OUTLINE:
·
Meaning of
Organization
·
Approaches to the
Study of Organization
·
Formal and
Informal Organizations
·
Organizational
Goals
·
Types of
Organizational Goals
·
Goal Changes:
Forms and Reasons
·
Classical
Theories of organization
·
Neo-Classical and
Human relations Theories
·
Contemporary and
Modern Theories of organization
·
Leadership
Theories, and
The term organization has at least three different meanings namely:
·
the
act of designing the administrative structure;
·
both
designing and building the structure; planning the scheme of the structure and
appointing suitable personnel to it; and
·
the
resulting administrative structure itself.
Some thinkers want to confine the use
of the term “organization” to the first of these meanings only in the interest
of clarity and definiteness. Thus, according to Urwick, organization ought to mean only
“designing” the administrative structure. Giving the analogy of a motor car, he
distinguishes between designing the car, constructing it, and the constructed car
itself.
Just as it would be ridiculous to use the word “designing” for the construction of the car and of the vehicle constructed, so it is improper according to him, to use the word organization to denote the construction of the organization and the constructed structure.
Organization should therefore, mean the administrative machinery. He defines organization as “determining” what activities are necessary to any purpose and arranging them in groups which may be assigned to individuals.
Just as it would be ridiculous to use the word “designing” for the construction of the car and of the vehicle constructed, so it is improper according to him, to use the word organization to denote the construction of the organization and the constructed structure.
Organization should therefore, mean the administrative machinery. He defines organization as “determining” what activities are necessary to any purpose and arranging them in groups which may be assigned to individuals.
Others, however, do not accept this engineering approach
to concept of organization because administrative organization is not
made up of mechanical parts like
those of a motor engine, but of human beings. Missing the human aspect of
organization is, therefore, to miss its very heart, for as Milward puts it,
“organization by itself does nothing; it is the staff making up the
organization who do the work’.
It is impossible to decide this controversy one way or the other. Since established usage employs the term organization in more than one meaning, the student of administration will do well to bear all the shades of meaning in mind and understand things according to the context.
In the study of this subject, however, we are concerned more with organization as the administrative structure than any thing else. Parson defines organization as “a social unit (or human grouping) deliberately constructed and reconstructed to seek specific goals”. Corporations, armies, hospitals, churches, schools and prisons are included while ethnic groups, tribes, classes and families are excluded.
It is impossible to decide this controversy one way or the other. Since established usage employs the term organization in more than one meaning, the student of administration will do well to bear all the shades of meaning in mind and understand things according to the context.
In the study of this subject, however, we are concerned more with organization as the administrative structure than any thing else. Parson defines organization as “a social unit (or human grouping) deliberately constructed and reconstructed to seek specific goals”. Corporations, armies, hospitals, churches, schools and prisons are included while ethnic groups, tribes, classes and families are excluded.
According to J.D. Mooney,
“Organization is the form of every human association for the attainment of a
common purpose”. Technically defined, formal organization is the pattern of
division of tasks and power among the organizational position and the rules
expected to guide the behaviour of the participants as defined by management. Organization according
to L.D.
White, is ‘the arrangement of personnel for facilitating the accomplishment of some agreed purpose through allocation of functions and responsibilities’. Organization structure is a pattern of inter-related posts connected by line of the delegated authority. Organization consists of the relationship of individual to individuals and of group to groups which are so related as to bring about an orderly division of labour.
According to M. Mark, “organization refers to the structure developed for carrying out the tasks entrusted to the chief executive and his administrative subordinates in government”. Simon and others see formal organization as a planned system of co-operative effort in which a participant has a recognized role to play, duties and tasks to perform. Luther Gulick has defined organization as the formal structure of authority through which work sub-divisions are arranged, defined and co-ordinated for the defined objective.
White, is ‘the arrangement of personnel for facilitating the accomplishment of some agreed purpose through allocation of functions and responsibilities’. Organization structure is a pattern of inter-related posts connected by line of the delegated authority. Organization consists of the relationship of individual to individuals and of group to groups which are so related as to bring about an orderly division of labour.
According to M. Mark, “organization refers to the structure developed for carrying out the tasks entrusted to the chief executive and his administrative subordinates in government”. Simon and others see formal organization as a planned system of co-operative effort in which a participant has a recognized role to play, duties and tasks to perform. Luther Gulick has defined organization as the formal structure of authority through which work sub-divisions are arranged, defined and co-ordinated for the defined objective.
An organization is a combination of
the necessary human beings, materials, tools, equipment, working space and
appurtenances brought together in systematic and effective co-ordination to
accomplish some desired objectives. The Oxford English Dictionary
defines organization as the action of organizing;
structure of an organized body, the process of becoming organizing. The word
organized is defined as to form into a whole with inter-dependent parts; to
give a definite and orderly structure to; organization is thus a structure, an
orderly one which means that it is formed to achieve some purpose.
An organization is a social unit deliberately created and maintained for the achievement of specific objectives. In other words, an organization is a conscious creation. Secondly, it consists of human beings, and finally, these human beings are directed to achieve some explicit goals. When human beings are employed to achieve the goals, division of labour inevitably follows and a hierarchical authority structure emerges.
An organization is a social unit deliberately created and maintained for the achievement of specific objectives. In other words, an organization is a conscious creation. Secondly, it consists of human beings, and finally, these human beings are directed to achieve some explicit goals. When human beings are employed to achieve the goals, division of labour inevitably follows and a hierarchical authority structure emerges.
Work is the basic unit of an
organization, not persons. This is why it continues in existence despite the
exit of human beings. A worker is a total human being and, the total person
goes to work in the organization, be it a private firm or a government
department or a university. The organization, however, is interested only in
the work, but the work and the worker cannot be separated. The worker, one must
remember, is a human being who is a total person: father, son, brother, friend,
neighbour all rolled into one.
The employer would have been ideally happy if the person could separate the worker in him and send the latter only to his organization. But this is not physically possible. The total man, as said earlier, goes to the place of work. His organization has necessarily to deal with such human beings and use them for realization of organizational objectives.
The employer would have been ideally happy if the person could separate the worker in him and send the latter only to his organization. But this is not physically possible. The total man, as said earlier, goes to the place of work. His organization has necessarily to deal with such human beings and use them for realization of organizational objectives.
Organization
conveys varying meanings and connotations to different people. But one common
thread runs through all of them. It consists of a set of jobs to jobs, of
processes to processes, of person to persons. Organization is a net-work of
such relationships, set to accomplish a common objective.