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Functionalist organization theory
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- 3. SCOPE of The PRESENTTION Overview of the Presentation 01 Functionalist Organization Theory 02 Social System Theory 03 Action Frame of Reference 04 Theory of Bureaucracy 05 Pluralist Theory 06 Questions & Answers 07
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- 12. Cont.. Functionalists see the world as concrete or objective reality that’s out there just waiting to be discovered through systematic study. These researchers want to uncover or reveal this objective reality to get a better handle on it.
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- 15. Theories of Organization with in the Functionalist Paradigm 1) Social System Theory (SST) Systems theory, also called social systems theory, in Social Science, the study of society as a complex arrangement of elements, including individuals and their beliefs, as they relate to a whole.
- 16. Cont… 2) Action Frame of Reference A systematic analysis of action which sees the social actor as choosing between different means and ends, in an environment which limits choice both physically and socially.
- 17. Cont… 3) Theory of Bureaucracy A German scientist, Max Weber, describes bureaucracy as an institution that is highly organized, formalized, and also impersonal. He also developed the belief that there must be a fixed hierarchical structure for an organization and clear rules, regulations, and lines of authority that regulate it.
- 18. Cont… 4) Pluralist Theory Pluralists believe that social heterogeneity prevents any single group from gaining dominance. The pluralist approach to the study of power, states that nothing categorical about power can be assumed in any community.
Editor's Notes
- Let’s Unpack Burrel and Morgan’s Research Paradigms. They Wrote about this a few decades ago.
- But you see it still today in a lot of textbooks because it remains a useful way to get the lay of the land in terms of where to locate different types of research and theory.
- So first we will give a little overview of their thinking about the paradigms, we will talk about he two primary axes that form these paradigms and then will dig into the specifics of each of the four paradigms.
- They outline four paradigms or ways of approaching research. A paradigms simply means a way of looking at something that represent an established standard, a set of related ideas. They write, “ Each set of research assumptions identifies a quite separate social scientific reality. To be located in a particular paradigm is to view the world in a particular way” (p.24). Burrell and Morgan’s four paradigms help us more easily make sense of the type of research we are reading and they provide a convenient way of locating one’s own personal frame of reference. So in other words, whether you are reading research or conducting you own or trying to figure that out therefore paradigms are very helpful.
- Let’s look at the two axes that form the four paradigms. The first is the Objective and subjective axis. On the objective side researchers see the world as reality just waiting to be discovered. and on the subjective side researchers see reality as something that is primarily in our heads, in our subjective experience. The second axis has regulation on one side and radical change on the other. In terms of regulation researchers that lean this way see the world as fairly stable place that you can study as status quo. People that lean toward the radical change end of the spectrum see the world as a place that should be changed for various reasons, often times issues related to some notion of equality. They want to change things to create more equal social arrangements. When we cross these two axes we get the four research paradigms or four quadrants.
- The bottom right we have the primary or traditional paradigm for lots of social scientific research. More recently you see the Lean Six Sigma crowd trying to improve organization in this quadrant. You see a lot of leadership studies here where people are trying to identify the different types of leaders. This area of research really likes labels and categories like that. In terms of more interpersonal side of things you see a lot of personality tests and ways of categorizing people and remember they see a very fixed notion of the social world so even your personality seen as relatively stable and regulated.
- In terms of overview, both guys were working in organization behavior academic department at the time so a lot of their view is influenced by this study of organizations. Their book explores how each researcher has a set of assumptions that shapes their approach to research. They say, “All theories of organizations based upon a philosophy of science and a theory of society [p.1].
- Functionalist research and theory looks at the status quo. They study things the way they are currently. As Burrell and Morgan put it, “Researchers in this area seek to provide essentially rational explanations for social affairs.”
- Functionalist Paradigms (Objective-regulation: This is the dominant paradigm for organization study. This has been the primary paradigm for organization study, it assumes human action believes one can understand organizational behavior through hypothesis testing.
- They also see the world in terms of regulation in other words; they believe that the world is relatively stable and organized like nature. In the way natural scientists approach their work researchers in this paradigm see human activity as orderly and cohesive. In other words it’s very regulated. Taken together these two dimensions make the functionalist paradigm, “a problem-oriented approach concerned to provide practical solutions to practical problems.”
- In terms of the research and theory that fits in this as examples, you see people like Frederick Taylor and Max Weber who belong to the classical management area of research, fit in neatly in here. They were trying to make organizations more effective.
- (e.g., a country). The study of society as a social system has a long history in the social sciences. The conceptual origins of the approach are generally traced to the 19th century, particularly in the work of English sociologist and philosopher Herbert Spencer and French social science.
- (Action Frame of References: a) Resources (means), b) Goal (ends), c) Persons (actors) d) values (purposes)
- The term bureaucracy was coined Facts a. Hierarchy of authority. B. division of labor. C. centralization. D. closed. E. rules. F. authority. Technical qulification. Impersonality.