Metaphors for Organizations
One of the most common organizational metaphors is that of machines. This has been applied in many different contexts -- health care organizations (Suchman, 2011), the military (Demchak, 1991) and as an explanatory force for larger theories about the nature of organizations (Nassehi, 2005). The machine metaphor views the organization as converting inputs into outputs by way of specific systems and processes. The mechanical nature of this metaphor helps to place the organization in the context of the outputs and how the organization needs to arrive at those outputs. Every machine has a specific task. A complex machine may be a combination of many different machines -- think of how a computer works. There are many different features, and this is one of the aspects of this metaphor that is commonly applied to organizations as well. All elements of the organization are simply the systems and processes by which an output is achieved.
The machine metaphor is somewhat limited, however, especially where human behavior is concerned. The machine metaphor is valuable for managers, but not fully explanatory for the nature of the organization as a whole. For example, all machines have some sort of operator, who flicks the...
Organizational Theory #2 What core competences give an organization competitive advantage? What are examples of an organization's functional-level strategies? Core competencies are those capabilities that are critical to a business achieving a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Typically, core competencies can be identified by certain common characteristics -- offering a benefit to the customer, difficult to imitate, uniquely identify the organization and easily leveraged to create many products or operate in many
Organizations in the perspective of political systems: in organizations, influence and power are derived from various sources and could be vested in teams of people more than in individuals. Sometimes, teams with a common interest form an alliance and become a coalition to exert a further influence. For example, individuals asserting civic rights by the power of majority used labor unions as traditional approaches. Nevertheless, influential teams are a source
Organizational Theory #1 Create a code of ethics for an organization of your choice. For each point in the code of ethics, describe an ethical dilemma that would be resolved using the code of ethics. All employees will conduct business honestly and ethically. We will constantly improve the quality of our services, products and operations and create a reputation for honesty, fairness, respect, responsibility, integrity, trust and sound business judgment. (Provides a
Organization Theory Design Daft, (2010) defines organization as a diverse corporate affair, a bank or a government agency that make up of people setting policies and procedures and interact with one another to perform essential functions in order to attain organization goals. Daft, (2010) further ague that organizations cannot exist without external stakeholders like customers, suppliers and competitors. Thus, organizations are very important because they create values for customers, owners and
Even more, strong theory should approach micro processes, if necessary. In certain situations, strong theory leads to directions that cannot be observed without the help of theory. Regarding organizational theory, contributors to building the basis of strong theory in this field include: Frederick Winslow Taylor (who studied human behavior at work using a systematic approach), Elton Mayo (who focused on the emotional side of employees and how it affects their
The theory sees human organizational behaviors and conceptions culturally bound, rather than natural, unlike advocates of systems theory. Systems theory has been more influenced by sociology and linguistics than the natural sciences. Analyzing symbolic interpretations may be more useful in organizations serving diverse populations: if a public health organization wants to alleviate the prevalence of diabetes in an area, it is not enough to more effectively disseminate information through the
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