1. Current theories comprehend organizations as socio\technical systems composed of :
1. "Hard" factors: technology, work processes, accounting systems, formal structure, etc.
2. "Soft" factors: human psychology, interpersonal social dynamics, group psychology informal structure, institutional culture (attitudes, values, beliefs), leadershiphip capabilities.
3. The combination of the two is what is called a socio\technical system.
2. History of Organization Theory
1. The increasing specialization and division of labor in the industrial revolution resulted in new forms of human organization
2. Professional decision-makers first appeared when American railroads created a new class of decision-makers who worked for salary rather than for equity
3. As the industrial revolution grew, so did the research about decision-makers and organizations. Much was written, in particular, about how to organize work systems
4. Approaches to the study of organizations have much in common with the parable of the six blind wise men of India.
1. The first blind wise man felt the elephant's tusk and said it appeared to be a spear. The second felt its side, flat and tall, and rendered the judgement it must be a wall. The third touched its leg and said it must be a tree. The fourth felt its trunk and declared it must be a snake. The fifth blind man wise man was exploring its ear and declared it a fan. The last was feeling its tail and said it must be a rope.
2. All the blind men were right, all were wrong.
3. The full picture of the elephant (and organizations) really emerges only from their combined perspective.
3. The Classical Approach
1. Scientific Leadership (1856-1915).
2. Basic question: how can jobs be done more efficiently (job focus)
3. Principles of Scientific Leadership
1. Figure out your objectives; what does the organization want to accomplish
1. Example: Different kinds of government organizations have different kinds of objectives but all are limited to supporting or advancing one or more of the legitimate functions of government
1. Providing for the national defense
2. Providing for public health, safety and welfare (police powers)
3. Providing public goods and public services
4. Socializing
5. Taxing
2. Note: some of these are too vague; it is not clear what would constitute accomplishment and or even what is included and excluded by the objective
2. Develop standards of performance that, when met, should accomplish those objectives
1. Specialization is the key to success
1. There is "one best way" to do a job (job focused), determined, e.g., by analyzing the job in terms of time and motion studies designed to measure jobs and work
2. Example: standardized shovels at Bethlehem Steel
1. Increase productivity from 16 to 59 tons per day
2. At the same time, it decreased the number of shovels needed from 500 to 140.
3. Example: congressional committee system allows the application of the expertise of congressmen and the development of that expertise by those whose constituents have an interest in the committee's subject area
4. What is the standard of performance for a congressman?
1. Re-election?
2. Serving constituency interests?
3. Serving the national interest?
4. Doing "the right thing," regardless
5. Accuracy? Actually solving certain given problems? (How do we measure this?)
6. Efficiency? (How do we measure this?)
7. Fairness? (How do we measure this?)
8. Is it different at different times? For different issues?
5. Once a standard method for doing the job was established, a standard time for each task could be determined and the "one best way" to do the job defined
2. Develop a science for every job, replacing the old rule of thumb method (heuristics).
3. Example: in local government departments of sanitation, there are "standard times" for a number of municipal services (e.g., garbage in tons that can be picked up in one day by one truck of given configuration).
4. Not possible in other government al institutions such as Congress or regarding all jobs performed by certain governmental institutions
3. Systematically select workers so that they fit the job, and train them effectively.
4. Offer incentives for workers to behave in accordance with the principles of the science that are developed.
5. Support workers by carefully planning their work.
6. These last three are perhaps possible at certain levels of state and local bureaucracies but not at the highest levels and certainly not, e.g., concerning the courts.
4. Focused on process and outputs no" human factors"
1. Designed to require as little thinking as possible from the worker
2. Thinking was the role of leadership
4. Human Relations Approach
1. Hawthorne Studies
1. A team of Harvard Researchers studied workers over a number of years
2. One set of studies focused on the effects of intensity of illumination and its relationship to workers measured output (productivity)
3. Much of the research was conducted at the Hawthorne (Chicago) Works of the Western Electric Company, engaged in manufacturing of telephone equipment.
4. Example of the Experiment. (Note: IV = independent variable, DV = dependent variable)
1. IV Illumination (increased) > DV productivity (increased).
2. IV illumination (held constant) > DV productivity (increased).
3. IV Illumination (decreased) > DV productivity (increased).
4. Notice that statistically significant increases occurred even in the control group
5. "Physical factors" were confounded with "psychological/human" factors.
5. "Hawthorne Effect": the act of studying the people and not the illumination itself, (or the other physical changes introduced into the work place) was producing the change in worker output
1. In other words, actor attitudes and sentiments "psychological and human factors" were independently impacting output or productivity.
2. They were "confounding" the ability to separate the independent affects of physical changes in the work place.
6. Conclusions of the research
1. The level of production is set by social norms and not physiological capacity.
2. Non-economic rewards and sanctions significantly affect behavior of workers and limit the influence of incentive plans.
3. Workers do not act or react as individuals but as members of groups.
4. "Informal Group" a group not reflected on the formal organization chart was exercising leadership in the plant.
5. There is both a formal and informal organization.
7. Example:
1. Some research suggests that "work groups" form in state and local courts
2. These are informal, tacit agreements among judges, attorneys, bailiffs, stenographers and other personnel working together on a daily basis, about how they will behave in carrying out their responsibilities together
3. Informal goals, rules and techniques for achieving them may be identified, bounded, of course, by the rules of law, the rules of court and the relevant cannons of ethics
8. Tacit norms and expectations have also been identified among legislators and within the executive branch of both the federal and state executive branches

Comparison of the "Scientific" and the "Humanist' Approach

Scientific	Humanist
Hard Measures	Soft Measures
Things	People
Increased Production Output	Increased Production Output
Time and Motion	Human Factor
Inputs, outputs	Informal groups
Efficiency	Motivation
Systems	Leadership
Quantify	Communication

5. The Decision-Making School
1. Focuses on the act of decision-making as the most important element in organization theory.
2. Those with structural power (occupying certain places in the structure) allocate sanctions or rewards in exchange for an actor's acquiescence to the behavior prescribed by the organization.
3. Decision-making in organizations is a compromise between rational, goal oriented behavior and non-rational behavior.
1. Bounded Rationality.
1. We (people) don't act rationally in an absolute sense, we are given bounds by the environment
2. E.g., does a "rational" division head return un-allocated funds to the central unit if those funds may be withdrawn because they were not needed?)
3. Also, limited information about the current situation and less knowledge about the future
2. Satisficing vs. Optimizing
1. Decision-makers do not seek to optimize, they satisfice, that is, they choose the first alternative that meets their minimum criteria and then stop the search
2. Simon argues that if decision-makers really attempted to be rational and comprehensive in their approach to leadership, they would not have the capital and information resources to deal with more than a few problems at a time.
6. The Neo-Human Relations School
1. Criticize the human relations movement for seeking answers and techniques designed to make workers perform better rather than criticizing the structures of modern organizations.
2. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
1. Two Basic Ideas
1. People have needs which serve as motivator needs which are arranged in a hierarchy of prepotency; that is, only when you meet basic needs do you go on to satisfy "higher" needs
2. The principle of homeostasis. The bodies automatic efforts to maintain equilibrium (e.g., the role of appetite in maintaining the normal constant state in the blood stream, hunger and thirst).
2. Maslow argued:
1. There are at least five sets of goals, which we may call basic needs; physiological, safety, love, esteem, self actualization.
2. These basic goals are related to each other, being arranged in a hierarchy of prepotency.
3. Any thwarting or possibility of thwarting of these basic human goals, or danger to the defenses protecting them, will be considered a psychological threat.
4. Any failure to demand something related to a higher need will fail if lower need is not satisfied (e.g., you cannot expect positive social interaction (love) if safety needs are not met)
7. Theory X, Theory Y, Theory Z
1. Theory X
1. Leadership is responsible for organizing the elements of production- land, labor, and capital with respect to people
2. Leadership needs to direct worker behavior through motivation and modifying behavior so that workers will fit the needs of the organization
3. Without such intervention people will be passive and even resist overall organizational needs.
2. Theory Y
1. People are not passive or resistant to organizational needs and goals by nature but have become so by virtue of their experience in organizations
2. People have the capacity for assuming responsibility in the workplace
3. The principal task of leadership is to create the organizational structure and climate necessary for allowing people to achieve their own goals best by allowing them to direct their own efforts toward larger organizational goals.
3. Theory Z
1. Leaders must organize for work based on a human resources
2. Stresses such concepts as worker participation, quality circles, leaner leadership, empowering workers
3. Based on the concept of a global economy that crosses national lines and new technologies necessitate new approaches for organizing and managing work, namely, empowering a more productive workforce.
8. The Systems Approach
1. Most social systems can be "modeled" by using the "system" as an analytical device.
2. SYSTEM
1. Interdependent parts
2. Whole is the sum of the parts
3. Inputs
4. Conversion Process
5. Outputs
6. Feedback
3. Additional Characteristics of a System
1. Subsystems or Components
1. A system by definition is composed of interrelated parts or elements.
2. These elements are interconnected typically in a hierarchical fashion.
2. The major subsystems (which serve a function for the organization's survival) are:
1. MANAGERIAL (coordinate and direct the entire system).
2. MAINTENANCE (support staff, e.g., clerical, finance accounting, personnel).
3. BOUNDARY SPANNING (Input side e.g., purchasing. Output side e.g., sales in the private sector, organizational development, public relations).
4. PRODUCTION (manufacturing or the line).
5. ADAPTIVE (Research and Development responsible for innovation and change).
3. Systems can be considered in two ways: (1) closed or (2) open
1. Open systems exchange information, energy, or material with their environments
2. Social systems inherently tend to openness
3. It is preferable to think of open-closed as a dimension; that is, systems are relatively open or relatively closed.
4. Input-Transformation-Output Model
1. The open system can be viewed as a transformation model
2. In a dynamic relationship with its environment, it receives various inputs, transforms these inputs in some way, and exports outputs.
5. Systems have boundaries separating them from their environments
1. The concept of boundaries helps us understand the distinction between open and closed systems
2. The relatively closed system has rigid, impenetrable boundaries; whereas the open system has permeable boundaries between itself and a broader supra system
3. Boundaries are relatively easily defined in physical and biological systems, but are very difficult to delineate in social systems, such as organizations.
6. Feedback
1. Information concerning the outputs or the process of the system is fed back as an input into the system, perhaps leading to changes in the transformation process and/or future outputs
2. Feedback can be both positive and negative.
4. When we intervene in systems we can generate both anticipated and unanticipated consequences.
9. Bureaucratic Politics Approach: Bureaucracy as a System
1. Research focused on public organizations
2. Bureaucracy was a progressive organizational innovation from the partisan public organizations that precede it (neutral competency vs. standing with the powers that be!).
3. Ideal (rational)bureaucratic organizations (Weber)
1. There is a division of labor with responsibilities clearly defined.
2. Positions are organized in a hierarchy of authority.
3. All personnel are objectively selected and promoted on the basis of technical abilities.
4. Administrative decisions are recorded in writing and records are maintained over time.
5. Decision-makers work for a salary not equity.
6. There are standard rules and procedures which are uniformly applied to all (e.g., impersonal formal conduct, neutral competence).
4. Bureaucracy started as an alternative to a civil service dominated by patronage
5. The neutral competence and impartial treatment of clients is both a strength and a weakness of bureaucracy.
6. It has become a dominate mode of organization in the world and in particular of public organizations.
7. What evidence that exists shows that if you control for the nature of the "wicked problems" (funding problems at the root; we're just not willing to pay for excellence) that many public bureaucracies face; American public bureaucracies are very effective
8. From a managerial point of view public agencies differ from private firms in two main respects.
1. The first factor involves outputs ("hard" factors)and the ability to measure those outputs
1. Outputs are what the teachers, doctors, engineers, police officers, and grant givers do on a day to day basis
2. These outputs are arrayed in a chain; some outputs are further up the chain or "up the stream" than others (e.g., grades on a test, course grades, SAT scores)
2. The second factor involves outcomes ("soft" factors), how, if at all, the world changes because of the outputs.
1. Outcomes can be thought of as the results of agency work
2. The outcome is what the organization ultimately seeks to accomplish (an educated person)
3. Example
1. The outputs (or work) of police officers are the radio calls answered, beats walked, tickets written, accidents investigated, and arrests made
2. The outcomes (or results) are the changes in the level of safety, security, order, and amenity in the community.
4. Observing outputs may be either difficult or easy; there are four ideal type agencies

Observable Outputs	Observable Outcomes	Organizational Type
+	+	Production
+	-	Procedural
-	+	Craft
-	-	Coping