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Background material for Year 3 Semester 2 PPSD session on Tuesday 8th April 2008 by Prof Omar Hasan Kasule Sr.
OVERVIEW
Organizing is a process of allocating resources, human and material, to achieve a mission. An organization is a group of people working together to achieve a common purpose. An organization may be formal or informal. Organizational effectiveness can be assessed based on quality, quantity, efficiency morale, ability to respond to changes, and development. Organizational effectiveness can be improved in 4 areas: leadership, planning, organization, and control.
ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN
Organizational design is determining the organizational components, their grouping and definition. Organizational design should be rational, realistic, efficient, and responsive to its environment. An organizational design can be based on the function, the end-product, the clientele, the process or the place.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Organizational structure refers to how the various components of an organization fit together, coordinate, interrelate and work together. An organizational structure can be analyzed at the level of individuals, group of individuals or the whole organization. Organizational structure defines jobs (design, definition, description and grouping), division of labor, specialization, departmentation, chain of command, reporting relations, span of control, authority and its delegation, control and coordination, and human resource management.
The type of structure chosen is determined by the organizational strategy, the environment it is operating in, the management philosophy, the size of the organization, the technology used, and the geographical distribution. Differentiation is adaptation of organizational subunits to the environment. Specialization is necessary for maximum efficiency without loss of the holistic view. Integration is the directing of differentiated specialized units in order not to lose sight of the central mission, objectives, and vision. Substitutability assures that when an individual or department is incapacitated there is someone else in the organization who can do the work. A bureaucracy is designed to control large administrative units in an efficient and rational way. A bureaucracy is characterized by division of labor and authority; a hierarchy or chain of command; and a structure. It tends to be impersonal, formalistic, bound by rules and highly disciplined.
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Organizational culture is that set of shared values and norms that distinguish one organization from others. No organization can operate in a cultural vacuum divorced from its social environment. An organizational culture is based on the following principles: work is a form of worship, sense of mission and purpose, universal values, clear contract: duties and responsibilities, leadership as a trust (amanah), commitment (Ikhlas), and hope for reward. The leadership has a lot to do with defining and sustaining a particular organizational culture. It defines the philosophy, the policies and programs, behaviors, and actions. The work environment reflects the organizational culture. Job design, team-work, fairness, equity, justice, and job security are products or manifestations of the organizational culture. They in turn impact on and shape that culture.
ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Organizations undergo development as they adapt to a changing environment. Organizational structure must change to be appropriate to the environment and technological advancement. Development can be stimulated by external or internal factors. Effective organizational development must be planned, pro-active and not reactive, problem-oriented, well managed and always focussed on improvement. Too rapid an expansion can end in disaster. Concentrate on small steps so that you can debug as you go along. Formalism, bureaucratic rigidity, poor organizational culture, inertia, and poor leadership may hamper organizational development. An organization must have continuity in order to learn from previous experience. There must be consistency in objectives and activities at least in the short run. The organization must learn from its past and from its environment in order to become better. The organization must keep records so that it can have an institutional memory.