Organisations are complex social
systems which can be defined and studied in a number of different ways. A
significant approach to this broad perspective on the nature of organisations
and organisational behaviour is provided by Morgan. Through the use of
metaphors, Morgan identifies eight different ways of viewing organisations – as
machines, organisms, brains, cultures, political systems, psychic prisons, flux
and transformation, and instruments of domination. According to Morgan, these
contrasting metaphors aid the understanding of the complex nature of
organisational life and the critical evaluation of organisational phenomena.
■ Machines. This suggests that
organisations can be designed as if they are machines with orderly relations
between clearly defined parts. Viewing organisations as machines can provide
the basis for efficient operation in a routine, reliable and predictable way.
This form of bureaucratic structure provides form, continuity and security.
However, it may have adverse consequences and limit the development of human
capacities. Organisations viewed as machines function better in a stable and protected
environment.
■ Organisms. The organisation is
seen as behaving like a living system. In the same way that biological
mechanisms adapt to changes in their environment, so organisations, as open
systems, adapt to the changing external environment. Organisations operating
within a turbulent and dynamic environment require an adaptable type of
structure.
■ Brains. Viewing organisations as
brains involves thinking about the organisation as inventive and rational, and
in a manner that provides for flexibility and creative action. The challenge is
to create new forms of organisation capable of intelligent change and that can
disperse brainlike capacities.
■ Cultures. This sees
organisations as complex systems made up of their own characteristic sets of ideology,
values, rituals, and systems of belief and practice. Attention to specific
aspects of social development helps to account for variations among organisations.
■ Political systems. In the
sense that ways must be found to create order and direct people, organisations
are intrinsically political. They are about authority, power, superior–subordinate
relationships and conflicting interests. Viewing organisations as political
systems helps in an understanding of day-to-day organisational life, the wheeling
and dealing, and pursuit of special interests.
■ Psychic prisons. This
views organisations as psychic phenomena created and sustained by conscious and
unconscious processes. Organisations and their members are constrained by their
shadows or ‘psychic prisons’ and become trapped by constructions of reality.
Their inherited or created mythical past places affects the representation of
the organisation to the outside world. Viewing organisations as psychic prisons
provides an understanding of the reality and illusions of organisational behaviour.
■ Flux and transformation. The
universe is in a constant state of flux, embodying characteristics of both
permanence and change. Organisations can be seen as in a state of flux and
transformation. In order to understand the nature and social life of organisations,
it is necessary to understand the sources and logic of transformation and
change.
■ Instruments of domination. In this
view organisations are associated with processes of social domination, and
individuals and groups imposing their will on others. A feature of
organisations is asymmetrical power relations that result in the pursuit of the
goals of the few through the efforts of the many. Organisations are best understood
in terms of variations in the mode of social domination and control of their
members.
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