Organization
From ArticleWorld
An Organization is a group of persons who have come together in order to pursue shared goals and aspirations. The word organization has its root in the Greek word ‘organon,’ which means ‘an implement’. Conflicting views abound about the term organization and the area encompassed by it. A large number of researchers are engaged in studying its discipline.
Different disciplines
In sociology, ‘organization’ is described as any planned, purposeful or coordinated action of a group of people who have come together formally to carry out certain predetermined actions in the said manner. This action leads to a preconceived end which may be in the form of a tangible object or an intangible service. Sociology also talks of two kinds of organizations – planned and formal or unplanned and informal. Yet in both types of organizations the elements that belong to the organization move within certain predetermined rules and regulations.
According to management studies, organizations exist to serve just one purpose - as means to an end - to achieve goals. With this restricted definition in mind organizations in management studies may be divided into two categories, those whose goal is to produce tangible goods or intangible services, and those whose goal is to bring about some change in individuals (schools, colleges, prisons). Such organizations are more often than not, non-profit organizations.
Organizational structure
The structure of the organization may be defined as the way in which the interrelated groups of an organization are constructed. Organizations, according to management studies, believe in optimizing their structures and the organizational structure is approximately of four kinds:
- pyramid structure – is hierarchical, has a leader, and is generally linked with bureaucracy;
- committees or juries – have no leader and are formed to take actions or come to a decision;
- matrix structure – each worker has two bosses, one who gets the work done functionally and the other who looks after the executive side of the work; and,
- ecology structure – believes in showing profit in each of its different (small) units or shutting down.