Lecture 1 - Perspective

8/3/2019 Lecture 1 - Perspective

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PERSPECTIVEON

WORK ORGANIZATIONS

SYARAFUN NISAISMAILUNISEL

03/08/2011



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1.1 CHARACTERISTIC OFORGANIZATIONS

An organization is ‘A collection of interacting &interdependent individuals who work towardcommon goals & whose relationships aredetermined according to a certain structure’

(Duncan, 1981)

It is also can elaborated upon :• Organizations are human creations & fundamentally,

they consist of people, rather than buildings,equipment, machinery, etc.

• The term ‘organization’ is general and not restricted toindustrial or commercial firm. Educational and medicalinstitutions, social clubs and a wide range of other

organized human activities fall within the definition.



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•People within organization must be working to commongoals and coordinate their activities to this end. Thisdoes not, however, mean that everyone in theorganizations has the same set of goals and priorities,nor that all the goals are explicit and clear to everyone.

•

Although relationships between people are determinedaccording to a certain structure, informal or unofficialgroups and structures can be at least as important asthe formal organization structure.



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1.2 FORMAL ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURE

• STRUCTURE

http://var/www/apps/conversion/current/tmp/scratch2167/STRUCTURE




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• The structure of an organization is often depicted with theaid of an organization chart

• Position higher up the chart have more power and authoritythan those lower down

• The line linking the positions in the chart show the formalchannels of authority that exist within the organization













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1.2.1 ROLE NOT PEOPLE

• Organization charts show the relationship between specific

jobs or roles within the organization• The chart is to represent the organization structure,

regardless of the particular people who fill the positionshown

• The widespread use of organizationships between factors

such as organization structure and the people who workwithin the organization, is a theme















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1.2.2 SPECIALIZATION (DIVISION OFLABOUR)• Involves dividing up the activities of the organization and

distributing tasks among people, so that different people do

not find themselves doing the same collection tasks

• The required specialization is achieved not only byallocating different task to individuals, but by dividing theorganization into separate departments or sub-units eitheron a functional basis (e.g. sales, marketing, personnel), aproduct basis or perhaps into geographical regions

• A further characteristic of organization structure is span of control. The span of control of a manager or supervisor isindicated by the number of subordinates reporting directlyto that person, and it usually revealed on a comprehensiveorganization chart
























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1.2.3 BUREAUCRACY & CLASSICALORGANIZATION THEORY

• Fayol (1930) & Weber (1947), who developed their ideasabout organizations during the early 20th century

• Weber produced a series of publications concerned with the

structure of organization, and the exercise of power &authority within them

• Weber also proposed the ‘bureaucratic’ model of organization, where work is organized and conducted on an

entirely rational basis

• Some of the essential features of a bureaucracy are : Specialization or division of labour

A hierarchy of authority

written rules & regulations, and Rational application of rules & procedures





























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1.2.4 DIMENSIONS OFORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

• The major dimensions of structure by Aston team were :

SPECIALIZATION

STANDARDIZATION

FORMALIZATION

CENTRALIZATION

CONFIGURATION


















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• The underlying factors were summarized by Payne & Pugh(1976) :

Structure of activities

Concentration of authority

Line control of work-flow













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1.3 STRUCTURE, TECHNOLOGY &ENVIRONMENT

• Organizations can be described by using certain basicconcepts of structural form. Raises the possibility that some

structures will be more efficient than others.

• The researchers grouped the organizations into categorieson the basis of the production methods (or technology) thatthey were using.














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• The organizations were categorized into 3 groups :

1. Small batch & unit production

2. Large batch & mass production

3. Process production

• The most important point is that successful organizations ineach category had different structures

• The main issues of interest are the demonstration that inthe sample of organizations studied :

There were no general link between organizational success andstructural form; and

Successful organization had different structural form, depending on thetechnology that were using





















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1.4 ORGANIZATIONS AS COMPLEXOPEN SYSTEMS

• An open system in its simplest form involves an input, atransformation process and output

• A ‘closed’ system, by contrast does not involve inputs and

outputs, and is dependent of external force

• Organizations that are part of the social and economic of environment in which they exist, should clearly berepresented as open system
















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Open system





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• Each sub-system interacts with every other sub-system, andthe organization also interacts with the external environment

• The organization itself is merely a sub-system of other super-system – the economic system of the country

• Organization with aid of system concepts highlights 2important issues :

1. interaction & interrelatedness

2. Level of analysis















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• Many work psychologist use system ideas in a fairly diluteform, often merely to indicate the interaction andinterrelatedness of organizational factors, and to identifydifferent variables and possible level of analysis

• Payne & Pugh (1971) for instance, made some use of systems ideas to present “a framework of behavior inorganizations”

• Their framework incorporated a series of interlockingsystem divided into 4 different level of analysis :1. Organization

2. Department or segment within organization

3. Work team or group

4. Individual

• The main purpose of the framework is to provide anindication of the main features in organizational life, thelevel of analysis and interrelationships involved
























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1.4.1 SOCIO-TECHNICALSYSTEM• A good demonstration of the interacting nature of social

and technological system is provided in some work carriedout by the Travistock Institution of Human Relations (Trist &Bamforth, 1951)

• Improvement in mining technology led to the installation of

new mechanical coal-cutting and removing systems

• Some more recent socio-technical systems research hasexamined the changes in quality of working life that canresult from attempts to make the best possible match

between social and technical systems



















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1.4.2 MAJOR ELEMENTS OFORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS

• 4 different and interrelated element of organizationaldynamics have been mentioned :

1. Formal (structural) organizational characteristic

2. Technology

3. Environment4. Social system

• Kotter (1978) has integrated these and other aspects intoan overall framework for examining organizations

• DiagnosticModels.pdf















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1.5 ORGANIZATIONS ASMETAPHORS• Organization theorists have been building on the use of

metaphors to understand the nature of organizationalbehavior and life

• Mogan (1986) has identified basically 8 different ways of construing organizations. Which are :1. MACHINES

2. ORGANISMS

3. BRAINS

4. CULTURES

5. POLITICAL SYSTEMS

6. PSYCHIC PRISONS

7. VEHICLES FOR DOMINATION8. METAPHORS OF ORGANIZATION



















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Lecture 1 - Perspective