B200

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B200

• ORGANISATIONS MODULE
• WEEK SEVEN

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Themes of the Organisations Module

• shows how and why organisations are important,
  and discusses why they take the forms and
  structures they do.
• awareness of the core elements of organisations
  structures and cultures.
• Introduces programmes of organisational change.

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Student Key Learning OutcomesOrganisations Module

• see the critical importance of business
  organisations of all kinds and sizes to the
  modern world to business itself, to
  nation-states and to individuals as employees,
  consumers and citizens
• recognise the assumptions and elements
  historical, cultural, social on which the
  characteristic modern organisation depends
• be familiar with the key elements of
  organisations (structures and cultures),
  understanding how they differ, some of the
  reasons for those differences, and their origins
  and implications
• understand the forces that shape organisations
  and how organisations work
• be able to use these different approaches to
  analyse, explain and evaluate the behaviour of
  organisations, especially in relation to
  programmes of change.
• (more details in organisations study guide p62).

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WEEK SEVEN (pp 97 - 122)

• RESOURCES
• Understanding Business Organisations
• Chapter 7 Pages 97 113 Organisations Reader
• Chapter 8 Pages 114 122 Organisations Reader
• Relevant pages of Organisations Study Guide.

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Chapter 7 Work Organisations, Managerial
Strategies and Control by Dunkerley

• This chapter discusses Webers model of
  organisation bureaucracy. It discusses the
  limitations of bureaucracy in practice, and also
  builds on the assessment of bureaucracy as a
  model of organisation.

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Definitions

• An organisation is an instrument, a deliberate
  and rational means for attaining known goals.
• An organisation is a formal analytical point of
  reference, primacy of orientation to the
  attainment of a specific goal is used as the
  defining characteristics of an organisation which
  distinguishes it from other types of social
  system.
• An organisation is a collection of people working
  together under a defined structure for the
  purpose of predetermined outcomes through the use
  of financial, human and material resources.

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A set of characteristics defines bureaucracy

• The staff members are personally free, observing
  only the impersonal duties of their office.
• There is a clear hierarchy of offices.
• The functions of the offices are clearly
  specified.
• Officials are appointed in the basis of a
  contract.
• They are selected on the basis of a professional
  qualification, ideally substantiated by a diploma
  gained through examination.
• They have a money salary and usually pension
  rights. The salary is graded according to the
  position in the hierarchy. The official can
  always leave the post, and under certain
  circumstances, it can also be terminated.
• The officials post is his sole or major
  occupation.
• There is a career structure and promotion is
  possible either by seniority or merit and
  according to the judgement of superiors.
• The official may appropriate neither the post nor
  the resources which go with it.
• He is subject to unified control and disciplinary
  system.
• (Albrow 1970 see reader pp98-99)

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Bureaucracy Functional or Dysfunctional

• When members of an organisation are constantly
  pressured into reliability, certain things
  happen
• There is a reduction in personalised
  relationship.
• An over-internationalisation of the rules of the
  organisation may occur, suggesting that the
  function of rules is changed where rule following
  becomes an end in itself rather than as a means
  of achieving the organizational goals.
• An emphasis on control can lead to the position
  where categorisation is so restricted that the
  search for alternatives that is essential to
  decision-making becomes self-restricted. Red
  tape.
• Dysfunctional bureaucracy often appears to arise
  from the attempts by management to increase
  control in the organisation. Such attempts at
  control may derive from the need for greater
  efficiency or may be seen as management asserting
  its power the two are not mutually exclusive.

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Bureaucratic Structures

• In Weber's states that in bureaucracy the issue
  of control is central. The formal structure of
  an organisation may be designed as to maximise
  the exercise of control by those possessing
  legitimate power in the organisational structure.
  Weber regarded the modern organisation as a
  highly rational form of administration in which
  all of its characteristics are designed to
  enhance the whole.
• Please read the basic principles of the
  contingency model points a j on page 107 of the
  Organisations Reader. Please also note figure 7.1
  on page 109.

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TMA 05

• The theme of bureaucracy is important for TMA 05.
• Please ensure that you are familiar with this
  chapter and the definitions of bureaucracy.

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Chapter 8 Studying Organisations an
Introduction by Thompson and McHugh

• This chapter sets out two distinctly different
  ways of thinking about organisations the
  mainstream and critical approaches. These
  influence how researchers study and describe
  organisations, but also influence how managers
  try to run and change organisations.

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Organisations as goal-seekers

• Goals are seen as preferred states which
  organisations and their members attempt to
  achieve through collective and coordinated
  action. In such situation goals are formulated,
  policies and objectives flow from them, and
  inputs in the form of activities are created,
  which in return produce outputs that allow for
  the achievement of goals and success of the
  organisations.

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• This might not always produce the required
  results because
• There are references to environmental influences.
• Members of the organisations might have goals
  which are contradictory to senior management,
  creating gaps between the formal and informal
  official and operative goals and actual policies.
• Workers might not have loyalty to the
  organisation resulting in the replacement of
  goals.
• Emphasis on goals does not enable distinction
  between different forms of organisational
  activities.

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• Influences on The Mainstream Approach
• 1 Organisation cooperative social systems self
  regulating bodies.
• Tending toward both equilibrium and control.
• The organisation is a unitary body combining the
  activities, values and interests of all
  participants.
• The organisation is a system of interrelated
  parts or sub-units working towards an ultimate
  goal.
• Division of labour plays a significant role to
  sustain social solidarity and the survival of the
  organisation.

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Managerialism

• Managers achieve rational efficiency through
  establishing harmony in the workforce.
  Organisational analysis can assist managers in
  organisations in understanding how their
  behaviour can positively influence their
  subordinates productivity.

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•  
• There are two features of mainstream view of
  reality taken from the sciences
• Emphasis on measurements of organisational
  phenomena e.g. type of structures, technologies
  and leadership style.
• 2. Attempts to discover clear cause and effect
  relationships.

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Main Characteristics of the Mainstream Approach

• 1. The purposes of the organisation is clear,
  agreed and shared.
• Decisions are taken on clear and rational
  grounds.
• All workers agree on what they are doing and work
  co-operatively and collectively towards the
  organisational purpose.
• The structure and processes of the organisation
  are designed to ensure efficiency.
• 5. Management strive to ensure coordination and
  control of achievement of the organisational
  goals.

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The Critical Approach

• Critical perspectives must be reflexive.
• The embeddedness of organisations - there is a
  necessity to be historical and contextual.
• Dialectics and contradiction - (a movement from
  thesis to antithesis and synthesis).
• Social transformation empowering employees to
  make more choices and to act more effectively to
  transform workplace relations. (Rhetoric is not
  always matched by reality).

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Reading to be completed by NEXT WEEK

• Re-read the relevant pages of the Organisations
  Study Guide File to reinforce your learning from
  this tutorial. Complete any relevant activities
  from this section.
• Read Understanding Business Organisations
  Chapters 10 and 11 (chapter 9 is optional
  reading).