Organizations have been the instruments of growth and development in the hands of society for the last few centuries. Today the current socio-economic-technological realities are rendering the very concept of organizations transient and invalid.
What alternatives do we have? As MBA students, managers and management educators what options do we have at our disposal, which would empower us to look beyond the conventional models of organizations and organizing?
The network and the virtual organization metaphors have become main stream in the last twenty years. There seems to be a serious lack of models and metaphors that drive managerial practice with respect to organization design (the choice of the term itself may be outdated!)
What are your views?
This blog is for sharing and discussing various issues related to Organization Dynamics, specifically meant for my students in various courses across campuses. All are welcome to give their views and comments.
Best of Luck.
Jeyavelu
It is said that perceptions are the foundation for managers to take more appropriate decision for the betterment of the organization. Our metaphor is nothing but a window into our perception and it aids in understanding our behaviour with respect to the underlying idea/concept/entity.
ReplyDeleteI think the alternative for these metaphors and paradigms could be found out by refining & enhancing the existing ones to get nearly a perfect analogical model to imply & observe effect of managerial decision effectuates with maximum degree of coherence with actual organization.
But it is not necessary that your organization is similar to a certain model. In fact, during our discussions in class, when we were trying to fit an organization (Maruti) into any specific category, there were many views. Even when we did reach an agreement, we found that the organization fit into different models based on different aspects. Perhaps, we can state that all characteristics cannot be said to completely describe an organization. However, we can safely say that there is a certain level or degree of the particular characteristic that is being displayed by the organization. And this is probably the reason, we find that it is not always possible to apply existing models to our organizations.
ReplyDeleteStill I agree that in modifying existing models lies the solution to our present day problems.
As the size of organizations these days has become very huge, it is quite understandable that none of the models alone will be perfectly applicable to any organization. Rather, a combination of the models will apply to different segments of the organization. This segment could be a department or a vertical or an all together different business.
ReplyDeleteThe present day world is very sensitive to individual rights and demands. Thus,it is of utmost importance for the organization to give highest priority to its employees. Therefore, I believe that any of the models can be used (in accordance to the variables discussed in the book) in conjunction with the social models.