groups and formal organizations part ii and formal... · understanding organizations: bureaucracy...

Groups and Formal Organizations

Part II Show me a man or a woman alone and I'll show you a

saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they'll invent the charming thing we call

society. Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and they'll make one an outcast. Give me six and they'll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in

seven years they'll reinvent warfare.

Stephen King, The Stand

Understanding Organizations: Voluntary Association

• ...organization established on basis of common interest

• Members volunteer or even pay to participate.

• Formal organizations and voluntary organizations are not mutually exclusive.

• People join voluntary associations for a variety of purposes – for example, to share in joint activities or to get help with personal problems.

• experience high turnover


• functions of voluntary associations:

• advance particular interests

• offer people identity

• maintain social order

• mediate between government and individuals

• help individuals climb occupational ladder

• bring people into political mainstream

• pave way for social change


membership in voluntary associations in the US

Understanding Organizations: Bureaucracy

• ...formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency

• Weber’s characteristics of bureaucracy

• division of labor, lack of communication between units

• trained incapacity: workers so specialized they develop blind spots and fail to notice obvious problems

• hierarchy of authority

• written rules and regulations

• goal displacement: overzealous conformity to regulations (red tape)


• Weber’s characteristics of bureaucracy

• impersonal relationships and replaceability

• alienation: condition of estrangement or dissociation from the surrounding society

• employment based on technical qualifications, career ladders

• Peter Principle: every employee within a hierarchy tends to rise to his/her level of incompetence

• efficiency

Typical (Simplified) Bureaucratic Structure of a Medium-Sized University


• bureaucratization: process by which a group, organization or social movement becomes increasingly bureaucratic

• Bureaucracy can be understood both as a process and as a matter of degree. An organization may be more or less bureaucratic than other organizations.

• Bureaucracies tend to be self-perpetuating.

• iron law of oligarchy: describes how even a democratic organization will eventually develop into a bureaucracy ruled by a few (oligarchy) when leaders of an organization build up their power


• Informal structures ignore, change or bypass formal structure and rules.

• Subcultures develop when people try to humanize an impersonal organization.

• The informal culture can become exclusionary, and can undermine and redefine official policies.

• perpetuates inequality of race/ethnicity, gender, class

• Minorities are less likely to be promoted and more likely to be fired.

• Women experience negative effects of tokenism such as stress and lowered self-esteem.


• bureaucratic dysfunctions

• risk shift

• groupthink

• ritualism

• alienation

• inefficiency

• rigidity

• resistance to change

Understanding Organizations: Alternative Forms of Organization

• humanizing the bureaucracy

• greater sharing of power and responsibility.

• encouragement of participants to share their ideas and try new approaches.

• develop rather than impede potential

• access to opportunities

• efforts to reduce the number of people in dead-end jobs and help people meet family responsibilities

• What is the cost of change?

Understanding Organizations: Alternative Forms of Organization

• Japanese structure

• Workers were (until recently) guaranteed lifetime employment after an initial probationary period.

• quality circles: small workgroups that meet regularly with managers to discuss the group’s performance and working conditions

• hiring and promoting teams

• almost total involvement

• broad training

• decision-making by consensus (supposedly)

Understanding Organizations: Theoretical Perspectives

Symbolic Interaction Theory

central focus Stresses the role of self in the

bureaucracy.

relationship of individual to organization

Interaction between superiors and subordinates forms the structure of

the organization.


Structural Functional Theory

central focus Positive functions contribute to unity

and stability.


Individuals are like parts of a machine.


Conflict Theory

central focus Hierarchical nature of bureaucracy

encourages conflict.


Individuals are subordinate to systems of power and efforts to humanize the

workplace are simply fads.

Understanding Organizations: Organizational Culture

• classical theory: also known as scientific management approach ... workers motivated almost entirely by economic rewards

• human relations approach: role of people, communication and participation within a bureaucracy is emphasized


• evolution of organizational culture

• matching people and organization

• ethics and social responsibility

• productivity

• empowerment

• brain drain

• job insecurity


• organizational restructuring: formal organizations experimenting with new ways of getting the job done since late 20th century

• collective decision making

• minimal hierarchy

• work teams


• telecommuting: employees who work full- or part-time at home rather than in an outside office

• Almost 40% of US workers telecommute, up from 30% last decade but four times greater than the 9% found in 1995.

• The average worker telecommutes two days per month.

• 46% of telecommuters do so during the workday.

• Telecommuters just as productive as other employees.

• Telecommuting may move society further along the continuum from gemeinschaft to gesellschaft.


• electronic communication: e-mail efficient, rapid and democratic

• the benefit of experience and views of more of its workforce

• does not convey body language

• permanent record

• can be monitored

• But technology has also led to workplace bullying, surveillance in the workplace and computer use monitoring .


• current challenges

• rapid change

• rise of the internet

• globalization

• diversity

• evolving work and family roles

• natural disasters

Organizations and Social Policy

• issue: unions (organized workers sharing either the same skill or the same employer)

• What diminished importance of organized labor unions?

• Have unions outlived usefulness in a rapidly changing global economy dominated by the service industry?

• setting: The experience of unions varies widely in different countries.

• reasons given for decline of labor unions: changes in type of industry, growth in part-time jobs, the legal system, globalization, employer offensive, union rigidity and bureaucratization


• sociological insights

• To symbolic interactionists, many union employees encounter role conflict.

• Structural functionalists view unions as logical response to emergence of impersonal, large-scale, formal and often alienating organizations.

• Conflict theorists agree and point out that the longer union leaders are in office the less responsive they are to the needs and demands of the rank and file.


• policy initiatives

• Major barrier to union growth exists in 28 states with so-called right to work laws.

• Debates over campaign finance reform in Congress raise question of whether labor unions should use dues to support a particular candidate or promote a political position.

The End

groups and formal organizations part ii and formal... · understanding organizations: bureaucracy...

Documents