An organisation (or organization — see spelling differences) is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, which controls its own performance, and which has a boundary separating it from its environment. American and British English spelling differences are one aspect of American and British English differences. The word itself is derived from the Greek word ὄργανον (organon) meaning tool. The term is used in both daily and scientific English in multiple ways.
In the social sciences, organisations are studied by researchers from several disciplines. Most commonly in sociology, economics, political science, psychology, management, and organisational communication. Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Political science is a branch of Social sciences that deals with the theory and practice of Politics and the description and analysis of Political systems Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Management (covering theory practice and scope of management and Manager' (covering the people who manage might help clarify and systematise The broad area is commonly referred to as organisational studies, organisational behaviour or organisation analysis. Therefore, a number of different theories and perspectives exist, some of which are compatible, and others that are competing.
- Organisation – process-related: an entity is being (re-)organised (organisation as task or action).
- Organisation – functional: organisation as a function of how entities like businesses or state authorities are used (organisation as a permanent structure).
- Organisation – institutional: an entity is an organisation (organisation as an actual purposeful structure within a social context)
Organisation in sociology
In sociology "organisation" is understood as planned, coordinated and purposeful action of human beings to construct or compile a common tangible or intangible product. Institutions are structures and mechanisms of Social order and Cooperation governing the Behavior of a Set of Individuals In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need This action is usually framed by formal membership and form (institutional rules). Sociology distinguishes the term organisation into planned formal and unplanned informal (i. e. spontaneously formed) organisations. Sociology analyses organisations in the first line from an institutional perspective. In this sense, organisation is a permanent arrangement of elements. These elements and their actions are determined by rules so that a certain task can be fulfilled through a system of coordinated division of labour. Division of labour or specialization is the specialization of cooperative labour in specific circumscribed tasks and roles intended to increase the Productivity
An organisation is defined by the elements that are part of it (who belongs to the organisation and who does not?), its communication (which elements communicate and how do they communicate?), its autonomy (Max Weber termed autonomy in this context: Autokephalie)(which changes are executed autonomously by the organisation or its elements?) and its rules of action compared to outside events (what causes an organisation to act as a collective actor?). Communication is the process of conveying information from a sender to a receiver with the use of a medium in which the communicated information is understood the same way Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (maks 'veːbɐ (21 April 1864 &ndash 14 June 1920 was a German political economist and sociologist who was considered
By coordinated and planned cooperation of the elements, the organisation is able to solve tasks that lie beyond the abilities of the single elements. The price paid by the elements is the limitation of the degrees of freedom of the elements. Advantages of organisations are enhancement (more of the same), addition (combination of different features), and extension. Disadvantages can be inertness (through co-ordination) and loss of interaction. Interaction is a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects have an Effect upon one another
Organisations in virtual worlds
In a virtual World (such as Second Life) "organisation[s]" is understood as planned, coordinated and purposeful action of human beings and computer AIs in order to construct and/or compile a common intangible product or service to its community. Second Life ( abbreviated as SL) and its sister site Teen Second Life are Internet-based 3D Virtual In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need Just as "an organisation in sociology" this action is usually framed by formal membership and form (institutional rules). As in Second Life an organisation is usually used for making money (i. e. Power Products inc. - or like in World Of Warcraft: the clan Farmers Organisation-) and security, some are also wicked and evil organisations- usually called griefer/troller groups/organisations such as the Pirates of Tibia that roams Tibia. World of Warcraft (commonly acronymed as WoW) is a Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG A clan is a group of People united by Kinship and descent, which is defined by perceived descent from a common ancestor Tibia is one of the oldest and most successful massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG first released in 1997. Many fail to realise that Wikipedia is a wiki, and thus subject to the review and editing of others, and also that they will be aware of any slander put upon them in this medium. These would not be classified as organisations in the "real world" because they are not truly "alive". Some organisations in Virtual Worlds have a very important roles in Real Life activities.
Some of these "clans" exist between virtual worlds, sometimes migrating between them, as newer versions of software come out, or games better suited to the system of clans. Some games, such as the aforementioned World of Warcraft and Dungeon Siege have extensive clan systems, consisting of hundreds of members. World of Warcraft (commonly acronymed as WoW) is a Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG Dungeon Siege is a Computer role-playing game developed by Gas Powered Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. This gives rise to entire "mini societies", where you can buy and sell equipment, using real world or virtual money. This is a good example of how societies can form.
Organisation in management and organisational studies
Management is interested in organisation mainly from an instrumental point of view. Management (covering theory practice and scope of management and Manager' (covering the people who manage might help clarify and systematise For a company organisation is a means to an end to achieve its goals.
Organisation theories
Among the theories that are or have been most influential are:
- Weberian organisation theory (refer to Max Weber's chapter on Bureaucracy in his book 'Economy and Society')
- Marxist organisation analysis
- Scientific management (mainly following Frederick W. Taylor)
- Human Relations Studies (going back to the Hawthorne studies, Maslow and Hertzberg)
- Administrative theories (with work by e. Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (maks 'veːbɐ (21 April 1864 &ndash 14 June 1920 was a German political economist and sociologist who was considered Bureaucracy is the structure and set of regulations in place to control activity usually in large organizations and government Economy and Society is a book by Political economist and Sociologist Max Weber, published posthumously in 1922 by his wife Marianne Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Frederick Winslow Taylor ( 20 March 1856 &ndash 21 March 1915) widely known as F Human Relations Movement refers to those researchers of Organizational development who study the behavior of people in groups, in particular workplace groups The Hawthorne effect is a form of reactivity, and describes a temporary change to behavior or performance in response to a change in the environmental conditions with the response Abraham Harold Maslow ( April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist. g. Henri Fayol and Chester Barnard)
- Contingency theory
- New institutionalism and new institutional economics
- Network analysis
- Economic sociology
- Organization ecology (or demography of organisations)
- Transaction cost economics
- Agency theory (sometimes called principal - agent theory)
- Studies of organisation culture
- Postmodern organisation studies
- Labour Process Theory
- Critical Management Studies
- Complexity Theory and Organisations
- Transaction cost theory/Transaction cost Economics (TCE)
- Garbage can model
- Actor-Network Theory and the 'Montreal School'
Organisational structures
The study of organisations includes a focus on optimizing organisational structure. Henri Fayol (1841 in Istanbul – 1925 in Paris) was a French Management theorist Chester Irving Barnard (1886 &ndash 1961 was an American executive and an early Organizational theorist. Contingency theory refers to any of a number of management theories New institutionalism or neoinstitutionalism describes social theory that focuses on developing a sociological view of Institutions --the way they interact New institutional economics (NIE is an Economic perspective that attempts to extend economics by focusing on the social and Legal norms and Network analysis can refer to Analysis of general networks see Network theory. Economic sociology is the Sociological analysis of economic phenomena In Economics and related disciplines a transaction cost is a Cost incurred in making an economic exchange In political science and Economics, the principal-agent problem or agency dilemma treats the difficulties that arise under conditions of incomplete and asymmetric Critical management studies (CMS is a loose but rapidly growing grouping of politically Left wing and theoretically innovative approaches to Management, business In Economics and related disciplines a transaction cost is a Cost incurred in making an economic exchange The Garbage Can Model is a theory within the science of Public administration that explains organizational decision making from a systemic-anarchic perspective Actor-network theory, often abbreviated as ANT, is a distinctive approach to Social theory and research which originated in the field of Science studies An organizational structure is a mostly hierarchical concept of subordination of entities that collaborate and contribute to serve one common aim An organizational structure is a mostly hierarchical concept of subordination of entities that collaborate and contribute to serve one common aim According to management science, most human organisations fall roughly into four types:
- Pyramids or hierarchies
- Committees or juries
- Matrix organisations
- Ecologies
Pyramids or hierarchies
A hierarchy exemplifies an arrangement with a leader who leads leaders. Management science (MS, is the discipline of using Mathematical modeling and other analytical methods to help make better business Management decisions Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus A pyramid is a Building where the upper surfaces are triangular and converge on one point @@@ main@@@ - title Hierarchy@@@ keywords structure; sociology; information@@@ review@@@ - A committee (some of which are titled instead as a "Commission" or other terms discussed below in) is a type of small Deliberative assembly that is usually intended A jury a sworn body of persons convened to render a rational, impartial Verdict (a finding of fact on a question officially submitted to them An organisation (or organization &mdash see spelling differences) is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals which controls its own performance and An organisation (or organization &mdash see spelling differences) is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals which controls its own performance and @@@ main@@@ - title Hierarchy@@@ keywords structure; sociology; information@@@ review@@@ - The word leadership can refer to Those entities that perform one or more acts of leading This arrangement is often associated with bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is the structure and set of regulations in place to control activity usually in large organizations and government Hierarchies were satirized in The Peter Principle (1969), a book that introduced hierarchiology and the saying that "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence". Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and Performing arts In satire human The Peter Principle is the principle that "In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
An extremely rigid, in terms of responsibilities, type of organisation is exemplified by Führerprinzip. The, German for "leader principle" prescribes a system with a hierarchy of leaders that resembles a military structure
Committees or juries
These consist of a group of peers who decide as a group, perhaps by voting. The difference between a jury and a committee is that the members of the committee are usually assigned to perform or lead further actions after the group comes to a decision, whereas members of a jury come to a decision. A jury a sworn body of persons convened to render a rational, impartial Verdict (a finding of fact on a question officially submitted to them A committee (some of which are titled instead as a "Commission" or other terms discussed below in) is a type of small Deliberative assembly that is usually intended In common law countries legal juries render decisions of guilt, liability and quantify damages; juries are also used in athletic contests, book awards and similar activities. Common law refers to law and the corresponding legal system developed through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive Sometimes a selection committee functions like a jury. In the Middle Ages juries in continental Europe were used to determine the law according to consensus amongst local notables.
Committees are often the most reliable way to make decisions. Condorcet's jury theorem proved that if the average member votes better than a roll of dice, then adding more members increases the number of majorities that can come to a correct vote (however correctness is defined). A Condorcet method is any single-winner election method that meets the Condorcet criterion, that is which always selects the Condorcet winner, the candidate The problem is that if the average member is worse than a roll of dice, the committee's decisions grow worse, not better: Staffing is crucial.
Parliamentary procedure, such as Robert's Rules of Order, helps prevent committees from engaging in lengthy discussions without reaching decisions. TalkParliament#Screen-size. -->A parliament is a Legislature, especially in those Robert's Rules of Order is the informal short title of a book containing Rules of order intended to be adopted for use by a Deliberative assembly.
Staff organisation or cross-functional team
A staff helps an expert get all his work done. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An "expert" ( is someone widely recognized as a reliable source of technique or Skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly justly To this end, a "chief of staff" decides whether an assignment is routine or not. If it's routine, he assigns it to a staff member, who is a sort of junior expert. The chief of staff schedules the routine problems, and checks that they are completed.
If a problem is not routine, the chief of staff notices. He passes it to the expert, who solves the problem, and educates the staff – converting the problem into a routine problem.
In a "cross functional team", like an executive committee, the boss has to be a non-expert, because so many kinds of expertise are required.
Organisation: Cyclical structure
A theory by put forth by renowned scholar Stephen John has asserted that throughout the cyclical nature of one’s life organisational patterns are key to success. Through various social and political constraints within society one must realize that organisational skills are paramount to success. Stephen John suggests that emphasis needs to be put on areas such as individual/ group processes, functionality, and overall structures of institutions in order to maintain a proper organisation. Furthermore, the individuals overall organisational skills are pre-determined by the processes undertaken.
Matrix organisation
- See also: matrix management
This organisational type assigns each worker two bosses in two different hierarchies. Matrix management is a type of organizational Management in which people with similar skills are pooled for work assignments One hierarchy is "functional" and assures that each type of expert in the organisation is well-trained, and measured by a boss who is super-expert in the same field. The other direction is "executive" and tries to get projects completed using the experts. Projects might be organized by regions, customer types, or some other schema. matrix management
Ecologies
This organisation has intense competition. Competition is a rivalry between individuals groups nations or animals for territory or resources Bad parts of the organisation starve. Good ones get more work. Everybody is paid for what they actually do, and runs a tiny business that has to show a profit, or they are fired.
Companies who utilize this organisation type reflect a rather one-sided view of what goes on in ecology. Ecology (from Greek grc οἶκος oikos, "house(hold" and grc -λογία -logia) is the scientific study of It is also the case that a natural ecosystem has a natural border - ecoregions do not in general compete with one another in any way, but are very autonomous. An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants animals and micro-organisms( Biotic factors in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical ( An ecoregion ( ecological region) sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area smaller than a "realm" or "
The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline talks about functioning as this type of organisation in this external article from The Guardian. GlaxoSmithKline plc () is a United Kingdom -based pharmaceutical, biological and Healthcare Company. The Guardian (until 1959 The Manchester Guardian) is a British Newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group.
"Chaordic" organisations
The chaordic model of organising human endeavours emerged in the 1990s, based on a blending of chaos and order (hence "chaordic"), comes out of the work of Dee Hock and the creation of the VISA financial network. The 1990s collectively refers to the years between and including 1990 and 1999 Chaos (derived from the Ancient Greek, Chaos) typically refers to Unpredictability, and is the antithesis of Cosmos. Dee Ward Hock (born 1929 is the founder and former CEO of the VISA credit card association. Blending democracy, complex system, consensus decision making, co-operation and competition, the chaordic approach attempts to encourage organisations to evolve from the increasingly nonviable hierarchical, command-and-control models. Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system This article describes complex system as a type of system For other meanings see Complex systems. WikipediaConsensus here as this is the article namespace and that information is irrelevant to the reader Distinguish from Corporation. Cooperation, co-operation, or coöperation is the process of working or acting together Competition is a rivalry between individuals groups nations or animals for territory or resources
Similarly, emergent organisations, and the principle of self-organisation. The term emergent organizations (alternatively emergent organisations) first appeared in the late 1990s and was the topic of the Seventh Annual Washington Evolutionary Systems Self-organization is a process of Attraction and repulsion in which the internal organization of a System, normally an open system, increases See also group entity for an anarchist perspective on human organisations. In individualist anarchist Discourse, a group entity is usually distinguished from an individual hominid, or animal groups from a single living being Anarchism is a Political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the elimination of all compulsory Government, i
Organisations that are legal entities: government, international organisation, non-governmental organisation, armed forces, corporation, partnership, charity, not-for-profit corporation, cooperative, university. For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. International Organization is a peer-reviewed Academic journal that covers the entire field of International affairs. For the military meaning see Armed forces. For the Soviet sports society see Armed Forces (sports society Armed Forces A corporation is a separate legal entity usually used to conduct business For partnership in cricket terminology see List of cricket terms A partnership is a type of Business entity in which partners The definition of charitable organization, and of charity varies according to the country and in some instances the region of the country in which the charitable organization operates A university is an institution of Higher education and Research, which grants Academic degrees in a variety of subjects
See also
- Affinity group
- Bureaucracy
- Business organisation
- Charitable trust
- Coalition
- Collective
- Cooperative
- International organisation
- Mutual organisation
- Non-governmental organisation
- Organisational culture
- Organisation design
- Organisational climate
- Organisational development
- Organisation studies
- Pacifist organisation
- Requisite organisation
- Service organisation
- Size of groups, organisations, and communities
- Strategic Management
- Strategic Organisation
- Supraorganisation
- Terrorist organisations
- Virtual organisation
- Voluntary association
Related lists
- List of environmental organisations
- List of trade unions
- List of civic, fraternal, service, and professional organisations
- List of organisations
References
- Organisations by Richard Scott: ISBN 0-13-266354-6
- Organisations and Institutions by Richard Scott
- Understanding Organizations by Charles Handy. An affinity group is usually a small group of left-wing political Activists (usually from 3-20 who work together on Direct action. Bureaucracy is the structure and set of regulations in place to control activity usually in large organizations and government Companies law (or the law of business associations) is the field of Law concerning business and other organizations A charitable trust is a trust established for charitable purposes and is a more specific term than " charitable organisation " A coalition is an alliance among individuals during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own Self-interest. A collective is a group of people who share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest or work together on a specific project(s to achieve a common objective International Organization is a peer-reviewed Academic journal that covers the entire field of International affairs. A mutual, mutual organization, or mutual society is an Organization (which is often but not always a company or Business) based Organizational culture is a concept in the field of Organizational studies and Management which describes the attitudes experiences beliefs and values Organization development (OD is the process through which an organization develops the internal capacity to most efficiently and effectively provide its mission work and to sustain itself A Pacifist organisation promotes the pacifist principles of standing against war and Aggression. Requisite organization is a concept in Organization development (OD developed by Elliott Jaques. A service club or service organization is a voluntary Non-profit organization where members meet regularly to perform charitable works either Strategic management is the art science and craft of formulating implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its objectives Many organizations that are accused of being a terrorist organization deny using Terrorism as a Military tactic to achieve their goals and there is no international A voluntary association or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, unincorporated association, or just an association) is a group This is a list of environmental organizations. See also Environmental organization Intergovernmental organizations International organizations This is a list of Trade unions and Union federations by country
- The Peter Principle, Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull, Pan Books 1970 ISBN 0-330-02519-8
- The Nature of the Firm by Ronald Coase. The Nature of the Firm is a brief but highly influential essay by Ronald Coase that offers an economic explanation of why individuals choose to form partnerships Ronald Harry Coase (born December 29, 1910) is a British Economist and the Clifton R
- Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern, Owl Books 1998 ISBN 0-8050-5649-1
- Organization Design: Fashion or Fit by Henry Mintzberg, Harvard Business Review (January February, l98l)
External links
- Research on Organizations: Bibliography Database and Maps
- TheTransitioner.org: a site dedicated to collective intelligence and structure of organizations
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