Contemporary organisations and their principal environments (1)

Contemporary organisations and their principal environments (1)

1. The organisation

   • Inputs (environment)
   • Outputs
   • Structure
   • Overall strategy
   • HR strategy/practice

2. Organisation Theory

   • Positivst/modernist
   • Symbolic interpretivist
   • Postmodernist

3. Structure

   • Bureaucratic
   • Divisionalisied
   • Matrix
   • Managers attempt to adjust the formal structure to ensure efficiency and performance
   • Mechanistic vs Organic
   • Trend: Tall centralised organisations changing to flatter, decentralised
   • Influences on structure - type of work, technology, culture and management style

4. Organisation Change

   • Triggers - external/internal
   • Planned Change
     • Lewin/Schein
       • Unfreezing; Movement; Refreezing
     • Force Field Analysis (Lewin)
     • Bullock & Batten (1985)
       • Exploration, planning, action, implementation
   • Emergent Change
     • Best model to use depends on the circumstances
   • Open systems approach to change
     • Leavitt's Diamond
   • Managing change: Kotter

5. Organisational Culture

   • Schien
     • Level 1: Artefacts - visible features e.g. decor. Consist of objects, narratives and activities
     • Level 2: Values - norms, beliefs
     • Level 3: Basic assumptions. Guide behaviour without being expressed. Most influential level.
   • Handy (1985): 4 organisational cultures
   • Studies
     • Peters and Waterman (1992)

6. Structure <--> culture

7. Contemporary Organisation Forms

   • Nowadays organisations have to adapt rapidly to change
     • Change = reorganisation
   • The network organisation (n-form)
   • Virtual organisations
   • Post-bureaucratic: people act on values not rules, responsibility is assigned on competence not hierarchy, and there are open boundaries to people
   • Strategic Alliances
     • Parternships
     • Joint Ventures
   • Outsourcing
   • Atkinsons (1984) flexible firm
     • As structures/forms become more fluid/flexible, so do employment forms

8. Organisations and people management

   • Every HR practice is influenced by organisation structure, form, and culture.
   • Contingency Theory
   • Scientific Management (Taylor, 1911)
   • Human Relations (Mayo/Hawthorne)
   • Social components - structural issues, rules and systems, co-ordinating mechanisms, and networking
   • Connections between structure, form, culture and HR are multiple and multidimensional

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