Sociology – The Discipline: Modernity and social changes in Europe and emergence of sociology. Scope of the subject and comparison with other social sciences. Sociology and common sense. Sociology as Science: Science, scientific method and critique. Major theoretical strands of research methodology. Positivism and its critique. Of organizations are the American Journal of Sociology (AJS), the American Sociological Review (ASR) and Administrative Science Quarterly (ASQ). AJS and ASR are sociology generalist journals that also publish sociology of organizations work; ASQ is an interdisciplinary journal focused on organizational topics.
- Of organizations are the American Journal of Sociology (AJS), the American Sociological Review (ASR) and Administrative Science Quarterly (ASQ). AJS and ASR are sociology generalist journals that also publish sociology of organizations work; ASQ is an interdisciplinary journal focused on organizational topics.
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- THE SCIENCE OF SOCIOLOGY 1. Man unsocial by nature. Human and animal societies contrasted. Pure and applied sociology. Mathematical sociology. Meaning of the term science. Sociology a science. The progress of science. Progress of Sociology. 1 CHAPTER II CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES 9. Serial classification. Comte's classification.
- The Sociology of Organizations Classic, Contemporary, and Critical Readings. Scholars and students in the fields of sociology, management, organizational behavior, and organizational psychology and those within political science and economics who are interested in how organizations function will find this work a welcome, invaluable resource.
- 1Organizations
- 2Leadership in organizations
Organizations[edit]
In sociology, organization (or organisation) is understood as planned, coordinated and purposeful action of human beings to construct or compile a common tangible or intangible product. This action is usually framed by formal membership and form (institutional rules). Sociology distinguishes the term organization into planned formal and unplanned informal (i.e. spontaneously formed) organizations. Sociology analyzes organizations in the first line from an institutional perspective. In this sense, organization is a permanent arrangement of elements. These elements and their actions are determined by rules so that a certain task can be fulfilled through a system of coordinated division of labor.
An organization is defined by the elements that are part of it (who belongs to the organization and who does not?), its communication (which elements communicate and how do they communicate?), its autonomy (which changes are executed autonomously by the organization or its elements?) and its rules of action compared to outside events (what causes an organization to act as a collective actor?).
By coordinated and planned cooperation of the elements, the organization is able to solve tasks that lie beyond the abilities of the single elements. The price paid by the elements is the limitation of the degrees of freedom of the elements. Advantages of organizations are enhancement (more of the same), addition (combination of different features), and extension. Disadvantages can be inertness (through co-ordination) and loss of interaction.
Pyramids or hierarchies[edit]
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A hierarchy exemplifies an arrangement with a leader who leads leaders. This arrangement is often associated with bureaucracy. Hierarchies were satirized in The Peter Principle (1969), a book that introduced hierarchiology and the saying that 'in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence'.
An extremely rigid, in terms of responsibilities, type of organization is exemplified by Führerprinzip.
Minitab 16 download. Seamless Data ManipulationFormat columns to instantly identify and subset the most frequent values, outliers, out-of-spec measurements, and more. Automatic Graph UpdatingGraphs and control charts update automatically when you add or edit data, so they’re always kept in sync. Smart Data ImportCase mismatches, missing data, and extra spaces, are corrected automatically during imports from Excel or other file types.
Committees or juries[edit]
These consist of a group of peers who decide as a group, perhaps by voting. The difference between a jury and a committee is that the members of the committee are usually assigned to perform or lead further actions after the group comes to a decision, whereas members of a jury come to a decision. In common law countries legal juries render decisions of guilt, liability and quantify damages; juries are also used in athletic contests, book awards and similar activities. Sometimes a selection committee functions like a jury. In the Middle Ages juries in continental Europe were used to determine the law according to consensus amongst local notables.
Committees are often the most reliable way to make decisions. Condorcet's jury theorem proved that if the average member votes better than a roll of dice, then adding more members increases the number of majorities that can come to a correct vote (however correctness is defined). The problem is that if the average member is worse than a roll of dice, the committee's decisions grow worse, not better: Staffing is crucial.
Parliamentary procedure, such as Robert's Rules of Order, helps prevent committees from engaging in lengthy discussions without reaching decisions.
Staff organization or cross-functional team[edit]
A staff helps an expert get all his work done. To this end, a 'chief of staff' decides whether an assignment is routine or not. If it's routine, he assigns it to a staff member, who is a sort of junior expert. The chief of staff schedules the routine problems, and checks that they are completed.
If a problem is not routine, the chief of staff notices. He passes it to the expert, who solves the problem, and educates the staff – converting the problem into a routine problem.
In a 'cross functional team', like an executive committee, the boss has to be a non-expert, because so many kinds of expertise are required.
Organization: Cyclical structure[edit]
A theory put forth by renowned scholar Stephen John has asserted that throughout the cyclical nature of one’s life organizational patterns are key to success. Through various social and political constraints within society one must realize that organizational skills are paramount to success. Stephen John suggests that emphasis needs to be put on areas such as individual/ group processes, functionality, and overall structures of institutions in order to maintain a proper organization. Furthermore, the individual's overall organizational skills are pre-determined by the processes undertaken.:
Matrix organization[edit]
This organizational type assigns each worker two bosses in two different hierarchies. One hierarchy is 'functional' and assures that each type of expert in the organization is well-trained, and measured by a boss who is super-expert in the same field. The other direction is 'executive' and tries to get projects completed using the experts. Projects might be organized by regions, customer types, or some other schema.matrix management
Ecologies[edit]
This organization has intense competition. Fnaf game download for pc. Bad parts of the organization starve. Good ones get more work. Everybody is paid for what they actually do, and runs a tiny business that has to show a profit, or they are fired.
Companies who utilize this organization type reflect a rather one-sided view of what goes on in ecology. It is also the case that a natural ecosystem has a natural border - ecoregions do not in general compete with one another in any way, but are very autonomous.
The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline talks about functioning as this type of organization in this external article from The Guardian.
'Chaordic' organizations[edit]
The chaordic model of organizing human endeavors emerged in the 1990s, based on a blending of chaos and order (hence 'chaordic'), comes out of the work of Dee Hock and the creation of the VISA financial network. Blending democracy, complex system, consensus decision making, co-operation and competition, the chaordic approach attempts to encourage organizations to evolve from the increasingly nonviable hierarchical, command-and-control models.
Ashes cricket 2009 game free download utorrent. Similarly, emergent organizations, and the principle of self-organization. See also group entity for an anarchist perspective on human organizations.
Organizations that are legal entities: government, international organization, non-governmental organization, armed forces, corporation, partnership, charity, not-for-profit corporation, cooperative, university.
Leadership in organizations[edit]
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Leadership in formal organizations[edit]
An organization that is established as an instrument or means for achieving defined objectives has been referred to as a formal organization. Its design specifies how goals are subdivided and reflected in subdivisions of the organization. Divisions, departments, sections, positions, jobs, and tasks make up this work structure. Thus, the formal organization is expected to behave impersonally in regard to relationships with clients or with its members. User manual template. According to Weber's definition, entry and subsequent advancement is by merit or seniority. Each employee receives a salary and enjoys a degree of tenure that safeguards him from the arbitrary influence of superiors or of powerful clients. The higher his position in the hierarchy, the greater his presumed expertise in adjudicating problems that may arise in the course of the work carried out at lower levels of the organization. It is this bureaucratic structure that forms the basis for the appointment of heads or chiefs of administrative subdivisions in the organization and endows them with the authority attached to their position. [1]
Leadership in informal organizations[edit]
In contrast to the appointed head or chief of an administrative unit, a leader emerges within the context of the informal organization that underlies the formal structure. The informal organization expresses the personal objectives and goals of the individual membership. Their objectives and goals may or may not coincide with those of the formal organization. The informal organization represents an extension of the social structures that generally characterize human life — the spontaneous emergence of groups and organizations as ends in themselves.[1]
In prehistoric times, man was preoccupied with his personal security, maintenance, protection, and survival. Now man spends a major portion of his waking hours working for organizations. His need to identify with a community that provides security, protection, maintenance, and a feeling of belonging continues unchanged from prehistoric times. This need is met by the informal organization and its emergent, or unofficial, leaders.[2]
Leaders emerge from within the structure of the informal organization. Their personal qualities, the demands of the situation, or a combination of these and other factors attract followers who accept their leadership within one or several overlay structures. Instead of the authority of position held by an appointed head or chief, the emergent leader wields influence or power. Influence is the ability of a person to gain cooperation from others by means of persuasion or control over rewards. Power is a stronger form of influence because it reflects a person's ability to enforce action through the control of a means of punishment.[2]
Leader in organizations[edit]
An individual who is appointed to a managerial position has the right to command and enforce obedience by virtue of the authority of his position. However, he must possess adequate personal attributes to match his authority, because authority is only potentially available to him. In the absence of sufficient personal competence, a manager may be confronted by an emergent leader who can challenge his role in the organization and reduce it to that of a figurehead. However, only authority of position has the backing of formal sanctions. It follows that whoever wields personal influence and power can legitimize this only by gaining a formal position in the hierarchy, with commensurate authority.[2]
Hybrid organizations[edit]
A hybrid organization is a body that operates in both the public sector and the private sector, simultaneously fulfilling public duties and developing commercial market activities. As a result the hybrid organization becomes a mixture of both a part of government and a private corporation.
Notes[edit]
- ↑ abCecil A Gibb (1970). Leadership (Handbook of Social Psychology). Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. pp. 884–89. ISBN0140805176 9780140805178. OCLC174777513.
- ↑ abcHenry P. Knowles; Borje O. Saxberg (1971). Personality and Leadership Behavior. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. pp. 884–89. ISBN0140805176 9780140805178. OCLC118832.
References[edit]
- Richard Scott. Organizations. ISBN 0-13-266354-6
- Richard Scott. Organizations and Institutions
- Charles Handy.Understanding Organizations
- Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull. The Peter Principle Pan Books 1970 ISBN 0-330-02519-8
- Ronald Coase (1937). 'The Nature of the Firm' Economica, 4(16), pp. 386–405.
- Julie Morgenstern (1998). Organizing from the Inside Out. Owl Books ISBN 0-8050-5649-1
- Henry Mintzberg (1981). 'Organization Design: Fashion or Fit' Harvard Business Review (January February),
- Thomas Marshak (1987). 'organization theory,' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, v. 3, pp. 757–60.
- Daniel Katz; Robert Louis Kahn (1966). The social psychology of organizations. New York: Wiley. OCLC255184.
- Daniel Katz; Robert Louis Kahn (1966). The social psychology of organizations. New York: Wiley. OCLC255184.
- Richard Arvid Johnson (1976). Management, systems, and society : an introduction. Pacific Palisades, Calif.: Goodyear Pub. Co. ISBN0876205406 9780876205402. OCLC2299496.
- Virginia Satir (1967). Conjoint family therapy; a guide to theory and technique. Palo Alto, Calif.: Science and Behavior Books. OCLC187068.
- James G March; Herbert A Simon (1958). Organizations. New York: Wiley. ISBN0471567930 9780471567936. OCLC1329335.
- Carl R Rogers; Fritz Jules Roethlisberger (1990). Barriers and gateways to communication. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business Review. OCLC154085959.
External links[edit]
- TheTransitioner.org: a site dedicated to collective intelligence and structure of organizations.
No matter what society one lives in, all human beings depend on systems of production to survive. For people in all societies, productive activity, or work, makes up the largest part of their lives—it takes up more time than any other single type of behavior.
Defining Work
Work, in sociology, is defined as the carrying out of tasks, which involves the expenditure of mental and physical effort, and its objective is the production of goods and services that cater to human needs. An occupation, or job, is work that is done in exchange for a regular wage or salary.
In all cultures, work is the basis of the economy or economic system. The economic system for any given culture is made up of the institutions that provide for the production and distribution of goods and services. These institutions may vary from culture to culture, particularly in traditional societies versus modern societies.
In traditional cultures, food gathering and food production is the type of work occupied by the majority of the population. In larger traditional societies, carpentry, stonemasonry, and shipbuilding are also prominent. In modern societies where industrial development exists, people work in a much wider variety of occupations.
Sociological Theory
The study of work, industry, and economic institutions is a major part of sociology because the economy influences all other parts of society and therefore social reproduction in general. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about a hunter-gatherer society, pastoral society, agricultural society, or industrial society; all are centered around an economic system that affects all parts of society, not just personal identities and daily activities. Work is closely intertwined with social structures, social processes, and especially social inequality.
The sociology of work goes back to the classical sociological theorists. Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber all considered the analysis of modern work to be central to the field of sociology. Marx was the first social theorist to really examine the conditions of work in factories that were popping up during the industrial revolution, looking at how the transition from independent craftwork to working for a boss in a factory resulted in alienation and deskilling. Durkheim, on the other hand, was concerned with how societies achieved stability through norms, customs, and traditions as work and industry changed during the industrial revolution. Weber focused on the development of new types of authority that emerged in modern bureaucratic organizations. Conflict games on pc.
Important Research
Many studies in the sociology of work are comparative. For instance, researchers might look at differences in employment and organizational forms across societies as well as across time. Why, for example, do Americans work on average more than 400 hours more per year than those in the Netherlands while South Koreans work more than 700 hours more per year than Americans? Another big topic often studied in the sociology of work is how work is tied to social inequality. For instance, sociologists might look at racial and gender discrimination in the workplace.
At the macro level of analysis, sociologists are interested in studying things such as occupational structure, the United States and global economies, and how changes in technology lead to changes in demographics. At the micro level of analysis, sociologists look at topics such as the demands that the workplace and occupations place on workers’ sense of self and identity, and the influence of work on families.
References
- Giddens, A. (1991) Introduction to Sociology. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
- Vidal, M. (2011). The Sociology of Work. Accessed March 2012 from http://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2011/11/the-sociology-of-work.html