AN INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION THEORY

AN INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION THEORY-Public Management

1. AN INTRODUCTION TO
ORGANIZATION THEORY

2. •A complex organization is an
organization so large and
structurally differentiated
that it cannot be managed
effectively by a single
individual.
•Corporations, government
agencies, hospitals,
nonprofits, and most
voluntary associations fall
into this category.

3. •They are the primary
instruments through which
modern societies achieve
their social, political, and
economic objectives.
•Business enterprises, for
example, provide consumer
goods and services that
contribute in important ways
to the material well-being of
society.

4. •Similarly, government agencies
provide public services and
collective goods that shape the
overall quality of life.
•All this is possible because
complex organizations can
bring together and coordinate
the human, financial, and
physical resources needed to
achieve the monumental tasks
demanded of them.

5. •Without complex
organizations modern
societies could not
explore outer space,
undertake large-scale
construction projects,
research and develop
labor-saving technologies,
hold their enemies at bay,
or ameliorate the effects
of poverty and disease.

6. •The needs of modern
societies and the problem
they face require the type
of large-scale efforts that
only government agencies
and other complex
organization can provide.

7. Organization Theory
•It is the study of how and why complex
organizations behave as they do.
Specifically, it is the study
of formal structures,
internal processes, external
constraints, and the ways
organizations affect and
are affected by their
members.

8. Understanding
today’s complex
organization is
essential to the
practicing
manager
because
knowledge is
the key to
effective action.
Theoretical
knowledge places
managers in a
better position to
understanding how
organizational
realities both
facilitate and
constrain their
efforts.

9. •This in turn helps managers to diagnose problems
and decide upon appropriate courses of action.
It also help them
understand the complex
interrelationships
among organizational
variables.

10. Organization Theory As A Field of
Study
•Organization theory is neither a single
theory nor a unified body of
knowledge.
•It is a diverse, multidisciplinary field of
study.
•Scholars from many disciplines have
contributed to the field, examining
organizations from various
perspectives, focusing their analysis at
different levels, and seeking answers
to different questions.

11. •Although this field has a wealth of useful
information to offer, its breadth and
diversity prevent it from being readily
digested and mastered.
•This is typically accomplished by grouping
works with similar theoretical assumptions
or research objectives and studying each
body of literature in turn.

12. •One such strategy entails
dividing the field of
organization theory into three
broad subfields.
•The first, also called
organization theory, embraces
a macro perspective-focusing
on the organization itself as the
basic unit of analysis and
seeking to explain how and why
organizations behave as they
do.

13. •Works in this subfield typically investigate structural
arrangements (e.g., levels of hierarchy, lines of
authority, and degrees of departmentalization) and
how they are affected by goals , strategies, size,
technologies, and environmental constraints.

14. •They often examine the effects of
structural arrangements on
organizational participants as well.
•Foremost among those embracing a
macro perspective are sociologists.
•It was Robert Merton and his students at
Columbia University in the late 1940s,
who first outlined the boundaries of a
field of study dealing with organizations.

15. •This macro perspective will be
evident in Weber’s theory of
bureaucracy:
(administrative management
theory), (structural-functional
theory), and (open systems
theory).

16. •A second subfield,
generally called
Organizational behavior,
takes a micro perspective-
focusing on individuals
and groups as the basic
units of analysis and
seeking to understand
their behaviors and
interrelationships.

17. •Works in this subfield investigate the
attitudes, motivations, and performance
levels of organizational members.
•A primary purpose of research in this subfield
is to help managers understand how to align
individual and organizational interests so that
everyone is served by the attainment of
organizational objectives.

18. •This micro
perspective is
reflected in human
relations theory
(natural systems
theory), and (human
resources theory).
Finally, it is possible
to identify a third
subfield that cuts
across the preceding
two.

19. •Management Theory refers to
those works in the larger field
of organizational analysis that
focus specifically on
management processes and
practices.
•Such works are often
prescriptive in tone and
applied in nature, analyzing
organizations in terms of ways
to improve management
practice and organizational
performance.
The
Management
Theory

20. •Examples include Frederick
Taylor’s Principle of Scientific
Management and Douglas
McGregor’s The Human Side of
Enterprise.
Some scholars prefer to think of
organization theory, organization
behavior, and management theory
as separate fields of study, as a
matter of convention the term
organization theory.

21. Major Schools of Thought
School of thoughtCentral focus Historical era Representative
theorists
The theory of
bureaucracy
Identifying the
structural
characteristicsthat
facilitate
administrative
efficiency
1890s-1910s Max Weber
Scientific
management
theory
Using scientific
study and rational
planning to enable
fast and efficient
task performance
1890s-1920s Frederick Taylor,
Frank Gilbreth,and
Henry Gantt
Administrative
management
theory
Identifying the
administrative
principles that
allow organizations
to accomplish
complex tasks.
1910s-1930s Henri Fayol,James
Mooney, and
Luther Gulick

22. Pre-human relations
theory
Enhancing morale and
securing cooperation
by depersonalizingthe
authority relationship.
1920s Mary PARKER Follett
Human relations
theory
Adjusting workers to
the workplace and
securing their using
various behavioral
methods
1930s-1940s Elton Mayo,Fritz
Roethlisberger
Natural systems
theory
Maintaining
cooperative systems by
offering inducements
and exercising moral
leadership
1930s-1940s Chester Barnard

23. Structural
functional theory
Identifying the
functional and
dysfunctional
consequences of
bureaucracy
1940s-1950s Robert Merton,
Philip Selznick, Alvin
Gouldner and Peter
Blau
Open systems
theory
Keeping
organizational
system viable
through internal
maintenance and
external adjustment
1950s-1970s Katz and Kahn,
JamesD.
Thompson, Joan
Woodward, Emery
and Trist, Burns and
Stalker, Lawrence
and Lorsch
Human Resources
theory
Enhancing
motivation and
productivity by
satisfyingthe full
range of human
needs
1940s-1960s Armand
Feigenbaum, W.
Edwards Deeming ,
Joseph Juran,
Karoru Ishikawa

24. Organizational
culture and
leadership theory
Creating a culture
committed to high
performance
through visionary
leadership and
symbolic
management
1980s-1990s Edgar Schein,
William Quichi,
Pascale and Athos
and TomPeters

25. •Exploring these schools of thought is
important to practicing managers
because each offers and explicit or
implicit theory of organizational
effectiveness.
•Each provides a unique lens through
which to view and understand
organizational dynamics, a distance set
of concepts and methods for improving
performance.

26. •A few representative examples serve to
underscore the relevance of these schools
of thought to what public managers do:
Scientific management theory
emerged in the early 1900s as
industrial engineers such as
Frederick Taylor sought to put
every aspect of task
performance and industrial
production on a rational and
efficient basis.

27. It holds that organizational
performance is enhanced
by systematizing work
operations, standardizing
tasks, and providing
economic incentives to
induce superior
performance. Efficiency
and Productivityare the
primary values.

28. •Administrative Management theory grew
out of the efforts of theorists in the US and
abroad in the 1920s and 1930s to identify
fundamental, perhaps even universal,
principles for structuring and managing
complex organizations. It holds that
organizational performance is enhanced by
establishing an administrative structure
characterized by clear lines of authority
from top to bottom.

29. •A distinct division of labor
among departments, and
delegation of power and
authority to administrators
commensurate with their
responsibilities. Structural
and administrative
rationality are the primary
values.

30. •Human Relations Theory
emerged in the late 1920s
as Harvard psychologists
sought to interpret the
results of experiments
conducted at a Western
Electric plant in terms of
human feelings and
perceptions.

31. •It holds that organizational
performance is enhanced by
treating workers with
respect, replacing, close
supervision with a more
relaxed and sympathetic
form of supervision,
encouraging workers to vent
their feelings, and
developing cohesive work
teams, personal adjustment,
cooperative behavior, and
social cohesion are the
primary values.

32. •Human Resources Theory
evolved out of human
relations theory as
behavioral scientists in the
1950s and 1960s began to
delve more deeply into the
relationship between
satisfying human needs and
attaining organizational
objectives.

33. •It holds that organizational performance
is enhanced by developing each worker’s
unique talents, creating and sustaining
an environment of openness and trust,
removing constraints on personal
autonomy and individual discretion,
enriching work, and providing
opportunities for everyone to participate
in discretion, enriching work, and
providing opportunities for everyone to
participate in decision making. Human
development and intrinsic satisfaction
are the primary values.

34. •Systems theory arose in
several disciplines in the
early 1900s as scientists
came to realize that the
many variables relating to
a particular phenomenon
must be understood
holistically –that is, as a
system rather than as a set
of simple cause-and-effect
relationships.

35. •From the perspective of
systems theory, the successful
organization is one that
achieves both internal
integration and external
adaptation; it is one that
maintains an optimal fit
between its mission and
strategies, its internal systems
and structures, and the forces
in its external environment that
create both opportunities and
threats.

36. •Quality management
theory took root in Japan
in the second half of the
twentieth century as
American management
consultants urged the
Japanese to compete on
the basis of product
quality and customer
satisfaction.

37. •It holds that organizational
performance is enhanced by
designing products and
services to meet or exceed
customer expectations and by
empowering workers to find
and eliminate all factors that
undermine product or service
quality.
•Primary values include product
or service quality, continual
improvement, collective
problem solving, and customer
satisfaction.

38. •Organizational culture
and leadership theory.
This body of theory, at
least as it relates to
management,
developed in the 1980s
and 1990s as scholars
searched for an
explanation for the
growing success of
Japanese business
firms.

39. •It holds that organizational
performance is enhanced by
articulating a clear vision of
success and the values that
underlie that vision,
symbolizing values and vision in
every action management
takes, encouraging members
top adapt these values and
vision as their own, and
creating a strong organizational
culture in which shared values
and vision tie members
together in common cause.

40. •Intrinsic satisfaction, social cohesion, and
commitment to organizational purpose are
the primary values.

41. •Theorists have asked different
questions for different reasons
and focused their analysis on
different variables and levels.
•Some have set out to explainor
describehow things work based
on systematic research, while
others have been content to
prescribe how things should
work based on secondary data
and their personal ideologies.