Defining Organizations
Daft (2012) defines an organization as a social entity that is made up of a group of people and their relationships working with one another. Each individual within the organization is goal-directed; managers deliberately structured and coordinated organizational resources to achieve the organization’s objectives.
Barnard (1938) proposed a comprehensive theory of cooperation in a formal organization. He defines an organization as “a system of consciously coordinated activities of two or more persons.” An organization occurs when more than two people work together for the common purpose, whether it be classmates working to complete a class project, volunteers donating their time for a community, or managers working with subordinates to reduce costs and improve efficiency. According to Barnard, the extent of people willing to cooperate in an organization depends on how subordinates perceive authority and whether they are prepared to accept it. Because “failure to cooperate, failure of cooperation, failure of organization, disorganization, disintegration, destruction of organization--and reorganization--are characteristic facts of human history.” (Williams, Champion, & Hall, 2011)
In today’s fast-changing environments, the organization must commit to continuous learning, problem-solving, and innovation to improve. The video “The Evolution of Management Thinking” illustrates how modern technology, advances in communication, complex and diverse human resources, and globalization have evolved and transformed organizations from the early industrial age classical and scientific management to the modern contingency, learning organization. (Thomson, 2008).
In recent decades, many organizations initiated continuous improvement programs to better themselves and gain a competitive edge. In today's turbulent economy, a learning organization would have the flexibility to adapt to stay above the curve. In the HBR’s article “Building a Learning Organization,” contributor David Garvin illustrates five main activities for a learning organization: systematic problem solving, experimentation with new approaches, learning from their own experience and history, learning from the experiences and best practices of others, and transferring knowledge quickly and efficiently throughout the organization. (Garvin, 1993).
In contrast, my definition of organization is aligned with the learning organization combined with the Ringi system's Japanese concept. Ringi is the decision-making process in the Japanese management system. Subordinates discuss a new idea among themselves and come to a consensus and work itself up through the organizational hierarchy. (Sagi, 2015). Today’s organizations need to adapt to the rapidly changing world where information, communication, and technology are constantly in flux. Subordinates are the front lines of people who encounter all types of problems the organization has to resolve, with a bottom-up approach to overcome the traditional autocratic decision-making practice. Understanding how subordinates empower to contribute can help the organization quickly and efficiently adapt to the changes.
References:
Barnard, C. I. (1938). The functions of the executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 73.
Chuck Williams, Terri Champion, Ike Hall (2011). MGMT Canadian Edition. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=8GkHKO0T4P8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Daft, R.L. (2012). Organizational theory and design. Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning
Gavin, David (1993, July - August). Building a Learning Organization. Harvard Business Review.
Sagi, Srilalitha. (2015, April). “Ringi System” The Decision Making Process in Japanese Management Systems: An Overview. International Journal of Management and Humanities (IJMH). Volume-1 Issue-7.
Thomson South-Western Management. (2008, October 17). The Evolution of Management Thinking [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/FYx8OkByMzk