1 Communication & Organisation Week 3 Some Perspectives of Organisation Theory

2 Three Phases Modernism Symbolic Postmodernism

3 Modernism General Systems Theory ( Ludwig von Bertalanffy, 1950) “A System is a thing with inter-related parts. Each part is conceived as affecting the others and each depends upon the whole” (Hatch MJ 1997) To explain all things scientific from atoms and molecules to living systems including inter-relating people in organisations.

4 Output Input Organisation Transformation Feedback An Open Systems View of Organisation

5 There are Systems and there are Systems! Perhaps we should call them Sub-Systems? All organisational Levels are in effect a separate sub-system of the whole Super-system (Top management) System (Middle Management) Sub-System (Supervision)

6 Symbolic-Interpretive Enactment Theory …….Karl Weick (1969) Concepts like ”Organisation” become reality only because Managers think about them…… Considering something creates a type of reality.- Reality Theory Social Construction of Reality.. Berger P and Luckman T (1966). Human social order is produced through interpersonal interactions and negotiations and based upon shared experience and shared history

7 The Postmodern Perspective Postmodernism was a reaction to the ‘rational’ approach to Such matters as architecture. The clean functional lines of Modern design were seen no longer to reflect the Diversity of Society. Some suggest that postmodernism allows for an “Anything goes” approach. It questions the fundamentals of the Scientific Method and whether Progress is desirable. Indicating that those that espouse it tend to in order to hold onto power.

8 In questioning the rational, ordered world the postmodernists Find attraction in complexity and organic fluidity. Organisations no Longer need conform but can exist as virtual entities instead. Likewise, they consider the self perpetuation of Modernist power structures to be alien to the concept of democracy and would wish to see a bigger voice for minorities: Women, ethnic groups etc

9 The Multiple Perspectives compared Source: Hatch MJ (1997)

10 Source: Hatch MJ (1997) The Metaphors of Organisation Theory

11 Questions?