Formal Organizations

Wendy Whiting Blome, LICSW, PhD

National Catholic School of Social Service

Fall 2010

What is a formal organization?

…collectivities of people, with a high degree of structure, working together to meet goals (Hutchison, 2008, p. 409)

All organizations must: define objectives, hire staff willing to work towards goals, control the contributions of staff, get resources from environment, dispense products or services, and work with environment

Organizations are Everywhere…

In what organizations do you participate?

Have you ever thought about how the structure of the organization affects the functioning of the organization?

How might the structure of the organization affect client outcomes?

Leavitt’s Diamond Model of Organizations

From: Scott, R. (2003). Organizations: Rational, natural, and open systems—Fifth edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall/Pearson Inc, p. 18.

Organizational Theories

Rational system theories Ideal-type bureaucracyScientific management

Natural system theoriesHuman relations

Open system theoriesContingency

Rational System Theories of Organizations

Max Weber—proposed bureaucracy as the most efficient organizational form

Focused on internal structure of organization—not the environment

Ideal-type Bureaucracy

Formal rationality—there is ‘one’ best way to organize Clear hierarchy; chain of command—worker to

supervisor to manager to administrator For greatest effectiveness, communication follows

hierarchy Division of labor Merit based recruitment Record keeping important to document actions No organization will meet the ideal-type 100% Organizations will vary in how they implement

components

Scientific Management Theory

Frederick Taylor—established during pre-industrial period; problems of unhealthy work environments; child labor

Question: how can scientific methods be applied to the work place?

“Enlightened capitalism”—how can work be structured so it is more efficient?

Analyze tasks—which produce maximum output for minimum input of resources

Managers use data, not arbitrary decision making; are ‘fact finders’

Scientific Management (cont)

Taylor believed labor and management have compatible interests—work at peak efficiency for top wages Believed man was rational and would make economic choices

based on the degree of monetary reward offered Rational approach to organizing tasks from the ‘bottom

up’ Change individual tasks to change larger structure of the work

Mass production—simplify work of each person; enforced inspection oriented rather than prevention oriented approach Ignored human component—boredom, sense of completion, self

determination

Scientific Management (cont) Given credit for developing principles of management

including: Clear delineation of authority and responsibility Separation of planning from operations Incentives for workers Management by exception Task specialization

Criticism—assumes workers are motivated by money alone

In social services more agencies are tracking ‘billable hours’; have incentive systems for workers—ex: SW gets bonus if exceed billable target for the month

Environmental (remember Leavitt) demands from 3rd party payers—organizations are dependent on the resources, so they will organize the work accordingly

Natural Systems Theories of Organizations Developed in response to concerns about

rational system theories Recognized the ‘irrational’ aspect of

organizations Difference between ‘stated’ and ‘real’ goals

of organizations Examples?????

Human Relations Model

Hawthorne effect—Rational theories did not explain why effectiveness and efficiency increased

Elton Mayo and others recognized the importance of human interaction in organizational studies

Emphasis on informal structures within organizations

Human Relations (cont)

Assumes organizational effectiveness needs congruence between goals of the organization and the personal needs of the workers

Views people as having an inherent desire to work and can exercise self control and self direction if they are committed to the goals of the organization

Democratic style, confidence of leaders in subordinates

Difficulties with model: social service organizations lack clear service technology

Open System Theories of Organizations

Maintenance of boundaries and cross boundary transactions are important

All systems are part of larger systems

Builds on Systems Concepts

Input-conversion-output processes

Input processes—all open systems draw from the environment raw materials needed to achieve goals and maintain existence

Conversion processes—resources are processed in keeping with the system’s purposes; the work the system does to achieve its goals

Output processes—results of the conversion process are returned to the environment, these output resources may in turn become raw material for another system within the environment

Example….

What is the ‘input’ for a mental health clinic?

What is the ‘conversion process’ for the clinic?

What is the ‘output’ of the clinic? The ‘output’ of the clinic is the ‘input’ of

what other organizations?

Organization—in—Environment

Contingency theory is the organizational version of the person-in-environment approach

Social work builds on the importance of viewing a person within an environmental context

What does that mean when looking at organizations?

Contingency theory

Used in organizational management—‘It depends’ model

No one best way to organize—depends on the nature of the environment

If organization’s internal features best match the demands of the environment the organization will thrive

Contingency Theory (cont)

Design of organization must ‘fit’ organizational strategy and structure

Look at the ‘fit’ between the manager and the organization and the environment

Significant work by Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch

Example…..Beacon Center

What was the ‘fit’ between the organization founder, Martha Green, and the environment?

When Helen Blue became director had the organizational environment changed?

The organization had two more CEOs—what type of leader should the Board be looking for now?

Mechanistic—Organic Continuum

Contingency theory looks at the continuum from mechanistic to organic organizations

Mechanistic….

Job highly specialized; separated into discrete tasks

Supervisor assigns and directs work Hierarchical structure Communication top down Decisions made high in organization Mechanistic systems manage the process

Organic....

The more varied the environment the more differentiated the structure

Focus of work is on results Responsibility is delegated Teamwork is emphasized Project teams adapt to needs—fluid structure Information is shared Organic systems manage the results

Examples….

Social service agencies can be found all along the mechanistic—organic continuum

Where does your agency fall?

Applying Contingency Theory

Northouse article—using contingency theory to analyze leader—organization match Leader—member relations: confidence, loyalty felt for

leader Task structure: level of structure of each task and

how it is monitored—from highly to minimally structured

Position power: amount of authority a leader has to reward or punish—pay raises, promotions, fire staff

Contingency model….

Questionnaire asks people to identify their ‘least preferred coworker’

High score=relationship motivated Low score=task motivated Read chart (p. 111) from top to bottom—good

leader-member relations; high structure, strong power—low LPC score would be effective

Not all leaders are effective in all situations

Exercise….

Look at Northouse page 121, Case 6.2 What kind of leader-member relations

exist? What level of task structure? What kind of position power? Given a LPC of 44 would you anticipate

problems or success for this leader?

Summary….

Social work is conducted in organizations The structure of organizations influences

the success of staff and the outcomes for clients

Social workers are part of organizations and are responsible for assuring organizations function effectively and efficiently