Sociology 2166A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Contingency Theory, Oligarchy

• School: Western University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: Sociology 2166A/B
• Professor: Tracey Adams

Document Summary

Organizations - significance: most work takes place within organizations, even those working from home or outside of organizations must interact with organizations, understanding their structure and nature, contributes to our understanding of work more generally. Organizations: definition: a collectively deliberate constructed (and reconstructed) to seek specific goals, organizations frequently defined through their characteristics: Identifiable boundaries: rules, hierarchy, communications systems, activity is goal-related --> goals may vary, activities have impact on organization, organization members and society. Weber: bureaucracy: a special form of organization (with characteristics similar to previous. Organization theories continued: permanent, hard to change, source of power inequality -- "iron cage, newly organizational theories emphasize other aspects: Informal relations important: organizational cultures, variability, contingency theory: organizational structures vary in relation to market environment, variable market -- looser structure. Lecture notes: positives, efficiency, process more people, things, more standardization, equity, clear rules and expectations, predictability, measureable outcomes, negatives: Impersonal (cog in machine: at times, inefficient, too advanced division of labour.