Ch3 Organizations as Organisms

1. Limitations of Metaphor

1.1. View to concrete~ under estimates org's ability to help make own future

1.2. Assumes functional unity ~ most orgs not functionally unified

1.3. Danger Metaphor as ideology ~ fail to see that human beings have large measure of influence over their world

2. Strengths of Metaphor

2.1. Understanding relations btw orgs & environment

2.2. Management of orgs can be improved by focusing on "needs"

2.3. Species ~ we have options

2.4. Virtue or organic forms in innovation

2.5. OD~focus on fit

2.6. Ecology & inter-organizational relations

3. Org Ecology

3.1. Orgs like organisms exist as elements in a complex ecosystem

3.2. evolution is always evolution of patterns of relationships

3.3. "evolution involves the survival of the fitting" not just survival of the fittest

3.4. Org's in principle can influence their environment

3.5. Orgs can play role in shaping their futures esp. working with others

3.6. Environment becomes negotiated rather than independent external sources

4. Population Ecology

4.1. Need to pay attention pressures that prevent orgs from changing in response to environment

4.2. Resource limitations shape growth, development & decline of org & role of innovation in shaping new org species

4.3. Awareness of changing structure of critical resource niches and patterns of dependencies

5. Promoting Org Health & Development

5.1. What is nature of org's environment

5.2. What kind of strategy is being employed?

5.3. What kind of technology is being used?

5.4. What kinds of people are employed and what is dominant culture?

5.5. How is the org structured & what are the managerial philosophies?

6. Adapting Org to Environment

6.1. Org are OS that need management to satisfy & balance internal needs & adapt

6.2. No one best way to Organize~ form depends on task or environment

6.3. Management focused on alignments

6.4. different Management necessary to perform different tasks in same org

6.5. Different species of orgs are needed in different environments

7. Org as Open System

7.1. Bertalanffy, theoretical biologist

7.2. Emphasis on environment

7.3. defines org in terms of interrelated subsystem

7.4. Use of systems to approach

8. Org Needs

8.1. Hawthorne Studies ~Work Motivation & relations btw people

8.1.1. Maslow

8.1.2. Argyris, Herzberg,Mcgregor (org Psychologists)

8.2. Sociotechnical Systems

8.2.1. Tavistock Institute 50's

8.2.2. Trist & Bamforth