
Work of Karl Marx (1818-1883) has had an enormous influence on organizational theory the role
he assigned to the organization of production. He believed that an understanding of the human
relationships guiding economic production was the key to social analysis. The means of production in
the industrial capitalist society are the machines, factories, and organizations that produce goods for
sale in the market.
The relationship between capital and labour, defined by their respective role in the production
process, is played out in the ‘hidden abode’ of the organization. Because labour depends on capital
for its survival, it is an asymmetric and dependent relationship that allows for the subordination and
exploitation of the working class. One of the most widely employed concepts is control. It is assumed
that profitable production requires the control of workers by capitalists.
The emphasis on class domination and control has tended to obscure another equally important
element in the Marxist equation – struggle and resistance. Labour is capable of individually and
collectively resisting the efforts of owners and managers. This can give a collective opposition of the
working class. The struggle to manage and control these human reactions in an important dynamic in
understanding the evolution of organizational theory. Workers under capitalism suffer from
alienation, because they are unable to exercise their distinctive abilities.
For Émile Durkheim (1858 – 1917) the most general concern was the bases of order and solidarity in
society. Durkheim believed that social solidarity in traditional agricultural society was based on the
similarity in life experiences derived from common activities in rural community. He referred to this
as mechanical solidarity (people with same job develop common set of believes and minimalize
individual difference and social conflict). The similarity and common experience derived from rural,
agricultural activities are replaced by growing differences as individuals take on a variety of different
economic roles. This undermines the basis of mechanical solidarity and, therefore, threatens social
order and social integration. This lead to a new form of solidarity based on interdependence (people
depend on each other). The network of interdependence results in the rise of organic solidarity. All
forms of social organization required social integration and social solidarity collective conscience.
,Most persistent organizational problems: the difficulty in balancing the dual but often conflicting
objectives of differentiation and integration.
Max Weber (1864-1920) impact on organizational theory derives heavily from his work on
bureaucratic organization. He also had a concern with the rise of rationality in the transition form
agricultural to modern industry. His historical analysis of different societies focused the forms of
social organization and their corresponds forms of authority. The foundations for legitimate
authority varied historically. Example based on charisma or tradition.
Authority was rational-legal 0 based on applications of rational principles linking means and ends.
Authority relations were accepted because they were regarded as the necessary means to
accomplish specific coals. Bureaucracy is the organizational embodiment of rationality in modern
society. Weber also believed that it was a dominating force that stifled individual freedom and
creativity.
Durkheim noted that the process of economic developmental process, through a more complex
division of labour, threatened social order and solidarity. The paradox for Weber stems form the
organizational superiority of bureaucracy that allows for high efficiency while at the same time
creating the iron cage that imprison human participants. Marx revealed who the process of
exploitation contributed to the accumulation of capitalist wealth while at the same time fuelling the
resistance of opposition of the working class. Paradox, contradiction and tensions are built into their
analyses of social structure and change.
Three major theoretical perspectives applied to a variety of social phenomena
Structural functionalism
o Tends to emphasize stability and order
o Four functions:
Adaption – the way systems gain access to resources they need
Goal attainment – the establishment and achievement of objectives
Integration – the problem of ensuring the cohesiveness and coordination of
society’s members and activities.
Latency – the way the system sustains and reproduces itself over time
through the transmission of culture and values.
o Manifest functions – the obvious and officially stated purpose of an organization or
institution
o Latent functions – unintended, unexpected and unannounced functions of an
organization.
o Two types of problems
Focus only on manifest functions not on latent functions
Fails to consider the tensions and contradictions produced by organizations
that ultimately contribute to social disorder and instability.
Conflict theory
o Broad perspective used to understand social structures and social change.
o Based on the assumption that all societies are characterized by ongoing conflict
between groups and persistent social change
Individuals develop different political interest based on racial, ethnic, class,
religious, gender, occupational, or regional affiliation
Social valued resources tend to be relatively scare, which generates conflict
and competition over access to and the distribution of the resources
, Social institutions are organized to serve the interest of those who won and
control the scarce resources
The struggle between those who possess and those who don not possess the
resources creates instability and change.
o Organizations have people with different roles, therefore people will develop a
variety of conflicting political interest and may engage in various forms of
competition
Symbolic Interactionism
o Microlevel approach aimed at analysing individual level of social interaction
o Assumes that social order is based on interpretations we assign and the meaning we
transmit in the process of social interaction.
o Symbolic language and behaviour that a person employees will depend upon the role
or identity that he or she want to assume or the context in which that person is
operating. Captured in context
o Captured in sense making. Human organizations place events and stimuli in a
framework that is commonly understood and widely shared in order to motivate and
generate human action.
o How the organization looks, the way it is structured, and its methods and techniques
for achieving some goal, are subjected to symbolic interpretation.
Summary
A single widely accepted definition of organization is difficult to establish because of the
complex nature of the objects of study and the multiple perspective that inform
organizational analysis
The “elements of organization” can be regarded as focal points on which to construct a
theory or organization. Images of organization are mental constraints that direct our
attention to particular aspects of organizational life. As we study and analyse organizations
we should reflect on and be cognizant of our mental images and focal points on how these
shape our understanding of organization.
The classical sociologists theories of the ‘big three’ – Durkheim, Marx, Weber – have shaped
contemporary organizational theory and also provide useful conceptual tools to analyse
contemporary organization. Each also offers a lesson about the tensions and contradictions
or organizational systems
Each of the three major contemporary theoretical perspectives in sociology – functionalism,
conflict theory and symbolic interactionism – have influenced the conceptualization of
organization. Functionalism highlights the functions played by pars of a single organization in
advancing organizational survival as well as the functions played by different social
institutions in ensuring social order. Conflict theory denotes the competition and conflict
among groups in organization who struggle over valued resources. Symbolic interactionism
directs our attention to the symbolic message that are transmitted among organizational
members and between organizations and environmental constituents.
Chapter 2 Conceptual Framework for the Analysis of Organizational Theory
There are two levels of organizational analysis. The intraorganizational level refers to the internal
interactions and characteristics of an organization, including labour-management relations, formal
and informal interactions, inter organizational design, methods of organizational control and
organizational culture. The interorganizational level refers to the external interaction among
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