Introduction 1 Azad 2

8/3/2019 Introduction 1 Azad 2

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Organizational Theory


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OrganizationGreek Organon:

meaning a tool or instrument.

So, organizations are tools orinstruments to meet goals, objectives,to carry out tasks.


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Theories as Frames:Frames or Windows

filter

order the worldStructural Frame

Human Resource Frame

Political FrameCultural

Systems


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Structural ParadigmImage: A machine

Pyramid

Words: Efficient

Impersonal

Goal-drivenPhrase: The One Best Way


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Structural Assumptions:

Exist to accomplish its goals

Problems usually reflect an inappropriatestructure

Specialization permits higher levels of individualperformance.

Coordination and control are accomplished bestthrough the exercise of authority and impersonalrules.


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Structural ParadigmControl

Control

Control


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Truth or Fiction?Bureaucracy is the single best form of

organization for providing consistency,

predictability, stability, efficient performance,

rationalism and professionalism.


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Which is True?Rules promote fairness andaccountability in the conduct of public

business.Rules are also the enemy of progressand dispatch.


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Human Relations FrameImage: Family

Words: Caring, Nurturing, Supportive

Spirit

Concepts: motivation, empowerment,development, communication


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Human Relations Assumptions

Organizations exist to serve human needs

Organizations need the ideas, energy, and

talent that people provide


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IncentivesTo get them to cooperate you must induce

them to join the organization and then

induce them to contribute.


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IncentivesMaterial: money, compensation, bonuses

Personal: prestige, distinction, power

Values: loyaltyOpportunity: participation, efficacy

Security: job security, support


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Follett:We cannot put the individual on one side and

society on the other, we must understand the

complete interrelation of the two. Each has

no value, no existence without the other

There is no such thing as a self-made man.


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Where is your organization?Does it value people?

Does it treat people like adults?

Does it develop people?

Do managers treat employees as customers?


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Political ParadigmThe political frame views organizationsas alive political arenas that house a

complex variety of individuals andinterest groups.

This is not about elections and elected

positions.


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Political ParadigmImage: smoke-filled room battle

Words: wheeling and dealing

My way or no way.


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Political ParadigmIt is a world where men speak of moral

principles but act on power principles; a

world where we are always moral andour enemies always immoral.


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Political Paradigm

Morgan: "Power is the medium through which

conflicts of interest are ultimately resolved."

Dahl: "Power involves an ability to get another

person to do something that he or she would

not otherwise have done."


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Human Side of PowerPower Over

power is scarce

and limitedgiving orders

punish non-compliance

negative beliefsabout people

Power With

power increases

when sharedorders aredetermined by thesituation

participatoryproblem-solving

positive beliefsabout people


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Power Paradigm Assumptions

Important decisions: allocation of scarce resources.

Organizations are coalitions composed of a number of

individuals and interest groups

Individuals and interest groups differ in their values,

preferences, beliefs, information, and perceptions of reality.

Goals and decisions emerge from ongoing processes of

bargaining and negotiation among individuals and groups.


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Sources of PowerAuthority

Expertise

Control of Resources Control of Process

Information

Personal


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Exercise:Who has power in your

organization?

What are your sources of

power?


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Cultural Paradigm

A pattern of basic assumptions,

invented, discovered, or developed by

a given groups as the correct way to

perceived, think and feel


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Cultural Paradigm

Words: norms, values

The way it is done hereWe dont do that

our way.

Image: village, anthropologist


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International Dimensions Geert Hofstede, discovered that most differences among

national cultures were described by four cross-cultural

dimensions:

Uncertainty avoidance

Masculinity-femininity

Individualism-collectivism

Power distance

In later research, Canadian researcher Michael Harris Bond,

uncovered a fifth dimension

Long-term/short-term orientation


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Seidman:

Agency culture and personality

Attempts to change organizations without

understanding its culturenorms, beliefs,

and valuesare bound to fail.


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Open Systems

Organizations can be seen as open systems,like organisms which constantly adapt to

their internal and external environment

Image: organism

Words: flexible, fluid, changing


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Systems ParadigmWhat endures is process:

dynamic

adaptive

creative


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Wheatley:

Life is an open system: Open systems

that engage with their environment and

continue to grow and evolve.


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Assumptions

Subsystems are all interrelated and influence eachother;

Organizations are constantly changing.An organization's success depends on its ability toadapt to its environment

Any level or unit within an organization can beviewed as a system.


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Colleges/UniversitiesInputs?

Outputs?

Technology?Goals and Strategies?

Behavior and Processes?

Culture?Human Resources?

Structure?

Introduction 1 Azad 2

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