Session 1

Topics:
Introduction, Course Overview, What is an Organization, Images of
Organization
What is an Organization
An organization is a

• Social entity
• Goal-directed
• Deliberated structured and co-ordinated system
• Linked to the external environment
• To increase specialization and division of labor
• To take advantage of the economies of scale and scope
• Management of organizational environment
• To economize on the transaction cost
• To exert power and control
• Organization theory relates with studying how organizations function and how
they affect and get affected by the environment in which they operate.

• Organization design includes managing the various components of organizational

structure and culture.

• Organizational structure is the formal system of task and authority relationships

that control how people coordinate their actions and use resources to achieve
organizational goals.

• Organizational culture

• Organizational change is the process by which organizations move from their

present state to some desired future state to increase their effectiveness.
Consequences of poor organizational design
•?
Images of Organizations- Gareth Morgan
What image comes to your mind?
Images of Organizations- Gareth Morgan
Organizations as machines

Mechanical way
Classical management principles
Weber’s bureaucracy
Efficiency and precision focus
Dehumanising
Organization as organisms
Open systems
Differentiation and integration
Organizational health and development
Survival of the fittest
Organizations as brain

Complex information processor/ a memory bank/holographic and specialized

system
Organizational learning
Emergence of newer technologies
Single loop/double loop learning
Self organizing
Organization as culture

Unique culture
Shared meanings
Mini societies or sub cultures

Organization as a political system

Organization as a political space

Different forms of government
Relationship between interest, conflict, and power
Conflict is natural
Different sources of power
Organization as psychic prison

Conscious and unconscious processes

Unconscious processes resist innovation and change
Groupthink

Organization as a system of change and flux

Ongoing change
Theory of Autopoiesis: Self-reflecting
Complex and chaotic systems- butterfly effect
Organization as an Instrument of Domination

Organizations as systems that exploit their employees

Workaholism and mental stress
Environmental degradation