All societies that we know of seem to possess kind of organizations; they are probably cultural universals. Organization are, however, not easy things to define as they are rather varied in nature. The term organization theory has been defined in various ways by different theorists. This is because they have emphasized different characteristics of organizations. For example, Max Weber defines organization as corporate group. Accordingly, corporate group is a ‘social relation’ which is action of specific individuals whose regular function this is. A major component of this definition is the idea of which differentiates organization from other social entities, such as family, community, etc. Chester Bernard and his followers have taken a different view. While in disagreements with Weber, he stressed a different basis for organization as ‘a system of consciously coordinated activities or forces of two or more person’. This emphasizes that activities are accomplished through conscious, deliberate and purposeful coordination. Meanwhile, John Neuston defines organization theory as the systematic study and careful application of knowledge about how people-as individuals and as groups-act within organization. Meanwhile, a great deal of organization theory is concerned with describing and explaining the occurrence of the different sorts of mechanisms for achieving control and co-ordination. Although there is no settled consensus about the definition of these central concepts, two notions appear relevant to the concept of organization theory are: control mechanisms and co-ordination mechanisms.
Control mechanisms are the means by which the actions or behaviors of actors (sometime individual human beings, sometime groups or collections of human beings) are motivated in order to achieve the objectives of the organization.
Co-ordination mechanisms are the means by which the action/behaviors of actors (again, individual or collective) are brought into alignment with each other in order to achieve the objectives of the organization.
In regard to the above definition of organization, you should note that:
- Organizations are usually consciously constructed with an objective in mind
- There may be differing opinions within an organization about what its objectives are or should be
- There may be many different mechanisms for controlling and coordinating human activities both within and outside organizations
- The objectives of an organization may change over time
- Organizations can be more or less effective (efficient) in achieving their objectives
Some applications of organization theory
Strategy/Finance- Those who want to improve the value of a company need to know how to organize to achieve organizational goals; those who want to monitor and control performance will need to understand how to achieve results by structuring activities and designing organizational processes.
Marketing- Marketers know that to create a successful corporate brand they need to get the organization behind the delivery of its promise; a thorough understanding of what on organization is and how it operates will make their endeavors to align the organization and its brand strategy more feasible and productive.
Information technology – The way Information flows through the organization affects work processes and outcomes, so knowing organization theory can help IT specialists identify, understand and serve the organization’s informational needs as they design and promote the use of their information systems.
Operations – Value chain management has created a need for operations managers to interconnecf their organizing processes with those of suppliers, distributors and customers; organization theory not only supports the technical aspects of operations and systems integration, but explains their socio-cultural aspects as well
Human resources – Nearly everything HR specialists do from recruiting to compensation has organizational ramifications and hence benefits from knowledge provided by organization theory; organizational development and change are particularly important elements of HR that demand deep knowledge of organizations and organizing, and organization theory can provide content for executive training programs.
Communication – Corporate communication specialists must understand the interpretive processes of organizational stakeholders and need to address the many way in which different parts of the organization interact with each other and the environment, in order to design communication systems that are effective or to diagnose ways existing systems are misaligned with the organization’s needs.