Introduction to the Study of Organizations

1. Introduction to the Study of Organizations Jorge Correia Jesuino

2. What is an organization? Features • Organizations are artifacts • Goal directed • Social entities • Structured activity • Nominal boundaries

3. 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.

4. Time out • 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. • Now do the same for your immediate family; how easy is it to conceptualize this as an organization?

5. 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. 1.2Organizations regarded as analogous to a machine that is designed for a purpose.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 2.1 Open systems • All systems are open systems, which interact with their environments by taking in inputs and transforming them into outputs. InputsOutputs Environment Process

9. 2.1 A commercial organization as an open system

10. 3. The (Political) System Metaphor • Organizations regarded as analogous to political systems composed of diverse groups, all of which have their own objectives.

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

12. 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

13. 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.

14. Precursors of organizational behavior • Scientific Management – Taylor (1911) • Human Relations Movement – Sheldon (1923) Mayo (1933) Roethlisberger & Dickson (1939)

15. The origins of organizational analysis • Classical Organization Theory – Max Weber (1911) Fayol (1916) Parker Follet (1941) • Principles of Organization

16. Contemporary organizational behavior and analysis Multidisciplinary focus • Individual Psychology • Social Psychology • Sociology • Social Anthropology • Politics • Economics

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

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

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

22. Explanatory level

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. 2. Experimental Designs 2.1 Laboratory experiments • Independent variable • Dependent variable • Control group • Experimental group

27. Basic experiment design

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. 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.

32. 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.

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