SOC208H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Organizational Chart, Social Psychology, Job Design
Document Summary
Organizations - social structures created by individuals to support the collaborative pursuit of specified goals. Just bc it exists over time doesn"t mean it"s effective. Extensions of ourselves - achieve goals we could not achieve alone. They can have a lot of power over people (politicians) Understandings of and approaches to organizations vary by: Orientation - pure (studying bc its interesting) vs. applied (trying to make it better/change) Elements outside the organization that influence its ability to survive. Choices about markets, clients, competition, tactics, output goals. Work - task org needs to accomplish its goals. Cultures, norms, values, social networks, power and politics, leaders. Cultural theory of orgs: truth, human nature, relationships. Individual skills, how they fit tasks, needs and preferences, background. Social structures exist because people act in ways that reproduce them. Structures are comprised of rules and resources which acquire meaning and value. Action work to reproduce as well as alter structures.
