AN INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION THEORY
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The document discusses organization theory, which examines the behavior, structures, and processes of complex organizations like corporations and government agencies. It outlines three main subfields: macro organization theory focusing on organizational structures, micro organizational behavior examining individual and group dynamics, and management theory centered on improving management practices. Additionally, it highlights various schools of thought that contribute to understanding organizational effectiveness and performance.
AN INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION THEORY
- 1. AN INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION THEORY
- 2. • A complex organization is an organization so large and structurally differentiated that it cannot be managed effectively by a single individual. • Corporations, government agencies, hospitals, nonprofits, and most voluntary associations fall into this category.
- 3. • They are the primary instruments through which modern societies achieve their social, political, and economic objectives. • Business enterprises, for example, provide consumer goods and services that contribute in important ways to the material well-being of society.
- 4. • Similarly, government agencies provide public services and collective goods that shape the overall quality of life. • All this is possible because complex organizations can bring together and coordinate the human, financial, and physical resources needed to achieve the monumental tasks demanded of them.
- 5. • Without complex organizations modern societies could not explore outer space, undertake large-scale construction projects, research and develop labor-saving technologies, hold their enemies at bay, or ameliorate the effects of poverty and disease.
- 6. • The needs of modern societies and the problem they face require the type of large-scale efforts that only government agencies and other complex organization can provide.
- 7. Organization Theory • It is the study of how and why complex organizations behave as they do. Specifically, it is the study of formal structures, internal processes, external constraints, and the ways organizations affect and are affected by their members.
- 8. Understanding today’s complex organization is essential to the practicing manager because knowledge is the key to effective action. Theoretical knowledge places managers in a better position to understanding how organizational realities both facilitate and constrain their efforts.
- 9. • This in turn helps managers to diagnose problems and decide upon appropriate courses of action. It also help them understand the complex interrelationships among organizational variables.
- 10. Organization Theory As A Field of Study • Organization theory is neither a single theory nor a unified body of knowledge. • It is a diverse, multidisciplinary field of study. • Scholars from many disciplines have contributed to the field, examining organizations from various perspectives, focusing their analysis at different levels, and seeking answers to different questions.
- 11. • Although this field has a wealth of useful information to offer, its breadth and diversity prevent it from being readily digested and mastered. • This is typically accomplished by grouping works with similar theoretical assumptions or research objectives and studying each body of literature in turn.
- 12. • One such strategy entails dividing the field of organization theory into three broad subfields. • The first, also called organization theory, embraces a macro perspective-focusing on the organization itself as the basic unit of analysis and seeking to explain how and why organizations behave as they do.
- 13. • Works in this subfield typically investigate structural arrangements (e.g., levels of hierarchy, lines of authority, and degrees of departmentalization) and how they are affected by goals , strategies, size, technologies, and environmental constraints.
- 14. • They often examine the effects of structural arrangements on organizational participants as well. • Foremost among those embracing a macro perspective are sociologists. • It was Robert Merton and his students at Columbia University in the late 1940s, who first outlined the boundaries of a field of study dealing with organizations.
- 15. • This macro perspective will be evident in Weber’s theory of bureaucracy: (administrative management theory), (structural-functional theory), and (open systems theory).
- 16. • A second subfield, generally called Organizational behavior, takes a micro perspective- focusing on individuals and groups as the basic units of analysis and seeking to understand their behaviors and interrelationships.
- 17. • Works in this subfield investigate the attitudes, motivations, and performance levels of organizational members. • A primary purpose of research in this subfield is to help managers understand how to align individual and organizational interests so that everyone is served by the attainment of organizational objectives.
- 18. • This micro perspective is reflected in human relations theory (natural systems theory), and (human resources theory). Finally, it is possible to identify a third subfield that cuts across the preceding two.
- 19. • Management Theory refers to those works in the larger field of organizational analysis that focus specifically on management processes and practices. • Such works are often prescriptive in tone and applied in nature, analyzing organizations in terms of ways to improve management practice and organizational performance. The Management Theory
- 20. • Examples include Frederick Taylor’s Principle of Scientific Management and Douglas McGregor’s The Human Side of Enterprise. Some scholars prefer to think of organization theory, organization behavior, and management theory as separate fields of study, as a matter of convention the term organization theory.
- 21. Major Schools of Thought School of thought Central focus Historical era Representative theorists The theory of bureaucracy Identifying the structural characteristics that facilitate administrative efficiency 1890s-1910s Max Weber Scientific management theory Using scientific study and rational planning to enable fast and efficient task performance 1890s-1920s Frederick Taylor, Frank Gilbreth, and Henry Gantt Administrative management theory Identifying the administrative principles that allow organizations to accomplish 1910s-1930s Henri Fayol, James Mooney, and Luther Gulick
- 22. Pre-human relations theory Enhancing morale and securing cooperation by depersonalizing the authority relationship. 1920s Mary PARKER Follett Human relations theory Adjusting workers to the workplace and securing their using various behavioral methods 1930s-1940s Elton Mayo, Fritz Roethlisberger Natural systems theory Maintaining cooperative systems by offering inducements and exercising moral leadership 1930s-1940s Chester Barnard
- 23. Structural functional theory Identifying the functional and dysfunctional consequences of bureaucracy 1940s-1950s Robert Merton, Philip Selznick, Alvin Gouldner and Peter Blau Open systems theory Keeping organizational system viable through internal maintenance and external adjustment 1950s-1970s Katz and Kahn, James D. Thompson, Joan Woodward, Emery and Trist, Burns and Stalker, Lawrence and Lorsch Human Resources theory Enhancing motivation and productivity by satisfying the full range of human needs 1940s-1960s Armand Feigenbaum, W. Edwards Deeming , Joseph Juran, Karoru Ishikawa
- 24. Organizational culture and leadership theory Creating a culture committed to high performance through visionary leadership and symbolic management 1980s-1990s Edgar Schein, William Quichi, Pascale and Athos and Tom Peters
- 25. • Exploring these schools of thought is important to practicing managers because each offers and explicit or implicit theory of organizational effectiveness. • Each provides a unique lens through which to view and understand organizational dynamics, a distance set of concepts and methods for improving performance.
- 26. • A few representative examples serve to underscore the relevance of these schools of thought to what public managers do: Scientific management theory emerged in the early 1900s as industrial engineers such as Frederick Taylor sought to put every aspect of task performance and industrial production on a rational and efficient basis.
- 27. It holds that organizational performance is enhanced by systematizing work operations, standardizing tasks, and providing economic incentives to induce superior performance. Efficiency and Productivity are the primary values.
- 28. • Administrative Management theory grew out of the efforts of theorists in the US and abroad in the 1920s and 1930s to identify fundamental, perhaps even universal, principles for structuring and managing complex organizations. It holds that organizational performance is enhanced by establishing an administrative structure characterized by clear lines of authority from top to bottom.
- 29. • A distinct division of labor among departments, and delegation of power and authority to administrators commensurate with their responsibilities. Structural and administrative rationality are the primary values.
- 30. • Human Relations Theory emerged in the late 1920s as Harvard psychologists sought to interpret the results of experiments conducted at a Western Electric plant in terms of human feelings and perceptions.
- 31. • It holds that organizational performance is enhanced by treating workers with respect, replacing, close supervision with a more relaxed and sympathetic form of supervision, encouraging workers to vent their feelings, and developing cohesive work teams, personal adjustment, cooperative behavior, and social cohesion are the primary values.
- 32. • Human Resources Theory evolved out of human relations theory as behavioral scientists in the 1950s and 1960s began to delve more deeply into the relationship between satisfying human needs and attaining organizational objectives.
- 33. • It holds that organizational performance is enhanced by developing each worker’s unique talents, creating and sustaining an environment of openness and trust, removing constraints on personal autonomy and individual discretion, enriching work, and providing opportunities for everyone to participate in discretion, enriching work, and providing opportunities for everyone to participate in decision making. Human development and intrinsic satisfaction are the primary values.
- 34. • Systems theory arose in several disciplines in the early 1900s as scientists came to realize that the many variables relating to a particular phenomenon must be understood holistically –that is, as a system rather than as a set of simple cause-and-effect relationships.
- 35. • From the perspective of systems theory, the successful organization is one that achieves both internal integration and external adaptation; it is one that maintains an optimal fit between its mission and strategies, its internal systems and structures, and the forces in its external environment that create both opportunities and threats.
- 36. • Quality management theory took root in Japan in the second half of the twentieth century as American management consultants urged the Japanese to compete on the basis of product quality and customer satisfaction.
- 37. • It holds that organizational performance is enhanced by designing products and services to meet or exceed customer expectations and by empowering workers to find and eliminate all factors that undermine product or service quality. • Primary values include product or service quality, continual improvement, collective problem solving, and customer satisfaction.
- 38. • Organizational culture and leadership theory. This body of theory, at least as it relates to management, developed in the 1980s and 1990s as scholars searched for an explanation for the growing success of Japanese business firms.
- 39. • It holds that organizational performance is enhanced by articulating a clear vision of success and the values that underlie that vision, symbolizing values and vision in every action management takes, encouraging members top adapt these values and vision as their own, and creating a strong organizational culture in which shared values and vision tie members together in common cause.
- 40. • Intrinsic satisfaction, social cohesion, and commitment to organizational purpose are the primary values.
- 41. • Theorists have asked different questions for different reasons and focused their analysis on different variables and levels. • Some have set out to explain or describe how things work based on systematic research, while others have been content to prescribe how things should work based on secondary data and their personal ideologies.