Module 2: What is Organization?

The 3 O's Matrix

(being) (becoming) (abstract) Organization Organization an entity act of organizing (concrete) Organizations Organizing specific cases a process

Org as a Machine (Summary):

-roots back to Industrial revolution -Scientific Management by Federick W. Tayor (attempting to increase efficiency) -focus at internal functioning -promotes that orgs can maximize contributions and minimize costs for society -Example: Henry Ford and the Assembly Line

Org as a Culture (Summary):

-roots back to anthropology and social psych -orgs have a unique culture -artifacts, values, symbols, customs -downside: when an org culture shapes an individual's consciousness, thru collective manifestations of fear, greed, and other negative states associated with domination...leading to a psychic prison

Org as an Organism (Summary):

-roots back to evolutionary biology -population ecology (orgs face strong pressures that hinder their ability to adapt to environment) -pressures come from internal arrangements and environmental constraints -specialists vs generalists

Competitive advantage: (6 features)

1) A pattern of basic assumptions, 2) invented, discovered, or developed by a given group, 3) as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, 4) that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore 5) is to be taught to new members as the 6) correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.

The 9 levels of GST:

1. Framework 2. Clockwork 3. Control 4. Open 5. Genetic 6. Animal 7. Human 8. Social organization 9. Transcendental

Institutions have _____ definitions

2

According to Hatch, an Institution is...

A time-honored activity or organization that addresses what would otherwise be a persistent social problem by encouraging behavior that stabilized society

Specialization:

Adapted to a specific activity, makes individuals/organizations more efficient

Scientific Management:

Attempting to increase efficiency (labor productivity) by applying scientific principles Example: Henry Ford and the Assembly line

Population Ecology:

Examines populations of organizations (where individual organization takes the place of individual organism from biology)

Organizations (specific cases):

IBM, Red Cross, your family, etc.

General Systems Theory (GST) comes from which metaphor for Organization?

Organisms (living systems) Biologist Ludwig Bertalanffy

_______________ happens when people work together to accomplish some desired end state or goal

Organization

There is also a down-side of organizational culture...

Organization as a Psychic Prison

The 3 O's:

Organization, Organizations, Organizing

According to Hatch, which of the following is NOT listed as a metaphor for organizations.

Organizations as Businesses

Competition:

Rivals--those who compete for the same resources, arises when resources are scarce

Organization as a Culture derived it roots in Anthropology and....

Social Psychology

_______________ serves society by increasing the quality and variety of products and services to its members and by providing effectiveness in their product and delivery that allow more work to be done with less time and effort

Specialization

Organizational Legitimacy:

a generalized perception or assumption that the actions of an entity are desirable, proper, or appropriate within some socially constructed system of norms, values, beliefs, and definitions

According to Hatch, An organization happens when people work together to...

accomplish some desired end state or goal

According to the Organizations as Organisms theory, Organizations face strong inertial pressures, which hinders their ability to...

adapt to their environment

Organization (an entity):

an arrangement of things, people, ideas or activities

Organization as a Psychic Prison occurs when...

an organizational culture "shapes an individual's consciousness, through collective manifestations of fear, greed, and other negative psychological states associated with domination

Stakeholders:

anything (person, organization, environment, etc.) that is affected by the organization or that the organization affects

Culture consists of...

artifacts, values, customs, traditions, heroes (often founders), rituals, & symbols

Institutions can constrain an individual's or organization's _____________, where deviating from the established institution could lead to sanctioning

choices

Normative Isomorphism:

comes from professionalization; change driven by pressures brought about by professions

organization always depends on _________________ ___________

coordinated effort

The 9 levels of GST tells us that...

everything can be described as a system composed of lower-order subsystems and that each system is itself part of a higher-order system

Organization as an Organism traces its roots back to biology and specifically __________________ biology, but more recently was taken up by ______________ _________________

evolutionary organizational sociologists

Coercive Isomorphism:

formal or informal pressures exerted on an organization by other organizations from which they are dependent and through cultural expectations in a society

Organization as a Machine traces its roots back to the _______________ ___________________ and was made popular by the notion of Scientific Management by _________________

industrial revolution Frederick W. Taylor

Scientific Management focuses on ______________ functioning of the organization, but is not well suited for all organizational tasks

internal

These inertial pressures come from both....

internal structural arrangements and environmental constraints

Institutions are one reason so many organizations...

look the same

Scientific Management promotes the idea that organizations can maximize contributions and...

minimize costs for society

Failing to conform to institutions can lead an organization to lose...

organizational legitimacy

According to Organization as a Culture, Organizations, similar to societies, can have a unique culture, that may lead to a firm's ability to...

out-compete its rivals (a competitive advantage)

According to population ecology, a genetic blueprint of an organization is its...

rules/procedures/structures for taking inputs and turning them into outputs labeled as "Organizational Form"

These are people or organizations (including customers, owners, the government, etc.) that affect and are affected by the firm.

stakeholders

According to North, an Institutions are...

the rules [both formal and informal] of the game in a society, or more formally, the humanly devised constraints that shape human interactions

Institutions are one reason so many organizations look...

the same

Mimetic Isomorphism:

when things are uncertain, organizations often copy others (e.g. best practices)

A(n) _________________ is a time-honored activity or organization that addresses what would otherwise be a persistent social problem by encouraging behavior that stabilizes society

Institution

What are the 4 Metaphors for Organization?

Machine Organism Culture Psychic Prison

Examples of Institutions:

Marriage, Corporations, Laws, Handshakes, Money, Banking