Dislike Organization Theory

-Impractical
- overly academic
- no background of social science difficult
- why not business firm or company
Organization Theory opens up powerful ways od thinking
Analyze complicated situations
DISCOVER EFFECTIVE WAYS OF DEALING WITH THEM
- Opened my mind to many aspects of line (inside/ outside org)

There are many organizations theories that dont always fit nerarly together
- Stumbling block
o No agreement on what to toffer = no offer at all
o OT is a very young field, eventually work out differences then sooner come around
to a single perspective, which is for them, a mature discipline
- Multiciplitous
o Variety of other fields of study that it draws inspiration from
o Orgs cant be explained by a single theory
Diversity of Organization theory
- Flexibility and adaptiveness, in times of complexity and rapid change
Different Perspectives of Organization Theory
- Classical, Modern, Symbolic-Interpretative & Postmodern
- Distinguishable assumptions, vocabularies, or theorists
- Sense of change over time
- New influences on field invite theorist
- Sequence of development
o Perspectives accumultate
o Overtime influence one another
Take in more and more of ideas this field of study offers
o Interaction among perspectives producing continuous change
Modernist point of view
- Theories represent truth
- Some do better jobs than others
- Science is in the business of determining w/ch theories are accurate
- Judgement about accuracy and truth of theories
o based on empirical comparisons of the predictions of a theory W/ RELEVANT FACS
o Identification of incorrect or deficient theories
Compared to empirical evidence
Removed from collective body of knowledge
Development of scientific method

- Phenomena of interest becomes a problem
o Not directly verifiable
o What can be observed is far removed from theoretical concepts & relationships we
want to test
Eg. Organizational Performance
Theorist cant agree on:
o what constitute performance
o how it should be measured
Should performance be: efficiency in production/ market share/
strategic effectiveness, quality, social responsibility/ ecological
sustainability/ or financial gain?
o F GAIN long or short run?
Profit objective subjective, considerable
debate
What is cost vs. what is capital expenditure
Symbolic Interpretevist View
- Social theories as perspectives on a reality that is as much constructed by theories
- Social Scientists work with realities created by social forces w/ch are the subject of the study
- Circularity
o Social Sciences & OT different from natural sciences
Theories on knowledge production as well as constructions of reality
Organization, performance, profit, management
Know the theories that others are usimg
How to create your own as an active participant of the process
Different Theories of Organization
- Guide actions by giving abstract images of what an organization is
- How org functions
- How members and parties interact with it
- BOOK
o Insight into theorists ways of developing theories
o Develop own theorizing skills of abstraction and analysis and reasoning
o Mastery of skills
Knowing OrganizationTheories
- Help you understand how org works
- How to diagnose its problems
- How to theorize
o Develop, maintain, and change understandings of organizations & what you are
doing with and within them
MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES
Justify the diversity of OT and multiple perspectives through:
- Organizational Complexity
- O Theorists
o Encounter large and complex phenomenon w/ perceptual equipment
o Perspectives with bearing on organizations
Inadequate on their own way
Viewing will give you totality of the problem
o Perspectives you use will affect your perceptions of organizational reality
Focusing on one, ignores others
Adopting multiple
doesnt remove ignored aspects
Expose to more aspects > single point view
Reduces ignorance of important
Encourages comfortableness with new type of understanding
o New sources & inspiration
Multiple Perspectives Problems
- Theories may be built on
o variety of assumptions
o Concepts and perspectives can compete/ conflict with each another
OT as uncertain, ambiguous, contradictory, paradoxical
- Contentious Nature of OT
o Multiple perspectives = map of the territory
Provide greater knowledge
(MODERNIST INTERPRETATION)
o belief of objective, physical reality inn question
Symbolic Interpretevist & Post Modern
o Knowledge cant be tested against the real world
Real world constructed from experiences, ideas,
statements, (theories of world)
Reality is subjective
Different views construct different realities
Realities complementary, conflicting or
contradictory?
Provide diverse possibilities
for constructing your world
Dor understanding construction of others
No guarantee of greater and better knowledge
o No universal standards against w/ch greater and better can
be measured
Theory and Concepts
set of assumptions that forms the foundation for series of logically interrelated claims
- Realities are objective
o Studied by observers, independent of their subject of interest
- subjective personal and relative
o Independent observation is possible
o Knowledge is mediated
o Altered significant ways that act of observation
- Different assumptions-> different theories
- Identify assumption on w/ch a particular theory rest
Theory is an explanation
-attempt to explain segment of experience in the world
- explains the PHENOMENON OF INTEREST of organization
-defined in different ways such as social structure, a technology, a culture, a physical
structure, or as part of environment
- central issues/ recurring themes of organizing
-control, conflict, decision making, power and politics and change
- concepts and relationships that tie them together into an explanation of the phenomenon of
interest
- org theorized as social structure created by conflict over power relations, expressed in
physical structure, technology and culture
- theorized as technology constructed through
decisions that demand certain structural, cultural, and physical arrangements
Concepts and the Process of Abstraction
Concepts provide categories for sorting, organizing and storing experience
- ideas formed by abstraction process
Abstraction is the formation of an idea by mental separation from particular instances
- build concepts on mind on basis of your acquaintance with familiar instances
- personal experience or what others have told you
- to be filled with experience
-gather specific examples that fit concept until it is formed
Concepts not merely giving examples
- remove particular instances or the unique qualities
- essence > non essential information
- Abstraction
o process of removing unique qualities so that essential remains
Why drop all?
- increase ability to process information
- communicate knowledge (biting dogs)
Concepts give enormous power of thought
Associate volumes of info with single idea for rapid processing of information
Chunking
-illustrates the power of abstraction
-via Concepts consideration of large blocks of knowledge
Gain and Lost during concepts
- Gain the ability to think about numerous instances or cases of the abstract category
- Lose the rich detail that the individual contains
Learn to use
Permit you to communicate & understand general ideas about complex subjects, such as organizations