Systems, networks, and structures: An essay on organization theory as a strategy of representation (original) (raw)
Related papers
Systems, networks and structures: An essay on organisation theory as a strategy of representation
Doctoral Dissertation, 1992
This thesis discusses certain problems related to the concept of organization as a bounded entity, which presupposes the existence of a boundary between the organization and the environment. It is argued that the problem of defining and specifying organizational boundaries cannot be solved by simply 'inspecting' an organization or a sample of organizations, for the problem refers to the concept of organization itself; and, therefore, that the understanding of organizational boundaries requires an understanding of the procedures followed in representing organization. The thesis' objective is to search for an approach to the study of organizing processes, within the context of a discussion of organization theory as a strategy of representation. The thesis consists of four parts: (1) an inquiry into the foundations of organization theory as an application of the system approach in social science; (2) a discussion of the application of the concept of network in the study of organizations; (3) an exploration of the concept of socio-technical network as a way of developing an approach to the understanding of organizing processes; and (4) the proposition and discussion of the concept of organizing as event-structuring, as a way of accounting for the boundary condition from a process-oriented perspective. Based on the analysis of empirical cases and historical materials, it is concluded that the reduction of the organization to the boundaries of a firm, or any other example of bounded entities, produces an incomplete account of the phenomena involved in social organizational processes, and that organization theory cannot rest on an a priori distinction between organization and environment. A requirement for developing organization theory is an understanding of the problem of boundaries rather than simply taking for granted their existence and consequences. The thesis attempts to contribute to this exploration by proposing an approach to the study of organizing processes which does not require the assumption of boundaries as a starting point of the inquiry.
ON THE CONCEPT OF NETWORK Metaphors of Organizing versus Social Institutions
For some time now the notion of the network-form of organization has been associated with far reaching changes in contemporary economy and society (see, e.g. Fuk uyama 1997). Increasingly, networks have been tied to the emergence of a new socio-economic context that is supposed to challenge central principles of the organizational order of modernity, notably the boundary-maintaining practices of modern organizations and the instit utional relations sustaining such practices, i.e. rule following and hierarchical stratification. On this view, the distinctive character of the organizations of the industrial age is identified with the strong regulation of les points de passage through which the environment is "allowed" to enter the organization. Organizational closure is a major concern of the organizations of the modern age. It represents a basic means for improving efficiency through the control or exclusion of disturbing environmental effects (Thompson 1967; Ciborra 1993). It is also essential to the reproduction of the organization across distinct and selective lines that guarantee its identity (Luhmann 1995).
Forms of organizing: What is new and why?
1999
This paper aims to further our understanding of new forms of organizing by asking and answering two related questions: What is new in forms of organizing? and Why is it so? It starts by examining the main forces that lead to the emergence and diffusion of new organizational arrangements, distinguishing between objective and subjective factors and pointing out the interplay
Any narrative depends upon the perspective and location of its author. My perspective is as an American organization theorist, trained and employed in business schools, who has taught management and organization theory, and published research on organizations, in both the US and Europe during the 1980s and 1990s. My formal education took place at the University of Colorado, where I studied architecture as an undergraduate; Indiana University, where I studied English literature and creative writing as an undergraduate, and later earned an MBA in finance; and Stanford University, where I earned my PhD in organizational behavior with an emphasis on organization theory. My learning then continued in the context of my teaching posts-at San Diego State University and UCLA in the US, the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, and now at the Cranfield School of Management in England-as well as through memberships in professional associations, including the American Academy of Management, the British Academy of Management, the Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism (SCOS), and the European Group for Organization Studies (EGOS).
Organization: The Relevance and the Limitations of Elias
In this introductory paper, I use a quotation from Elias’s (1992) essay on time in order to introduce some key Eliasian concepts. I then explore the relation between power, interdependency and subjectivity through reference to Elias’ s oft-cited studies of court society as well as his less known analyses of time. Drawing on these referents, I discuss the relation of Elias to current organization theory focusing on Foucauldian work, Marx and labour process theory and, especially, actor-network theory. Eliasian argument has a number of points of contact with current fields of organizational analysis such as organizational strategy, violence in organizations, emotion in organizations, knowledge and discourse, globalization, organizations and the natural environment, etc. The paper briefly reviews such examples before considering certain limitations in Elias’ s conceptualization of interdependency and subjectivity.
Organization theory, 1985-2005
Contemporary Organization Theory, 2005
Organization indexes considerably more than the structures that lift us out of 'bare life'. Organization is also intimately, and utterly, connected to thought. While many, and by no means just those in the West, think of themselves as 'free' from enslavement by others, and even free from the organization of the state, who can argue that they are also free from the pervasive effects of language, culture and science? These are matters into which we find ourselves 'thrown', long before we wake up to their organizing effects. If, indeed, we ever do wake up. For if the intricate relations between language and thought came to be examined late in the 19th century, questions about the intercession between science and culture began to be asked only with the rise of the sociology of knowledge in the 20th century.
Strati A., Theory and Method in Organization Studies: Paradigms and Choices, London, Sage, 2000
2000
SOCIETY IN A NETWORK OF ORGANIZATIONS 12 "External society" and "internal society" Subjectivity and social integration Legal authority and modern organizations Managing organizations: the principles of the classical school An organization is modelled on a machine The organization as an agent of civilization Organizational networks and organizations without walls Organizations meet other organizations The notions of "loose coupling" and of the creation of the external environment Networks of inter-organizational relations The network of organizations The organization as a stable form of transaction The organization without walls Organization is a continuous process Further Reading 2 41 ORGANIZATIONS AS SOCIAL CONTEXTS 41 Theoretical paradigms and organizations as social contexts Researching organizations and paradigmatic pluralism The study of organizations as social contexts The schools of organizational thought The rational, interactionist, structural and compliance models The perspective of the rational, natural and open system The industrial, bureaucratic and organizational issues The emerging strands of organizational analysis The emerging organizational methodologies Metaphors for organizations Research programmes Paradigms in the study of organizations as social contexts Fragmentation, multiplicity and paradigmatic incommensurability Further Reading 3 80 WEAVING THE ORGANIZATION TOGETHER 80 The metaphor of construction The social construction of reality Constructivism and constructionism Organization as hypertext The metaphor of the hypertext Real organization and virtual organization An organization is an artefact The concept of texture of organizing The contextualist world of organizing Action and tacit knowledge The use of the concept of texture of organizing Further reading 4 101 THE ETHOS, LOGOS AND PATHOS OF ORGANIZATIONAL LIFE 101 Organizational actors Critical event and subjects Competence and/or productivity The community of practice and community memory Organization and occupational and professional communities The negotiation of rationality and organizational subjects Courses of action and the negotiated order Meaningful action and organizational interaction The organizational order and the structure-in-process Deontological, ontological and aesthetic dimensions Emotions in organizations Aesthetics in organizational life The continuity of organizational phenomena Further reading 5 123 THEMATIC CONTINUITIES AND NEW INSIGHTS 123 Thematic continuities Power and the negotiation of the organizational order Alienation and the governance of organizational structures Participation in organizational life Institution and organization Organizational decisions Emerging themes Gendered organizations Organizational space