Jane Collings and Pete Watton Understanding the Organisation Session 2

Module Aims to support the learner in identifying and reviewing how organisations are structured and managed to facilitate exploration of the learners’ immediate and wider work context in order to promote professional developmentObjectives B By the end of this session you will be able to: identify the characteristics of different organisations Identify and reflect on the characteristics of your workplace organisation

An organisation can be one person or a group of people bound together to achieve a specific goal or set of goals. Some organisations involve tens of thousands of people, such as multi-national companies Organisations operate in the private/for profit sector, the public sector, including businesses owned by the government and the third sector (not for profit ). Organisational structure will vary according to goals, values and size What are organisations?

Organisations: metaphors Morgan (1989) suggested some metaphors to help us better understand the complexities of organisations Organisms Brains Cultures Machines Political systems Psychic prisons Change and transformation Instruments of domination

Organisations: some definitions “The purpose of an organization is to enable ordinary humans beings to do extraordinary things”. Drucker (1974) “...collections of people working together in a coordinated and structured fashion to achieve one or more goals”. ‘Barney and Griffin (1992) “...a social arrangement for achieving controlled performance in pursuit of collective goals”. Huczynski and Buchanan (2001)

 Choose a large multinational company – e.g. Coca Cola, Lloyds TSB, Google. Describe it. What are its main characteristics? - 5 minutes  Choose a small local organisation, or business – e.g. local shop, pub. Describe it. What are its main characteristics? - 5 minutes  Compare the 2 organisations: what are the similarities; what are the differences? - 5 minutes  List the headings / criteria that you used for describing the organisations and making comparisons. -5 minutes

1.Product or service 2.Location and area of activity – local, regional, national, international? 3.Ownership; strategic lead in the organisation 4.Customers/ clients 5.Financial information 6.Aims, vision, values 7.Private, public or not-for profit sector; legal status. 8.Structure 9.Main external influences on the organisation 10.Employees, members, supporters – skills and management Organisations’ characteristics How did your list compare with the criteria below?

1)Read through the case studies on the next slide: Bovey Construction Eden Project J. Sainsbury 2 2) Use the grid and criteria to analyse each of the organisations and make comparisons Activity 2: Case studies  Activity 2: Case studies  Use the worksheet  Use the briefing sheet

Case study 1: Bovey Construction A Devon based traditional independent construction company. Case study 2: Eden Project A Cornish visitor attraction, social enterprise and charity. Case study 3: J. Sainsbury A public limited company with over 890 supermarkets, online shopping, banks and property.

Using the criteria review your own organisation. Start by considering the following:  Product or service  Location and area of activity – local, regional, national, international?  Ownership; strategic lead in the organisation  Customers/ clients  Financial information  Activity 3: Your organisation  Use the worksheet Try to address the remaining criteria before the next session.

Drucker, P. (1974), Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. Chapter 28, The Spirit of Performance, p. 361 Barney, JB and Griffin, RW (1992) The Management of Organisations: Strategy, Structure and Behaviour. Houghton Mifflin, Boston MA. Handy, C.B. Understanding organisations. Huczynski, AA and Buchanan, DA (2001) Organisational Behaviour, 4 th edition. Prentice Hall, Hemel Hampstead. Morgan, G (1989) Creative Organisation Theory. Sage, London. McKenna, E. Business Psychology and Organisational Behaviour Bovey Construction website Accessed 7 th February 2011www.boveyconstruction.co.uk Eden Project website Accessed 7 th February 2011 J Sainsbury website Accessed 7 th February 2011 References

This resource was created by the University of Plymouth, Learning from WOeRk project. This project is funded by HEFCE as part of the HEA/JISC OER release programme.Learning from WOeRk This resource is licensed under the terms of the Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales license ( The resource, where specified below, contains other 3 rd party materials under their own licenses. The licenses and attributions are outlined below: 1.Slide 3: Sasa1976 (2008) Bee hive. Wikimedia Commons (Accessed: 28 th February 2011) 2.Slide 4: Mila Zinkova (2008) Clone war of sea anemones. Wikimedia Commons 3.jpg?uselang=en-gb (Accessed: 28 th February 2011)Mila Zinkovahttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clone_war_of_sea_anemones_ jpg?uselang=en-gb 3.Slide 10: Avjoska (2008) Workplaces in Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Wikimedia Commons (Accessed: 28 th February 2011) The name of the University of Plymouth and its logos are unregistered trade marks of the University. The University reserves all rights to these items beyond their inclusion in these CC resources. The JISC logo, the and the logo of the Higher Education Academy are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution -non-commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK England & Wales license. All reproductions must comply with the terms of that license. Author Jane Collings, Pete Watton InstituteUniversity of Plymouth Title Understanding the Organisation – session 2 Description PowerPoint Presentation Date Created 6 th February 2011 Educational Level Level 4 Keywords UKOER, LFWOER, UOPCPDWBL, Continuous Professional Development, CPD, Work-based Learning, WBL, Organisation Back page originally developed by the OER phase 1 C-Change project ©University of Plymouth, 2010, some rights reserved