Introduction to the Study of Organizations

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Introduction to the Study of Organizations

• Jorge Correia Jesuino

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What is an organization?

• Features
• Organizations are artifacts
• Goal directed
• Social entities
• Structured activity
• Nominal boundaries

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Definition

• Organizations are social entities brought into
  existence and sustained in an ongoing way by
  humans to serve some purpose, from which it
  follows that human activities in the entity are
  normally structured and coordinated towards
  achieving some purpose or goals.

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Time out

1. Think about your own university or college as an
   organization. Describe ways in which it qualifies
   as an organization in terms of the five
   characteristics given above.
2. Now do the same for your immediate family how
   easy is it to conceptualize this as an
   organization?

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Different perspectives on organizations

• The Machine Metaphor
• 1.1 Focuses on the purpose and goals of an
  organization and how these are achieved by
  combining its component parts.
• 1.2 Organizations regarded as analogous to
  a machine that is designed for a purpose.

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1. Machine Metaphor

• Their views draws attention to such matters as
• Purpose or goals what is to be achieved.
• Organizational design how the overall task is
  split down into a set of structured sub-tasks and
  how these are coordinated.
• Methods, rules and procedures what is done,
  what behavior is permitted and what is
  prohibited.
• Effectiveness and efficiency whether goals are
  achieved and whether this is done in a way that
  is economic in use of resources.

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2. Organism Metaphor

• Organizations regarded as analogous to biological
  organisms.
• It also makes use of the concept of system which
  come to dominate most current views of
  organizations.
• A system is a set of elements connected together
  which form a whole, thus showing properties which
  are properties of the whole, rather than
  properties of its component parts.

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2.1 Open systems

• All systems are open systems, which interact with
  their environments by taking in inputs and
  transforming them into outputs.
• Inputs Outputs
• Environment

Process
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2.1 A commercial organization as an open system
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3. The (Political) System Metaphor

• Organizations regarded as analogous to political
  systems composed of diverse groups, all of which
  have their own objectives.

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4. Organizations as cultural systems

• Organizations regarded as analogous to cultural
  systems in which the members have common beliefs,
  values and shared assumptions.

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Time out

• Think about your own university or college as an
  organization. Identify those aspects and features
  of the organization and the way that it functions
  to which you would direct your attention if you
  were to examine the institution by using
• the machine metaphor
• the biological system metaphor
• the political system metaphor
• the culture metaphor

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Organizational behavior and analysis

• Level 1 Individual where the focus is on
  matters (such as values, attitudes, aptitudes,
  beliefs, intelligence and motivation) that
  influence how people behave as individuals.
• Level 2 Group which is more concerned with
  social and interactive features such as group
  dynamics and leadership.
• Level 3 Organizational where the main concern
  is the behavior of an organization as a whole,
  for example its relationship with environment and
  its structure, culture and process.

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Precursors of organizational behavior

• Scientific Management Taylor (1911)
• Human Relations Movement
• Sheldon (1923)
• Mayo (1933)
• Roethlisberger Dickson (1939)

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The origins of organizational analysis

• Classical Organization Theory Max Weber (1911)
• Fayol (1916)
• Parker Follet (1941)
• Principles of Organization

(1) Division of work (8) Centralization of authority
(2) Authority and responsibility (9) A scalar chain
(3) Discipline (10) Order
(4) Unity of comand (11) Equity
(5) Unity of direction (12) Stability of tenure
(6) Subordination of interests (13) Initiative
(7) Remmuneration
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Contemporary organizational behavior and analysis

• Multidisciplinary focus
• Individual Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Sociology
• Social Anthropology
• Politics
• Economics

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Theoretical orientations and practical
implications
Practice (technology)
Theory (science)
Organizational Analysis
Organizational Development
Macro Level
Organizational Behavior
Human Resource Management
Micro Level
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Contigency Perspective

• An approach to problem solving which assumes that
  there is no universally applicable solution to a
  particular type of problem and so remedies have
  to be tailored to the situation in which the
  problem exists.

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Method in organizational research

• In any science, whether it is social or physical,
  research aims to deliver knowledge at one of
  three levels
• 1. Descriptive what is happening?
• 2. Explanation How and why does this happen?
• 3. Prediction If X happens, Y will follow.
  Production of laws.

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Illustration

• Imagine that an organization with 300 employees
  observes that it has an overall level of 5
  absenteeism and asks you to look into that
  matter.
• Absenteeism is usually taken to mean unauthorized
  absence, and so the first task is to define how
  the concept will be used.
• The conventional definition is

All absence other than for reasons of sickness
certified by a medical practitioner and/or
occasioned by use of annual leave entitlement.
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Descriptive level
Production workers Skilled craftmen Office workers
Number 200 60 40
Absenteeism 6.0 3.3 2.5

• Concerned with describing a situation to identify
  what is there or what has happened.

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Explanatory level
Production workers Skilled craftmen Office workers
Number 200 60 40
Absenteeism 6.0 3.3 2.5
Job satisfaction Mean score for group (max. obtainable 20) 7 10 12
Range of scores 3-15 3-15 3-15
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Predictive level

• If the aim is to take the study to a predictive
  level, the problem would be even more formidable,
  and probably not capable of being overcome.
  Employee satisfaction is likely to be highly
  individual.

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Competing epistemologies

• Positivism a philosophy based on the assumption
  that there is an objective reality about the
  social world, which can be uncovered using the
  approach of physical sciences.
• Phenomenology - a which denies that there is an
  external, objective reality in the social world,
  and that reality is constructed by people, whose
  behavior can only be explained if account is
  taken of their experience and interpretations of
  the world.

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Methods of Social Research

• Survey (research) designs
• Used to identify the characteristics of a
  population at a point in time (or change in the
  characteristics if a longitudinal method is used)
  by examining the characteristics of a
  cross-section of the population.

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2. Experimental Designs

• 2.1 Laboratory experiments
• Independent variable
• Dependent variable
• Control group
• Experimental group

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Basic experiment design
Measurement 1 Treatment Measurement 2
Control group Accuracy at background noise Level A none Accuracy at background noise after 30 minutes at task
Experimental group the same apply higher background noise Level B Accuracy at noise level B after 30 minutes at task
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2.2 Field Experiment

• Conducted under real-world conditions.
• Not possible to protect against the effects of
  extraneous influences to the same extent that
  this can be done in a laboratory and this can
  affect the results.

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3. Ethnographic Designs

• A case study approach which aims to obtain very
  rich, comprehensive details with respect to a
  single (or small number of unit of analysis, i.e.
  Individual, group or organization.

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Data Collection Methods

• Interviews
• Collection of information from a person using
  methods in which there is direct interaction
  between the collector of the information and the
  subject from whom it is obtained.
• 2. Questionnaires
• The person from whom information is obtained
  answers a set of predetermined questions, which
  are usually presented in written format.

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Data Collection Methods

• 3. Participant Observation
• The observer becomes a participant in the
  situation about which information is collected.
• 4. Non-Participant Observation
• The observer is present in the situation about
  which information is collected, but does not take
  part in events.

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Data Collection Methods

• 5. Indirect Observation
• The observer does not come into contact with
  those who are observed, sometimes by concealing
  his/her presence.
• 6. Document Search
• The case of records, minutes, correspondence,
  etc... to obtain information about past human
  behavior.

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Further reading

• Morgan, G. (1997). Images of Organization.
  London Sage.
• Saunders, M., Thornhill, A. Lewis, P. (1996).
  Research Methods for Business Students. London
  Pitman.