Organizational Theory

There have been numerous studies regarding how the influence of technology has brought closely change to the bodily structure of an institution as well as its offsetes. many a nonher(prenominal) of the studies have concluded that the transcriptional structure is strongly affected by the principal technology which the organization intents. (Volt, 2005) Technology, In simple terms, Is giben as the trans habitusation of In vests Into outputs using machines, equipments and processes. It Is a system based on the use of experience and organization, evident in physical objects for the attainment of precise goals.However, with the coming a keen-sighted of new technologies, as well as postmodernist and symbolic-interpretative, it has further grow on how we think of technology to include it into the arts and tender practice. This try on whollyow for look in the modernist and postmodernist perspective which forget t abolisher the different views as to how technology, organiza tions, management and employees be cogitate. The modernist perspective computes ontology as objectivism. What this style Is that they call up In the macrocosm which exists externally outside the Influence of human race.They see the world as something which Is not subjected to others authority, walling to be covered. They moot that technology causes rough value for the organization and that technology entrust decide the structure of an organization. Epistemology wise, modernist see it as positivism. They have a preference towards hard data such as numbers. An assumption made would be that with the application of scientific method, it is possible to begin the truth about real events.This would then allow friendship to top hat tested against the objective world. With the accumulation of knowledge, humans atomic number 18 than able to furtherance further and eventually evolve. Modernists adopt the General Systems Theory which is influenced by ml Deuteriums structural functionalism. They be concerned with what argon the factors that bring Individuals and groups together. The concept of segment of labor, central to concept of social structure Is the core concept for the modernist. They believe In the quantitative methods of look for.When studying organization as a whole, It inseparable be noted that the level of analysis would be the organization and the subsystems and ace system are the departments and environment respectively. The goal is to ultimately help sick the larger system by understanding the laws which over these systems and how an activity is macrocosm performed by the various subsystems. Modernists believe that the fulfillment of a purpose by an organization is closely related with technology to the environment. The increased improvements that technology al instructions brings make it a special human venture.The example of us humans wanting to own the latest possible gadgets rout out be utilise for this instance. This bring s about the existence of a market Indirectly. The advances in technology are believed to bring about advances to an organization, positively and their level of steady Improvement privy be measured by Its technological advancement. Definitions of technology washbowl be broken down Into core, high and service. Core technology simply refers to aeonian flow of resources that are have it offt directly with the production of the intangible services which are consumed as products.Moving on, the modernist perspectives look into 3 most dominant typologies that emphasizes on how the dimensions of an organizational design is organism influenced by technology. The first typology would be Joan Woodwards Industrial system (1965). She essentially conducted tests to see if organizational principles were actually put into use. It was similarly shown that compatibility of companies organizing themselves with technology was commercially successful. She found out that performance were of the hi ghest levels when technologies of mass production were put together with mechanistic forms of organization.Also, the highest level of performance was achieved when technologies dealing with small stilt or continuous processing were combined with organic firms. However, one limitation of her typology was that the technologies mingled in the sector of service were ignored. The second typology was James Thompson Organizations in Action (1967). Basically e suggested that the type of technology, which was different depending on the microscope stage of interdependence in the transformation process, affects the structure of an organization.He distinguished between wide linked, mediating and intensive. Long linked is technologies deal with mass production and continuous processing. It is when an remark is being put on one end of a long series of steps which happens in sequence which will end with the output. Mediating is technologies involved in bringing people together for exchange. Examples include those working in banks or insurance companies whose purpose of to bring customers together for exchange.Intensive technologies involve to a greater extent than 1 specialized skill, for example, hospital emergency rooms or research labs. To put in simply, it is when in that location is a unique input and the end result will be a customized output. The third typology is the Charles Proper organisational Analysis (1970). He studied the reasons why the complexities of technologies are high than others and how it give out breaking wind to uncertainty. These uncertainties are in terms of the quality of inputs and whether they are available, and also variability involved in the transformation process.A technology with a higher level of complexity will antecede to a higher make out f uncertainty. This will also extend to decisions which are less programmed and the use of discretion will be higher. There are 2 factors which will influence the complexity of technology . They are task variability and task inalienability. assess variability is the number of exceptions to standard procedures encountered in the application of given possibleness and task inalienability is the extent which, an exception is encountered, there are known methods to deal with it. Hatch and Councils, 2013) These 3 typologies that have been apply demonstrated how an organizational structure is affected by the different technologies. The production technologies chosen must be matched with organizational forms and also the success of an organization would be obtained if the structures and procedures are satisfactory to the productive technology which has been employed. The structure of an organization technology that are used for their transformation. I shall now move on to the postmodernist perspective.Ontologically, they believe that reality is merely Just an illusion which, through language and discourse, is created. The world is said to be made to get on in language, discourse and artwork with no referents because there is nothing to which to refer. Hatch and Councils, 2013) This is distinctly against what the modernist perspective said. Epistemologically, post modernist believes that there can be no truth about reality, since there is no freedom to it. The use of language is used to enforce power and social arrangements whilst organizations are merely, imagined entities.Postmodernists believe that technology can be a destructive process which can cause a change or the downfall of set up organizational roles and values. They believe that technology is a form of control. An example that can be used for this statement s the British manufacturers working in the textile industry who wanted to introduce more machines but this move was greatly objected by the workers as they are afraid of the impact on their Jobs and skills if it happened. There are 3 aspects with regards to conceptions of technology by the postmodernist.Firstly would be the techno logies of representation. This is basically Just the technologies involved to represent individuals and work processes. Examples would include electronic data and photographs which can all be used to control employees. This brings about devotion which the future might bring. This fear is brought about by he anticipate growth of equivalence which can track almost everything, from the keystroke made to the websites accessed. All this will lead to the higher possibility of online accounts being hacked into which will ultimately lead to the capturing of ones identity and codes.The second aspect is the technologies of control. This is when the value for highest level of performance achieved by the reduction of energy being expended while increasing output to its maximal capacity and is often brought about by decisions of values linked to a person or institution which are based on their constituent to efficiency. However, a disadvantage is that since integrity and fairness are not cle arly in dealings to efficiency, it brings about the neglecting of truth and Justice.Adding on, knowledge will be changed into a commodity by technology as the acceptable knowledge can be spread by the computer. The last aspect would be civilization. This is a hybridism kind of organization which is known to be of a techno-human construct. This occurs when an organization is being taken over by computers or electromechanical instruments, be it in whole or Just by part. The organization is being determined not only by canines, but also by the human intervention. There are dangers involved in civilization. One of which would be technology being abused and misused.Instead of technology serving the organization which is the principal(prenominal) point of it, organizational technology, individuals from an organization would tend to expect more from it scorn the limitations of how much it can actually deliver. The social and human factors also will be inferior to the capacities technolo gically. Additionally, according to a French philosopher that influences post-modernism is Michel Faculty, it is power related with regards to all social, political and organization relations. The relations of power do not act according to any reasonable logic or contend system.There is bound to be resistance whenever there is power involved. Employees will denudation way to go around the loopholes that are present in the organization. However, resistance can never lead to freedom from restraint since all social relations are in relations to power. There is no way to resist domination. Postmodernist organizations make use of surveillance mechanisms which is to control the members inwardly the organization. This includes closed-circuit television, monitoring of computer usage and mandatory diaries.These will lead to self- surveillance since members will know that they are being monitored which will lead to dehumidifying conditions. All the points in postmodernist perspective that have been talked about draws solicitude to not only social, but also the historical and political creation of knowledge, humans and relations socially. This would include how every one of these will appear in the present-day organizations. When domination is supported, humans and organizations will be at the losing end if they overlook the construction activities by regarding the existing world as rational and neutral.Technology might be selected since it meets the necessary needs of power holders inwardly the organization and not because of its natural superiority. The postmodernist are not all against the technology computer brings. They believe it encourages democracy and also believe it is an essential tool with regards to the economy, environment and political resistance. In conclusion, it can be seen that the modernist insights with regards to the relations between technology, organizations, management and employees are different from what the postmodernist perspective has to offer.Modernists believe that technology rings about different effects to the structure of an organization and the correct kind of productive technology employed will bring about the highest levels of performance. The post modernist on the other hand, sees technology as a form of power. They believe that the usage of surveillance as a form of control over its members will lead to self-surveillance. This is true to a certain extent but it also leads to a kind of dehumidifying condition since employees are then expected to take extra precaution when doing something in the work since their every move is being monitored.