Organisations - Contrast the Assumptions of Mainstream and Critical Approaches to studying Organisations Essay Example for Free

Organisations Contrast the Assumptions of Mainstream and Critical Approaches to studying Organisations Essay An organisation is a group of people intentionally organised to accomplish an overall, common goal or set of goals. Business organisations can range in size from two people to tens of thousands. Organisations are complex phenomena and understanding them – either from the point of view of academic analysis or as a basis for practical attempts to change them – is also complex. It is obvious that organisations vary in a number of key ways, for example structures, cultures, personnel systems, and so on. There are several important aspects to consider about the goal of the business organisation. These features are explicit (deliberate and recognised) or implicit (operating unrecognised, behind the scenes). Ideally, these features are carefully considered and established, usually during the strategic planning process. Vision Members of an organisation often have some image in their minds about how the organisation should be working, how it should appear when things are going well. Mission An organisation operates according to an overall purpose, or mission. Values All organisations operate according to overall values, or priorities in the nature of how they carry out their activities. These values are the personality, or culture, of the organisation. Strategic Goals Organisations members often work to achieve several overall accomplishments, or goals, as they work toward their mission. Strategies Organisations usually follow several overall general approaches to reach their goals. Systems and Processes that (hopefully) are aligned with achieving the Goals Organisations have major subsystems, such as departments, programmes, divisions, teams, etc. Each of these subsystems has a way of doing things to, along with other subsystems; achieve the overall goals of the organisation. Often, these systems and processes are defined by plans, policies and procedures. How you interpret each of the above major parts of an organisation depends very much on your values and your nature. People can view organisations as machines, organisms, families, groups, etc. The study of organisations draws on a number of disciplines: Economics Classical economics viewed the firm as a single decision-unit engaged in maximising profits. It ignored the possibility of conflict between owners, managers and employees. The obsession with competition failed to take into account the other goals which may take precedence in organisations. Organisation theory partly owes its existence to a reaction against such simplistic ideas. It became necessary to understand behaviour which seemed in classical terms to be irrational. Psychology Psychology is a wide-ranging subject. Early psychologists provided an insight into individual behaviour within organisations particularly on aspects of motivation and leadership. The Hawthorne studies led to a realisation of the importance of social phenomena, such as the informal groups, group norms and conformity. Valuable as these micro-level studies were, they only compounded to the issue by making it difficult understand the link between the behaviour of individuals and the structure of the organisation in which they worked. Sociology Organisational sociologists took a wider perspective, setting the organisation within its environmental framework specifically in relation to society and its institutions. Some sociologists have examined formal organisational structures, particularly in relation to technology. Dating from Webers early work on bureaucracy, sociologists have taken a particular interest in non-profit making organisations. Organisations as Systems (Systems or Mainstream Theory) Mainstream Organisational theory thinks of organisations as systems. Simply put, a system is an organised collection of parts that are highly integrated in order to accomplish an overall goal. The system has various inputs which are processed to produce certain outputs, which together, accomplish the overall goal desired by the organisation. There is ongoing feedback among these various parts to ensure they remain aligned to accomplish the overall goal of the organisation. There are several classes of systems, ranging from very simple frameworks all the way to social systems, which are the most complex. Organisations are, of course, social systems. Systems have inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. To explain, inputs to the system include resources such as raw materials, money, technologies and people. These inputs go through a process where theyre aligned, moved along and carefully coordinated, ultimately to achieve the goals set for the system. Outputs are tangible results produced by processes in the system, such as products or services for consumers. Another kind of result is outcomes, or benefits for consumers, e. g. , jobs for workers, enhanced quality of life for customers, etc. Systems can be the entire organisation, or its departments, groups, processes, etc. Feedback comes from, e. g. , employees who carry out processes in the organisation, customers/clients using the products and services, etc. Feedback also comes from the larger environment of the organisation, e. g. , influences from government, society, economics, and technologies. Each organisation has numerous subsystems, as well. Each subsystem has its own boundaries of sorts, and includes various inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes geared to accomplish an overall goal for the subsystem. Common examples of subsystems are departments, programs, projects, teams, processes to produce products or services, etc. Organisations are made up of people who are also systems of systems of systems and on it goes. Subsystems are organised in a hierarchy needed to accomplish the overall goal of the overall system. The organisational system is defined by, e. g. , its legal documents (articles of incorporation, by laws, roles of officers, etc. , mission, goals and strategies, policies and procedures, operating manuals, etc. The organisation is depicted by its organisational charts, job descriptions, marketing materials, etc. The organisational system is also maintained or controlled by policies and procedures, budgets, information management systems, quality management systems, performance review systems, etc. One of the most common ways at present is to look at organisations is as organisational systems. This view is becoming more common among professionals who study, teach and write about organisations. Practitioners who work with organisational management to improve organisations also tend to view organisations as systems so it has been termed the mainstream approach. Note that machines, organisms, persons, groups, families, family dynasties are all systems, too. Probably everyone in the workplace has their own conception of what organisation means. As with most highly complex terms, everyone is right and everyone is wrong. The concept of organisational culture is much like an organisational personality. Organisations, like people, have life cycles. Many people view organisational learning much like we view organisms to be learning. Organisations can accumulate and manage knowledge as well. There are a variety of books that describe other traits of organisations much like traits of people, e. g. , depressed organisations, addictive organisations, etc. David Needle makes two important points about the dynamics and determinants of organisational structure and functioning: organisations are not simple unitary, consensual entities where everyone agrees on and focuses on shared organisational goals but where sectional, group interests and viewpoints exist and flourish. And although in many ways organisations are the most rational entities ever created where managers and employees strive to make sensible decisions about purposes and to design organisations and processes that efficiently achieve these purposes, in reality irrational forces also play a major role (Salaman, 2001). Setting organisational goals is a complex process whereby both external factors and internal politics need to be taken into consideration. As such, the system is highly dynamic and changes in the goals will occur with changes in the external environment, such as market demand, technology and government policy, as well as changes that take place between interest groups within the organisation e. g. , sales and production departments. A number of goals may operate at any one time. These may conflict, but in general the goals of a business follow closely those of the dominant coalition (Needle, D; Salaman 2001). A change in ownership or top management is likely to lead to a shift in emphasis of the firms operations too. The culture of an organisation refers to those factors which enable us to distinguish one organisation from another and are the product of its history, management, operating environment, technology, goals and so on. More recently the notion of organisational culture has been used in a more positive way and a set of principles have been developed which mark out the culture of a successful company from that of an unsuccessful one (Needle, D: Salaman, 2001). The goals, structure, patterns of ownership and size of an organisation both reflect and are reflected in its culture. The importance of the organisational culture is that it sets the scene for the determination of strategy and hence the operational aspects of organisational life. Mainstream organisation theory has attracted critical attention. Thompson and McHugh (Salaman, 2001), for example, have argued that there is a tendency for a narrow management plus psychology perspective which has little to do with real-life enterprises. In an attempt to produce a science of organisations, the main focus has been on identifying generalisations about behaviour in work situations and applying them to all organisations, regardless of their nature. In particular, theorists have paid scant attention to the differences between organisations which are subject to market forces and those which are not. Thompson and McHugh contend that it is not meaningful to treat organisations as diverse as scout troops and transnational companies within the same analytical framework and using the same domain assumptions (Salaman, 2001). This has been termed the critical approach. Let’s look into the critical approach a little more.

Review of Behind the Arch: The Truth about Drinking at BVU :: College Drinking Essays

Review of Behind the Arch: The Truth about Drinking at BVU Behind the Arch: The Truth About Drinking at BVU, by Chris Allen, Alisa Dixson, Jennifer Durham, Shelley Katzer, Max Kenkel, Teri Kramer, Toby Malavong, and Courtney Weller, is a book about drinking at Buena Vista University. It was written because the University of Illinois did a survey on colleges around the county about their drinking habits. When some BVU students read it, some did not think it was accurate, so, they did their own research and got some of their own statistics. By the opinion of the students, the information they found was more accurate than what the University of Illinois found. This book had many things wrong with it. There were many problems with the writing styles and the research in my opinion. It was too long and too detailed, especially with the insignificant ideas in, which should not have been in it, such as the explanation of our campus, an insignificant detail. There was not a good comparison in the national average, Buena Vista University is a small campus in a small town, not similar to, say, the University of Missouri with a large student population and in the city of Columbia. The research was not well done and was unbalanced. This book was about the drinking at BVU found from the survey, not when some of the professors were attending. The book did have some good points. It did have good statistics and were accurate for out campus. I believe that most of the students on campus do drink, but not to get drunk such as the book stated. The personal experiences were well written also. The book does give a bit of reflection on when drinking was not a large problem on campus, but it is insignificant. This book also did do a good job of what is being done on campus to stop the drinking. We now have midnight basketball, and volleyball, and alternative happy hour so the students have something other to do than drink or go to the bar. Many things could have been changed in the book. It was too long. They went off subject with the September, 11 2001 terrorists attacks, that are not significant and way off topic, and made the book last too long. If they had not strayed off the path of where the book was going it would have been shorter and probably kept my interest more, not making me want to sleep. Review of Behind the Arch: The Truth about Drinking at BVU :: College Drinking Essays Review of Behind the Arch: The Truth about Drinking at BVU Behind the Arch: The Truth About Drinking at BVU, by Chris Allen, Alisa Dixson, Jennifer Durham, Shelley Katzer, Max Kenkel, Teri Kramer, Toby Malavong, and Courtney Weller, is a book about drinking at Buena Vista University. It was written because the University of Illinois did a survey on colleges around the county about their drinking habits. When some BVU students read it, some did not think it was accurate, so, they did their own research and got some of their own statistics. By the opinion of the students, the information they found was more accurate than what the University of Illinois found. This book had many things wrong with it. There were many problems with the writing styles and the research in my opinion. It was too long and too detailed, especially with the insignificant ideas in, which should not have been in it, such as the explanation of our campus, an insignificant detail. There was not a good comparison in the national average, Buena Vista University is a small campus in a small town, not similar to, say, the University of Missouri with a large student population and in the city of Columbia. The research was not well done and was unbalanced. This book was about the drinking at BVU found from the survey, not when some of the professors were attending. The book did have some good points. It did have good statistics and were accurate for out campus. I believe that most of the students on campus do drink, but not to get drunk such as the book stated. The personal experiences were well written also. The book does give a bit of reflection on when drinking was not a large problem on campus, but it is insignificant. This book also did do a good job of what is being done on campus to stop the drinking. We now have midnight basketball, and volleyball, and alternative happy hour so the students have something other to do than drink or go to the bar. Many things could have been changed in the book. It was too long. They went off subject with the September, 11 2001 terrorists attacks, that are not significant and way off topic, and made the book last too long. If they had not strayed off the path of where the book was going it would have been shorter and probably kept my interest more, not making me want to sleep.

Life as a Teenager in 2014 Essay

When I was younger, I always thought my parents knew everything and were never wrong. I believed that they never made mistakes, they were too old and wise. The same went for my teachers, older members of our extended family and just adults in general. I felt so safe, comforted by the fact that they knew and were in control, so I didn’t have to be. The older I became, the more I realized how faulty my ideas were. I never did become any wiser as I grew up; I had information and data that bombarded my brain and knowledge on how I must act to be socially accepted. I was told what I could do and what I mustn’t do. Perhaps I do know more about life and the world, but I don’t understand it; perhaps that is for the better. I remember when I first heard the song ‘Teenagers’ by My Chemical Romance, and I began to think about the meaning behind it. ‘They’re gonna clean up your looks†¨With all the lies in the books†¨To make a citizen out of you†¨Because they sleep with a gun†¨And keep an eye on you, son†¨So they can watch all the things you do Because the drugs never work†¨They’re gonna give you a smirk†¨Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Cause they’ve got methods of keeping you clean†¨They’re gonna rip up your heads†¨Your aspirations to shreds†¨Another cog in the murder machine They say that teenagers scare the living s*** out of me†¨They could care less as long as someone’ll bleed†¨So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose†¨Maybe they’ll leave you alone, but not me The boys and girls in the clique†¨The awful names that they stick†¨You’re never gonna fit in much, kid†¨But if you’re troubled and hurt†¨What you got under your shirt†¨We’ll make them pay for the things that they did’ The s ong did change my view on how teenagers are seen by society, but not in a way that I expected. I think that the singer, Gerard Way, is exploring how society wants to change teenagers to make them do as they are told and fit in and do well at school. However, the more they do this, the more teenagers rebel. In the chorus, Way expresses his fear of teenagers, of their tendency to perhaps be unpredictable and violent. ‘So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose Maybe they’ll leave you alone, but not me’ I  think he is trying to put forward the idea that society might ignore them or leave them alone if they act threatening and imposing, but as he is an adult, he is expected to stay in line and meet the expectations of society. I think it’s difficult being a teenager. People don’t seem to realize or might have even forgotten. I am at the age where I am too old to rely on others and make mistakes but not old enough to take control of my life and look after myself. This time in my life that makes up my teenage years is important, and I want to make the most of that but I find myself overwhelmed by set backs and a severe lack of control. There are so many aspects of my life the government wants to control. They want to cram so many exams and so much work into these few short years of our lives that we find ourselves snowed under it all. It seems that these years of our lives are the most important. They define us and decide what our future holds. The pressure is on: if you fail your science G.C.S.E then you won’t be able to take it for A level. If you can’t take it for A level, you won’t be able to study it at university, or get a PHD, or ever become a doctor. The government has decided that exams mean everything. An A and an A* could mean the difference between your dream job and being unhappy for the rest of your life, stuck with a boring job that perhaps pays decently, becoming miserable and dying a failure. It’s too much. This has to be the reason why we find that more and more teenagers each year are turning to drugs, self harm, eating disorders and depression. Why does everyone question the rise in the number of these cases? Is it not obvious? Iâ€℠¢m sure it also has something to with the rise of the internet and everything that we are being exposed to. Quite frankly, we can’t cope with it. It seems that no one understands but teenagers themselves. Of course, it’s all quite a cliche to say that no one understands teenagers, but it does seem to be true. I wouldn’t say that all teenagers can’t cope and I realize that some cope better than others, but I know that our system isn’t working. Not the corrupt government with its exams and heavy pressure on students, and the not the corrupted internet with its social networking sites and pornographic images that seem to be everywhere. The adverts that tell us what a perfect person looks like are crushing and I find them insulting. There is a silent reminder that lingers in the air telling us to be normal, a clone of everyone else and to fit in. Some people come to a point in their life when they decide that enough  is enough and they wear what they want and act how they like. I have a theory that people are like sling shots: the more they are pulled back and restrained, the further they go when they are let go. They get to a point where they cannot be pulled back any further. This is when people pierce and tattoo their bodies or wear socially unacceptable clothing to show the world that they are not going to be told what to do. There are also the quiet ones who starve themselves to be in control, take drugs to take away the pain or self harm to prove that the pain they are feeling is not just in their heads, its real and they can control it. There are even people who work themselves sick to be in control of their future. What I find interesting is that every generation is different: each has its own pressures that differ from the last. Not long ago, I would have been expected to get married not too soon from now and raise a family, possibly with a man I didn’t even love. Only recently has homosexuality become socially and legally acceptable. So before, teenagers would have had trouble fitting in, or would have had to pretend to be heterosexual. We as teenagers never really have been in control and with a personality like mine, that can be extremely overwhelming. It seems now we are finding our voice and are able to express ourselves. I can see that there are positive aspects about being a teenager in this day and age: some of us turn to positive hobbies to take our minds off the stress of exams. More and more teenagers are relying on their great passion in life and developing it to take their mind off their diffic ulties. This might be music, cooking, writing, designing, drawing or sport. I still remember the first time I played the drums and I’ve never looked back. They made me love music even more and I started playing the guitar as well. I wrote songs and started to sing. Music became my obsession and it is one aspect of my life that I can control. I can do it myself without having to listen to the people who tell me what I should be listening to, what I should be playing or what I should be writing. I do believe that if nothing is going to change, then we all need something to turn to in life that reminds us we can cope. I know that it wouldn’t work for everyone, but perhaps people who take drugs could start drawing or painting. Instead of people focussing on their body weight they could start to cook their own food and be in control of that instead. People who self harm could write down their feelings or express it through music, or even go out and run off  their sadness. I think people need to remind themselves what makes them happy and if nothing does then they should find something. I know nothing will change for some time, but in the meantime we need to find a way to make the most of our teenage years.

List of Alice Paul Quotes

Alice Paul is credited as one of the leading figures responsible for the passage of the 19th Amendment (woman suffrage) to the U.S. Constitution. In her honor, the Equal Rights Amendment was sometimes called the Alice Paul Amendment. Selected Alice Paul Quotations When you put your hand to the plow, you cant put it down until you get to the end of the row. I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me, there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality. It is better, as far as getting the vote is concerned I believe, to have a small, united group than an immense debating society. I always feel the movement is a sort of mosaic. Each of us puts in one little stone, and then you get a great mosaic at the end. We women of America tell you that America is not a democracy. Twenty million women are denied the right to vote. The Womans Party is made up of women of all races, creeds, and nationalities who are united on the one program of working to raise the status of women. There will never be a new world order until women are a part of it. My first Paul ancestor was imprisoned in England as a Quaker and came to this country for that reason, I mean not to escape prison but because he was such a strong opponent of the government in every possible way. All the girls planned to start in and support themselves—and you know it wasnt so general then for girls to support themselves.  -About her Swarthmore fellow students While I was at the School of Economics, I met one girl especially, her name was Rachel Barrett, I remember, who was a very ardent worker in the Womens Social and Political Union, as they called it, of Mrs. Pankhursts. I remember the first thing that I ever really did [for suffrage] while I was still at the School of Economics. This particular person, I think it was this Rachel Barrett, asked me if I would go out and help her in selling their paper,  Votes for Women,  in the street. So I did. I remember how very bold and good she was and how very timid and [laughing] unsuccessful I was, standing beside her trying to ask people to buy  Votes for Women. So contrary to my nature, really. I didnt seem to be very brave by nature. I remember very well doing this day after day after day, going down to the School of Economics, where she was a student and I was a student and other people were students, and we would just stand out in the street wherever we were supposed to stand, on some corner, with these  Votes for Women. It is what they did all over London. A great many of the girls in all parts of London were doing it. -About her first contribution to the woman suffrage movement Crystal Eastman about Alice Paul: History has known dedicated souls from the beginning, men and women whose every waking moment is devoted to an impersonal end, leaders of a cause who are ready at any moment quite simply to die for it. But is it rare to find in one human being this passion for service and sacrifice combined first with the shrewd calculating mind of a born political leader, and second with the ruthless driving force, sure judgment, and phenomenal grasp of detail that characterize a great entrepreneur.