“Organizations are created to produce something: service or product. Therefore, they use human and non-human energy to transform raw materials into products or services ” Idalberto Chiavenato
Background and generalities
Let us think from when we were children, adolescents or young people who attended school or a hospital or as members, together with some friends, of a sports or cultural team, we were part of an organization, regardless of the formality that it was.
There is another large group of institutions (religious, governmental, non-governmental), companies, units of the armed forces, and many more that are formally established and which are themselves organizations.
It is very important to study the characteristics, principles, types, evolution and development of organizations that are formally constituted and that in this way serve society either by providing products, services or any other issue that yields material or spiritual benefits to people..
Every organization that is established has a mission, which is its reason for being, and certain specific objectives to be fulfilled.
This mission, as expressed, is the raison d'être of the organization, together with the environment in which it will develop its activities, determine the focus of important components such as: objectives, functions, tasks, policies, strategy, tactics, as well as the organizational structure, the same, on the basis of an organizational design and a design of the jobs that allow adequate performance and comply with the issues raised, including, of course, the mission of the organization.
It is necessary to focus on an essential aspect that must accompany us as criteria and action throughout the study and subsequent practical application of the acquired knowledge, and that is that organizations are made up of people who are their most valuable element and our vision must always be next: work is done by people, developed by people and the results of work, in one way or another, are for people.
Definition of organization
Many concepts or definitions have been provided about organizations even focused on the productive, the economic or the social.
I really like the definitions that give an approach with the greatest possible comprehensiveness, so the following is proposed:
"An organization is an open social system, which constitutes a living, dynamic organism, with the necessary flexibility to assimilate change, and which receives certain resources transforming them into products and / or services."
The organization as an open social system
As an open social system is influenced by the environment and in turn influences it, another essential aspect is the variations that occur in the outputs (products, services) when the inputs (input resources) vary.
Emphasis is placed on the fact that any organization to meet its objectives and be able to develop, must have its workers prepared and be flexible enough to assimilate and respond quickly to the changes that the environment imposes on it.
The achievement of an organization is not abstract and to achieve it it is necessary to guarantee the convergence between its interests and those of the workers.
Organizational Resources
When analyzing the concept of organization, let us observe that it receives a set of factors that must be coordinated to obtain results, these organizational resources will be described below:
Human Resources (HR)
The beginning will be by the Human Resources Human Resources integrated by all the people who make up the organization, without distinction of the hierarchical level they occupy. They constitute the only living resource, thinking and capable of using the other resources adequately (or not).
They are also distinguished by having knowledge, skills, talent, aptitudes and values that other resources do not possess, and that they are capable of innovating and creating, as well as, with adequate motivation, to improve results comprehensively.
However, including people as HR, or apparently one more resource of the organization, I wish to express that it is approached in this way due to a teaching and location problem, but it is necessary to deepen and propose that with the workers the conception should be different and the The approach with these is not that of the application of a technique or management but should be given attention as a human being, as a social being, only by respecting this right will the conscious deployment and application of all the potential of man in obtaining the objectives be guaranteed organizational and what is very important, offering and giving the human being the dimension and treatment it deserves and that we are obliged, morally and materially, to provide.
At all times the expression HR is used, it will be done taking into account what has been stated above.
Material resources
They are made up of raw materials, materials, equipment, buildings, land and others used in the process of obtaining products and / or services.
Financial resources
They are all the different forms of capital that are used to acquire other resources and means necessary for the organization. It is made up of cash, financing, credits, accounts receivable and others.
Together with these resources there are others exposed by different authors, for example Chiavenato, I. in Administration of Human Resources (1994) also raises two resources that are commercial and administrative, where the former "constitute the means by which organizations locate, they come into contact and influence customers. They include all the activities of market research and analysis, sales system, promotion, prices and others ”.
The latter, according to the same author, are “the means in which business activities are planned, organized, directed and controlled. They also include decision-making processes, information distribution and others ”.
Organization theories
Organizations are composed of many elements and details, of which several of them could be enumerated, however, seen in its broader context, I consider that it is important to express certain elements that without them it would be impossible to reach, even the name of the organization These are: people, technology and process, with greater or lesser development of the same, but always present these.
It is not possible to address this issue without exposing, even in a general sense, the historical trends related to the administrative aspect, which of course have had an impact on the forms and development of organizational activity, on organizational design and on the design of positions of work, as well as in other activities of utmost importance in organizations.
Regarding the different theories or schools that have followed one another, it must be said that none is exclusive of the others and that what happened in practice is that some have relied on the other, in many cases changing the form but in most cases. very little in its content.
Here is a table that summarizes the proposals of the main schools and authors of administrative thought over time:
Table 1. Evolution of organization theory
The first of these theories is the classical, bureaucratic or mechanistic as it is also known, and its creation and development arises from the contribution of various personalities, among which one of its precursors stands out, Adam Smith, whose contribution on aspects related to the division of labor had an impact on the economy of time and work, Robert Owen with his arguments on the improvement of living and working conditions and the influence of these in increasing production and profits.
Henry Gantt with the creation of the charts and the extension and development of Owen's ideas on qualifying people's work, which were later extended to aspects of production as well.
Henry Fayol with his presentation on the principles of administration, since he thought that predicting scientifically and also applying scientific methods would achieve superior results, Frederick W. Taylor with his time analysis, timing the movements of employees to apply scientific methods to the process of work, what was later called the Scientific Organization of Work, all of them including Max Weber with his bureaucratic conception of administration in which he stated that a well-defined hierarchy with precise concepts, rules and norms contributed to the development and performance of the organization.
Spouses Frank and Llilian Gilbreth with their studies of movement and fatigue, and the three position plan.
All these criteria and approaches, and others not mentioned, contributed decisively to the formation of this theory.
The classical theory is characterized by the following aspects:
- Division of activities into simple and repetitive tasks Establishment of precise and rigid procedures Well centralized hierarchy and defined through the organizational structure Separation of management activities from executing activities One-way communication Well centralization and control defined on the basis of the formal authority of the position Limited knowledge of the workers, only about the activities to be carried out, which as explained were very simple The increase in productivity was sought on the basis of: strict control over, the methods used in the work process, the movements that were executed and the measurement of their times, the determination of the work rhythms.Introduction of assembly lines with high rigidity for the realization of rigid production as well.
The classical theory has brought advantages, also having its limitations.
Advantage
- It constituted a great advance for its time with the application of scientific and non-empirical methods as was done until then. One of the main advantages has been to serve as a basis for other theories where even some of its precepts continue to be applied today.
Disadvantages
- Consider that its application would always be on a stable environment. Its principles are considered very general, so its application is limited to organizations of a certain complexity. It did not consider the worker in his true dimension but as an appendage of the machines.
The limitations of this theory are mainly in relation to the human aspect, since it considered it on a lower plane in relation to machines, not only in terms of its treatment as a human being, but also underestimating the importance it has throughout the world. production process or services.
This situation motivated other thinkers, including sociologists and psychologists, to carry out studies whose results introduced important aspects of human relationships, especially in terms of social and psychological elements.
The development of investigations, among which those carried out in a Western Electric factory in Hawthorne, on different aspects, had a great impact at the time, however, it is necessary to say that in many cases the results were not as expected. Elton Mayo participated in these experiments together with other collaborators.
One of the interpretations that were made of the investigations was that the workers improved their performance due to the attention that had been given to them when conducting the study, this fact was called "Hawthorne Effect".
With the classical school, it was concluded that the human being was motivated by his economic needs, a question that was refuted by this movement by stating that man was motivated by his social needs and that group compulsion was an important factor. too. Despite the progress with this behaviorist movement, as it was called, expectations were not 100 percent met either.
Deeper studies were carried out with more sophisticated methods, the results of which enriched the criteria on motivation where theories appeared in this regard, by scholars such as Abraham Maslow, Douglas McGregor and Chris Argyris.
Studies have continued to take other aspects into account and have also obtained other important conclusions.
Of great impact and interest is the systems approach that specifies and expresses the organization as a system made up of various interrelated and interdependent subsystems.
The contingency approach where it is proposed to take into account the situational aspect, as well as the circumstances, so that the decisions are adequate.
Below is a suggested playlist (20 videos, 1 hour and 43 minutes, Educatina) in which the evolution of the organization's theories is summarized, presenting the most significant contributions from authors such as Taylor, Fayol, Mayo, Follet, Maslow, McGregor, Strauss, Sayles, Argyris, Likert, Weber, Mayntz, Etzioni, Kauffman, Simon and Drucker, who have shaped managerial thinking for over a century to the present day.
Relationship of organizational activity with changes in society
Organizations must face a changing environment which requires a forecast or at least a prompt adaptation that allows it to issue a quick response.
The use of change must be assumed and grow with it from all its edges.
These variations can occur constantly and in any aspect, element or area of the organization, reference will be made to the change that has occurred in the world of work in recent years, which has allowed the evolution and development of Human Resources.
- The jobs were designed to perform simple and repetitive tasks with very little variation. Today there are systematic variations in jobs, as a result of the vertiginous advance of technology, which leads to the design of multipurpose jobs, work is done as a team, work results are shared and orientation The results of the activity must constitute the basis for the worker's remuneration, which must be composed of a fixed part and a variable part, which means that performance evaluations must be deep and objective so that there is a true correspondence between remuneration and results,being also a moral stimulation due to its fairness and an incentive for the solution of the difficulties that arise. The incorporations or movements to occupy a job will be carried out on the basis of the competencies of the people, comparing them with the requirements of that position This will allow us to locate the right person. Ensuring competitiveness is a vital issue at the present time and for this, people must be considered as the most important thing in the organization and not, as a cost, or as a machinery or merchandise. We want to reaffirm the above with a quote from Charles Handy: "This will allow us to locate the right person. Ensuring competitiveness is a vital issue at the present time and for this, people must be considered as the most important thing in the organization and not as a cost, or as machinery or merchandise. We want to reaffirm the above with a quote from Charles Handy: "This will allow us to locate the right person. Ensuring competitiveness is a vital issue at the present time and for this, people must be considered as the most important thing in the organization and not as a cost, or as machinery or merchandise. We want to reaffirm the above with a quote from Charles Handy: "The organization that treats its employees as assets that require maintenance, love and investment will behave very differently from another that treats them as costs to be reduced where and when it can"The speed of response is very important, since the risk of not being timely can lead to non-compliance with work objectives and / or loss of competitiveness. In this sense, it is very necessary that decision-making does not go along the traditional line of command, but the new conception is to make flat and simple organizational structures and that decisions are made at the levels closest to the base, and even better still in The base itself. As stated, the jobs must be versatile, so the concepts in the preparation of HR must vary, to be in accordance with this new situation, imposing adequate training and development.
Types of organizations
Despite the existence of different types, forms or variants, it is necessary to emphasize that the vast majority of organizations are subject to traditional variants and only in highly developed countries and in industries with certain characteristics and high development as well, do these forms of most up-to-date organization.
Different types of organizations can be cited, some with very similar variants, in this case we will see the following:
- Adhocratic organizations. Learning organization. Network organizations.
Below it would be useful to describe some of the more important details about these organizations.
Adhocratic Organizations
The strict and high hierarchy of the classical school is lost in these organizations, in which work teams prevail, which impregnate a series of characteristics such as: speed in the face of changes, great creativity and possibilities to innovate, high decentralization, and specialization in equipment and / or jobs.
For the aforementioned reasons, sometimes there is no clear definition of the relationship between the boss and his collaborators, which is considered a deficiency of this type of organization.
Learning organization
Learning organizations, above all, are characterized by placing people in an important position, guaranteeing constant evolution in terms of learning and increasing knowledge to take quick actions in the face of changes.
The acquisition of knowledge in these organizations is not based on those acquired by certain people, no matter how important they are within the process, but is a movement throughout the organization and a culture in all its members that allows everyone to acquire it and to renew it. and develop constantly.
Based on the above, a quote from Alhama Belamaric, R. (2005). Social dimension of the company. (Page 105) which states: “A learning organization is identified when knowledge is shared and identified, in such a way that all its members, without exception, can take advantage of it to respond to changes. With an attitude and style open to change, it is oriented towards a strategic vision and innovation common to all ”.
These organizations, says Peter Senge, are based on the fulfillment of five disciplines that are:
- Personal mastery. Mental models. Team learning. Shared vision. Systemic thinking.
Network organizations
Networked organizations have a group of distinctive characteristics, and are supported by the knowledge acquired and used on computing, telecommunications, also using the contributions provided by the intranet and the Internet.
Together with the previous aspects, his work is based on flat structures, the reduction of the traditional hierarchy and a very operational work towards the realization of projects, totally prevailing an effective communication and a great motivation, by operational decentralization and trust that allow a correct effectiveness and efficiency in the execution of the processes, together with an increase in job satisfaction.
A new way of thinking and acting is required that allow a high degree of integration. At a certain stage of work development, it is necessary to include clients, suppliers and other factors related to the process in this integration.
Organizational structure
What has been studied in the previous sections allows us to have a global vision of organizations, from their definition to their fundamental and inherent aspects, it is important to know that every organization has a reason for being that, as we saw, is its mission, and that together with The environment determines how a group of aspects will be approached and carried out in fact, seen also, now, for this it is necessary to design and work properly with an organizational structure that is capable of allowing the fulfillment of the planned.
Specifically, it can be said that the organizational structure is the way in which activities are divided, ordered, distributed, organized and the interrelationships of authority and communication are established. For this, it is necessary to previously carry out a correct division of work, define how the tasks will be grouped, that is, their departmentalization and how they will be interrelated and integrated with each other.
Organizational structures are graphed through boxes and appropriately shaped lines, which is known as an organization chart. The boxes represent the grouping of tasks and the lines are the chain of command, which express how the authority will be distributed, that is, who will be subordinate to whom.
Outline of a typical organizational structure (org chart)
From what has been seen in this chapter it can be inferred, without fear of being wrong, that each organization must have its structure according to its characteristics, so they should not be mechanically copied from one organization to another. Another element to note is that the approaches to structures have changed over time, so they constitute a dynamic element.
There are different forms of structures which are named depending on the factor to be defined, these are:
- By the way of structuring the areas (addresses, departments, sections or others) can be classified into: functional organizational structure, organizational structure by product (or client, or geographically), matrix organizational structure, depending on the command line they can be vertical and horizontal. Vertical structures are characterized by having several levels of subordination, which does not allow decisions and information in general to arrive quickly from the initial level to the end and vice versa, which constitutes a disadvantage in these times of accelerated changes. Horizontal structures, on the other hand, have few levels, which allows the possibility of eliminating the disadvantage of the former, the current trend is towards the use of the latter.Depending on their legalization, they can be formal and informal, the former are those that are accredited and documentary legalized, and are our object of study, the informal the opposite. However, the latter exist and even manifest themselves within organizations through interpersonal relationships.
- The functional organizational structure consists of the specialization of the areas by functions (Human Resources, Economics, Marketing, Sales, others), that is, the authority is based on the function. It has several practical advantages and is applied in relatively small organizations with little volume of products, one of its main disadvantages is its use where there are a large number of products. Decisions are made centrally. Each boss has the possibility to contribute their knowledge to the maximum.The organizational structure by product (customer, geographic) is used in large entities with high volumes of products, clients or in organizations with distant geographic divisions. In these cases this structure is much more advantageous than the functional one.The matrix organizational structure combines the advantages of the above and reduces the disadvantages. One aspect to evaluate is the double subordination to which workers are subjected with this structure.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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