Coordinator
Chapter 2 -- Organizations as Machines
Machines now influence virtually every aspect of our existence. The use of machines has radically transformed the nature of productive activity and has left its mark on the imagination, thoughts, and feelings of humans throughout the ages. We have leaned to use the machine as a metaphor for ourselves and our society organizations that are designed and operated as if they were machines are now usually called bureaucracies.
The origins of mechanistic organization
Organizations are instruments created to achieve other ends. Organization comes from the Greek organon which means tool or instrument.
With the invention and proliferation of machines (the industrial revolution) the concepts of organization became mechanized.
Division of Labor became intensified and specialized as manufacturers reduced discretion of workers in favor of control by their machines and supervisors.
German sociologist Max Weber observed the parallels between the mechanization of industry and the proliferation of bureaucratic forms of organization.
Bureaucratic form routinizes the process of administration exactly as the machine routinizes production.
Bureaucracy- form of organization that emphasizes precision, speed, clarity, regularity, reliability, and efficiency achieved through the creation of a fixed division of tasks, hierarchical supervision, and detailed rules and regulations.
Weber was concerned about the effect the bureaucracy would have on the human side of society.
Classical management theorists focused on the design of the total organization while scientific managers focused on the design and management of individual jobs.
Classical management Theory: Designing Bureaucratic Organizations:
Management is a process of planning, organization, command, coordination, and control.
Classical theorists design the organization exactly as if they were designing a machine (Organization is conceived as a network of parts).
Classical theorists
Machines now influence virtually every aspect of our existence. The use of machines has radically transformed the nature of productive activity and has left its mark on the imagination, thoughts, and feelings of humans throughout the ages. We have leaned to use the machine as a metaphor for ourselves and our society organizations that are designed and operated as if they were machines are now usually called bureaucracies.
The origins of mechanistic organization
Organizations are instruments created to achieve other ends. Organization comes from the Greek organon which means tool or instrument.
With the invention and proliferation of machines (the industrial revolution) the concepts of organization became mechanized.
Division of Labor became intensified and specialized as manufacturers reduced discretion of workers in favor of control by their machines and supervisors.
German sociologist Max Weber observed the parallels between the mechanization of industry and the proliferation of bureaucratic forms of organization.
Bureaucratic form routinizes the process of administration exactly as the machine routinizes production.
Bureaucracy- form of organization that emphasizes precision, speed, clarity, regularity, reliability, and efficiency achieved through the creation of a fixed division of tasks, hierarchical supervision, and detailed rules and regulations.
Weber was concerned about the effect the bureaucracy would have on the human side of society.
Classical management theorists focused on the design of the total organization while scientific managers focused on the design and management of individual jobs.
Classical management Theory: Designing Bureaucratic Organizations:
Management is a process of planning, organization, command, coordination, and control.
Classical theorists design the organization exactly as if they were designing a machine (Organization is conceived as a network of parts).
Classical theorists