WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT ORGANIZATIONS

• As a MACHINE
• As a MIND
• As an ORGANISM

Organization Definitions

• "a group of people with a common goal and a common method to achieve it"
• "a structure of expectations about behavior"
• "an open system subject to continuous change, multiple perspectives and need to negotiate among system components."

ORGANIZATIONAL METAPHORS

• Machine metaphors
  • Taylor, 1911
  • Fayol, 1916
  • Weber, 1925
• Mind metaphors
  • Information Processing, (Simon, 1945/1958)
  • Culture (Durheim, 1934)
  • Psychic prison, (60s, 70s)
  • Political system (Weber, Pfeiffer)

ORGANISM METAPHORS

• Open Systems Theory
• Contingency Theory
• Population Ecology
• Systems Dynamics
• Mintzberg's Synthesis

MACHINE METAPHORS

• Taylor, 1911
  • "most efficient way of doing work"
  • preprogrammed jobs
  • standardized
  • managers do all thinking, planning, designing
  • use scientific methods
• Fayol, 1916
  • formal authority and centralized control
  • scalar chain of command
  • 14 management principles

BUREAUCRACY

• Weber - Knowledge Based Organizations
• Represents Legitimate Authority
• Based on rational goals
• Defined hierarchies of offices
• People appointed on qualifications
• Work is rule-based
• Rules based on Technical Knowledge

On Bureaucracy

• "The development of bureaucracy has been in part an attempt to purge organizations of particularism."
  • -- Perrow

MIND METAPHOR

• Like a brain
• Organizations learn, adapt, solve problems, process information
• Information Processing and Cybernetic theories
  • Double Loop Learning
  • Redundancy of function
  • Requisite variety
  • Minimal critical specifications

Culture or Psychic Prison

• Socially constructed reality
• Freud on patriarchy
• Jung on archetypes
• Organizational climate
• Japanese theory of management
• Janis on "group think"
• Emphasis on restrictive thinking and acting based on subconscious

Political System

• Instrument of domination
• Power view
• People participate in organizations in their own interest and have political agendas
• Marx -- People exploited by their organizations

Organism Metaphors

• An organization is an organism adapted to a specific environment
• Can be studied as an organism
  • open system
  • adapted to environment
  • procreatively creating it
• Steady state
• Organizational ecology
  • organizations are born, grown, decline and die

OPEN SYSTEMS

• Exist in continuous exchange with environment
• Homeostasis Principle
• Negative Entropy Principle
• Holistic Principle
• Law of Requisite Variety
• Equifinality Principle
• Evolution Principle
• Emphasizes relations of org. to Environment

CONTINGENCY THEORY

• Best form of an Organization depends
  • Kind of Task (Standard/Tailored)
  • Environment (Stable/Unstable)
• Organizations Characterized as
  • Mechanistic/Organic
  • Based on:
    • Organization of Work
    • Nature of Authority
    • Communication System
    • Employee Commitment

POPULATION ECOLOGY

• Organizations are organisms competing for scarce resources
• Darwinian model
  • Variation
  • Selection
  • Retention or Modification
• Competition and Resource Dependency
• Focuses on Interorganizational Relationships

SYSTEM DYNAMICS

• Relates variables at system level directly by differential equations
• Variables and relationships form a network in which are present
  • Positive Feedback Loops
  • Negative Feedback Loops
• Random effects can lead to large effects because of Deviation-Amplifying Processes

MINTZBERG'S SYNTHESIS

• 5 Coordinating Principles
• 5 Organization Parts
• 5 Systems of Flows
• 5 Structural Configurations
• 9 Design Parameters

COORDINATING PRINCIPLES

• Mutual Adaptation
• Direction Supervision
• Standardization of Work Processes
• Standardization of Work Output
• Standardization of Worker Skills

ORGANIZATION PARTS

• Strategic Apex
• Middle Line
• Operating Core
• Technostructure
• Support Staff

SYSTEMS OF FLOW

• Formal Authority
• Regular Information Flows
• Informal Communication
• Work Constellations (Process)
• Ad Hoc Decision Processes

STRUCTURAL CONFIGURATIONS

• Simple Structure
  • Direct Supervision
  • Strategic Apex
• Machine Bureaucracy
  • Standardization of Work Processes
  • Technostructure
• Professional Bureaucracy
  • Standardization of Skills
  • Operating Core
• Divisionalized
  • Standardization of Outputs
  • Middle Line
• Adhocracy
  • Mutual Adjustment
  • Support Staff

DESIGN PARAMETERS

• Person Level
  • Design of Positions
    • Job Specialization
    • Training and Indoctrination
    • Behavior Formalization
• Unit Level
  • Design of Superstructure
    • Unit Grouping
    • Unit Size
• Organization as a Whole
  • Design of Lateral Links
  • Design of Decision Making

ORGANIZATION AS A WHOLE

• Lateral Linkages
  • Planning and Control Systems
  • Liaison Links
• Decision Making
  • Vertical Decentralization
  • Horizontal Decentralization

SUMMARY

• Machine Metaphor Theories (Classical Organization Theory) focus on:
  • Formal Authority
  • Organization of Work
  • Personnel Policy
  • Legitimation of Power
  • Resources Control
• Mind Metaphor Theories focus on:
  • Politics
  • Communication & Control
• Organism Metaphor Theories focus on:
  • Environment and Change
  • Decision-making
  • Organization of Work