Organization

Organization.



Organization
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alternative meaning: Organisation (band).
An organization or organisation (read more about -ize vs -ise) is a formal group of people with one or more shared goals. The
word itself is derived from the Greek word ὄργανον (organon) meaning tool.
The term is used in both daily and scientific English in multiple ways.

In the social sciences, organizations are studied by researchers from several disciplines. Most commonly in sociology,
economics, political science, psychology, and management. The broad area is commonly referred to as organizational
studies, organizational behaviour or organization analysis. Therefore, a number of different theories and perspectives
exist , some of which are compatible, and others that are competing.

Organization terms
Organisation – process-related: an entity is being (re-)organized (organization as task or action).
Organization – functional: organization as a function of how entities like businesses or state authorities are used (organization
as a permanent structure).
Organization – institutional: an entity is an organization (organization as an actual purposeful structure within a social context)

Organisation in sociology
In sociology "organisation" is understood as planned, coordinated and purposeful action of human beings in order to construct
or compile a common tangible or intangible product or service. This action is usually framed by formal membership and
form (institutional rules). Sociology distinguishes the term organisation into planned formal and unplanned informal (i.e.
spontaneously formed) organisations. Sociology analyses organisations in the first line from an institutional perspective. In
this sense, organisation is a permanent arrangement of elements. These elements and their actions are determined by
rules so that a certain task can be fulfilled through a system of coordinated division of labour.

An organisation is defined by the elements that are part of it (who belongs to the organisation and who does not?), its
communication (which elements communicate and how do they communicate?), its autonomy (Max Weber termed
autonomy in this context: Autokephalie)(which changes are executed autonomously by the organisation or its elements?)
and its rules of action compared to outside events (what causes an organisation to act as a collective actor?).

By coordinated and planned cooperation of the elements, the organisation is able to solve tasks that lie beyond the abilities of
the single elements. The price paid by the elements is the limitation of the degrees of freedom of the elements.
Advantages of organisations are enhancement (more of the same), addition (combination of different features), and
extension. Disadvantages can be inertness (through co-ordination) and loss of interaction.

Organisation in management and organisational studies
Main article: Organisational studies
Management is interested in organisation mainly from an instrumental point of view. For a company organisation is a means to
an end in order to achieve its goals.

In this sense organisations can be distinguished into two fundamentally different sets of objectives:

Organisations whose goal is to generate certain services and/or to produce goods (factories, service enterprises, etc.) or to
bring about certain effects in its surrounding world (e.g. authorities, police, political parties, interest groups, trade unions,
etc.).
Organisations whose goal is to change individuals (e.g. schools, universities, hospitals, prisons). This type of organisation is
also known as a non-profit-organisation.
With regard to the inner structure of organisations two terms have to be distinguished:

Structural organisation: the hierarchical structure of the company (who is performing which task and who has which decision-
making power?)
Process organisation: the processes and routines of the manufacturing phases that take place within the company (in which
order is something done and how?)
Organisational studies also includes research efforts to inform the effective management of organisations, and addresses
organisational culture, organisational learning and managing change as major factors affecting organisational
effectiveness, beyond the basics of organisational structure.

The IT revolution at the of the 1990s also had an effect on organisational theory. Through the partial removal of barriers such
as distance and information costs that defined the structure of organisation virtual organisations have become reality. For
example it became more difficult to say who belongs to an organisation and who not. New business models came into
existence that have been at the centre of organisational research.

Organization theories
Among the theories that are or have been most influential are:
Weberian organization theory (refer to Max Weber's chapter on Bureaucracy in his book 'Economy and Society')
Marxist organization analysis
Scientific management (mainly following Frederick W. Taylor)
Human Relations Studies (going back to the Hawthorne studies, Maslow and Hertzberg)
Administrative theories (with work by e.g. Henri Fayol and Chester Barnard)
Contingency theory
New institutionalism and new institutional economics
Network analysis
Economic sociology
Organization ecology (or demography of organizations)
Transaction cost economics
Agency theory (sometimes called principal - agent theory)
Studies of organization culture
Postmodern organization studies
Labour Process Theory
Critical Management Studies
Unicist Natural Organization
Transaction cost theory/Transaction cost Economics (TCE)
Garbage can model
Actor-Network Theory and the 'Montreal School'

Organizational structures
Main article: Organizational structure
The study of organizations includes a focus on optimizing organizational structure. According to management science, most
human organizations fall roughly into four types:

Pyramids or hierarchies
Committees or juries
Matrix organizations
Ecologies

Pyramids or hierarchies
A hierarchy exemplifies an arrangement with a leader who leads leaders. This arrangement is often associated with
bureaucracy. Hierarchies were satirized in The Peter Principle (1969), a book that introduced the term hierarchiology and
the saying that "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence".

An extremely rigid, in terms of responsibilities, type of organization is exemplified by Führerprinzip.

Committees or juries
These consist of a group of peers who decide as a group, perhaps by voting. The difference between a jury and a committee is
that the members of the committee are usually assigned to perform or lead further actions after the group comes to a
decision, whereas members of a jury come to a decision. In common law countries legal juries render decisions of guilt,
liability and quantify damages; juries are also used in athletic contests, book awards and similar activities. Sometimes a
selection committee functions like a jury. In the middle ages juries in continental Europe were used to determine the law
according to consensus amongst local notables.

Committees are often the most reliable way to make decisions. Condorcet's jury theorem proved that if the average member
votes better than a roll of dice, then adding more members increases the number of majorities that can come to a correct
vote (however correctness is defined). The problem is that if the average member is worse than a roll of dice, the
committee's decisions grow worse, not better: Staffing is crucial.

Parliamentary procedure, such as Robert's Rules of Order, helps prevent committees from engaging in lengthy discussions
without reaching decisions.

this is a great piece of work--212.219.119.150 09:05, 24 April 2006 (UTC)--212.219.119.150 09:05, 24 April 2006 (UTC)--
212.219.119.150 09:05, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
References
Organisations by Richard Scott: ISBN 0132663546
Organisations and Institutions by Richard Scott
Understanding organisations by Charles Handy.
The Peter Principle, Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull, Pan Books 1970 ISBN 0-330-02519-8
The Nature of the Firm by Ronald Coase.
Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern, Owl Books 1998 ISBN 0805056491
Organization Design: Fashion or Fit by Henry Mintzberg, Harvard Business Review (January February, l98l).