Understanding Organizations

Sung Seek Moon

Defining Terms Organizations (Daft, 1998)- “Organizations are social

entities that are goal directed, are designed as deliberately structured and coordinated activity systems, and are linked to the external environment” Social entities-organizations are made up of people Goal-directed-they exist for a specified purpose Deliberately structured and coordinated activity systems-activity

systems are clusters of work activities performed by designated units or departments within an organization

Linked to the external environment-an organization is in constant interaction with other systems in the social environment, including individuals, groups, other organizations, and communities

Social Services

Institutional: financial assistance, housing programs, or education provided by public organizations

Personal social services: target specific groups (such as children or the elderly) or particular problems (such as family planning or counseling)

Human services, social services, and sometimes, social welfare are often used interchangeably

Social agencies Organizations providing social services

Public: run by a designated unit of government and are usually regulated by laws that directly affect policy

Private: privately owned and run by people not employed by government

Nonprofit: run to accomplish some service provision goal, not to make financial profit for private owners. Funding for services can range from tax money to private donations to grants to service fees

Proprietary or for-profit: similar services as nonprofit, but a major purpose is to make money

Organizational Theories Systems Theory-emphasize how all parts of the

organization are interrelated and function together to produce output

Class Scientific Management Theories-emphasize that specifically designed, formal structure and a consistent, rigid organizational network of employees are most important for an organization to run well and achieve its goals (Traditional Bureaucracies)

Human Relations Theories-emphasize “the role of the informal, psychological components of organizational functioningTheory X and Theory Y (McGregor, 1960)

Theory X Managers view employees as incapable of much growth, and believe

they must control, direct, force, or threaten employees to make them work

Employees are perceived as inherently disliking work and having relatively little ambition

Inconsistent with what behavioral scientists assert are effective principles for directing, influencing, and motivating people

Theory Y Managers view employees as wanting to grow up and develop by

exerting physical and mental effort to accomplish work objectives Believe that the promise of internal rewards are stronger motivations

than external rewards and punishments Most employees are assumed to have considerable ingenuity,

creativity, and imagination Mistakes and errors are viewed as necessary to the learning process

Theory Z: developed by Ouchi (1981) based on five assumptions initiated in Japanese industry

Views workers as lifetime employees instead of people having a series of short-term jobs in different organizations over a career’s time. It emphasizes job security as a major component of employee satisfaction and, hence, motivation for productivity.

Presumes that employees undergo long periods of evaluation and are not promoted quickly

Assumes workers progress down career paths that aren’t specialized. Job descriptions are more flexible, and management views employees as capable of performing any job when they receive relevant training

Collective decision making-workers collectively address issues and arrive at some consensus regarding how to proceed. Such work groups are called teams, quality circles, or quality control circles.

Collective responsibility-it emphasizes the importance of all workers being responsible for the successful functioning of the organization

Cultural Perspective

Assumes that each organization develops a unique mixture of values, standards, presumptions, and practices about how things should be done that eventually becomes habitAdvantage: performance becomes predictable, thus

requiring less effort to develop new approaches

Disadvantage: may squelch innovative ideas with pressure to retain the old way of thought

Economic Perspective

Emphasizes that organizations proceed in whatever way necessary to maximize profits or outputsPoses difficulties for social workers who maintain

professional values and ethicsPlaces primary emphasis on profit and productivity

Contingency Perspective

Maintains that each element involved in an organization depends on other elements; therefore there is no one generally best way to accomplish tasks or goalsStrength: flexibilityPotential weakness: lack of direction

Social Agencies as Systems

A system is a set of orderly and interrelated elements that form a functional whole

Boundaries: the repeatedly occurring patterns that characterize the relationships within a system and give that system a particular identity, setting it apart from other systems

Subsystem: a secondary or subordinate system, a smaller system within a larger system

Homeostasis: the tendency for a system to maintain a relatively stable, constant state of balance

Role: a socially expected behavior pattern usually determined by an individual’s status in a particular society

Relationship: the mutual emotional exchange; dynamic interaction; and affective, cognitive, and behavioral connection that exists between tow or more persons or systems

Input: the energy, information, or communication flow received from other systems

Output: what happens to input after it has been processed by some system

Feedback: a special form of input. It involves a system receiving information about what it is doing correctly in order to maintain itself and thrive

Differentiation: s system’s tendency to move for a more simplified to a more complex existence

Entropy: the natural tendency of a system to progress toward disorganization, depletion, disintegration, and, in essence, chaos

Equifinality: there are many different means to the same end

The Nature of Organizations

Agency SettingsPredominately social work settingsHost settings

Organizational GoalsMultiple goalsGoal displacement and goal substitution

Goal displacement occurs when an organization continuous to function but no longer achieves the goals it’s supposed to

In social service organizations, it often means that the rules and following those rules become more important then providing service to clients (see Highlight 4.1)

Organizational Culture

The constellation of values, beliefs, assumptions, and expectations that underlie and organize the organization’s behavior as a group

Organizational Structure

Manner in which an organization divides its labor into specific tasks and achieves coordination among these tasksLines of authorityChannels of communication (formal/informal)Dimensions of power (see Highlight 4.2)

Working in a Bureaucracy

What words come to mind when you hear the term “Bureaucracy”?

Webster’s Dictionary: Orientation conflict between helping professionals

and bureaucracy (see Highlight 4.4) How to survive in a bureaucracy?