Transcript Document 7295759

Week Two:
Theories of and Approaches to
the Study of Organizations
Objectives – Week Two
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Themes in readings for today
Key management and organization theories
Case learning
Initial steps in consulting projects
Team assignments
What is Management?
“Managers develop internal goals, work
processes, and strategic plans that seek to
better position the organization within its
environment and that will help the
organization achieve its goals.”
Management Involves:
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Decisional role
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Interpersonal role
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Staff and external constituencies
Informational role
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How and when to act
Understanding organizational processes
Commitment to common goals/values
Growth and development
Facilitating communication
Performance assessment
What are Organizations?
“Organizations are social units deliberately constructed
and reconstructed to seek specific goals.” -Etzioni
“[Organizations] are groups of individuals bound by
some common purpose to achieve objectives.” -North
“Organizations have distinctive features other than goal
specificity and continuity . . . fixed boundaries, a
normative order, authority ranks, a communication
system, and an incentive system,” - Hall
What are Organizations?
“An organization is a collectivity with a relatively identifiable
boundary, a normative order (rules), ranks of authority
(hierarchy), communications systems, and membership
coordinating systems (procedures); this collectivity exists
on a relatively continuous basis, exists in an environment,
and engages in activities that are usually related to a set
of goals; the activities have outcomes for organizational
members, for the organization itself, and for society.”
–Hall, p. 30
Key Organizational Features
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Goals
Environment
Task and
Technologies
Procedures
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Performance
Leadership
Structure
Communication
Incentives
Contradiction of Organizations?
“Great social transformations in history have
been essentially organizationally based.”
“Organizations by their very nature are
conservative.”
How do we reconcile these two statements?
Why Is Stability Important?
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Necessary to accomplish goals
Necessary to achieve change
Necessary, but not sufficient condition
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What else is necessary for change to occur?
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Child Health and CHIP in El Paso, TX
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Significant need for child health services
Few providers
CHIP = Medicaid program
Enrolled 23,000 children in last few years
Dilemmas of Implementation:
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Not enough doctors
No specialists
Few facilities
Nursing and support staff shortages
Management Challenges of CHIP
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Defining goals
Navigating environment
Developing processes
Measuring performance
Sharing information
Organizational Realities of CHIP
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Organizational interdependence
Contracting
Customer service
Coordinating
Innovation
Different Theoretical Approaches to
the Study of Organizations
Group Exercise –
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Group One – Rational-legal Model (Weber)
Group Two – Scientific Management
Group Three – Administrative Mgmt School
Group Four – Hawthorne Effect; Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy;
Theory X and Theory Y
Group Five – Limited Rationality (Simon)
*Each group must come up with sound bytes or bullet
points summarizing key points of assigned theory or
theories. Highlight strengths and weaknesses.
Classical Approaches, 1900-50s
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Weber – Rational-Legal/Bureaucracy
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Specialization, hierarchy, rules, procedures
Bureaucracy = solution to modern complexities
Classical Approaches, 1900-50s
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Taylor – Scientific Management
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Maximize efficiency, scientific methods
Can find ‘best’ way to structure an organization
Classical Approaches, (cont.)
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Administrative Mgmt. School - Gulick
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Specialization
Coordination
POSDCORB = (P)lanning, (O)rganizing,
(S)taffing, (D)irecting, (C)oordinating, (R)eporting,
and (B)udgeting
1950-70s:
Human Relations School
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Motivating Individuals
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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
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Motivation of workers = key to productivity
Psychological, Safety, Social, Esteem, Selfactualization
Criticisms
Bounded Rationality
1980s to Today:
Systems Approach
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Organization is an open system
Survival and adaptation = key concepts
Cannot study organizations without studying
the surrounding environment
Number of prominent theories evolved from
systems approach
Texas State Lottery – Applying
Theory to Troubled Organization
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Texas Lottery Commission = 3 members, 1 executive director
Responsible for decisions about games, promotions, and
contracts with vendors
Controversy over decisions about poor decisions regarding
games
Frustration with costly office space
Why might the commission struggle to perform its duties?
What would each model push us to think about?
How To Read Cases
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Who is the decision-maker? What is the specific
decision to be made?
What are the objectives of the decision-maker?
What other actors are involved?
What are the key issues or points of conflict?
What features of the external environment are
relevant?
What course concepts are implicated?
Consulting Projects
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Expert v. Doctor v. Process-oriented
Consultant
Group Dynamics
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Ground rules, leadership, communication
Managing Project
Relationship with the Client
Consulting Projects
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Diagnosis
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Do we have relevant data?
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What is the question(s) to be answered?
What aspects of the organization are involved?
Clients and stakeholders?
If not, how do we get the data?
Once we have data, how do we analyze it?
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Recommendations
Solutions and required changes
Subsequent steps or paths of action
Readings to Be Completed
for Next Class Period
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Rainey, Chapter 4
Ryan – coursepack
Case – “Managing A Press ‘Feeding Frenzy’”
Also, note that next week – Short-Paper
Assignment #1 will be posted