Module Review: Organisation Theories

Organisation theories – a course that is completely different to anything I have ever studied before. Following this module was eye-opening, I wasn’t aware that so much literature and research was available concerning the field of organisations and the managing of people within them. The course took us through the (whom I now know to be famous and classic) academics in organisation literature. Lectures started with Weber’s principles of bureaucracy (Weber, 1946), followed by a quick overview of Smith and the Invisible Hand for those who shockingly didn’t already know (me!) (Smith, 1776), moving on to the main human resource theorists  (Ott et al., 2011a) and finishing off with the theories of organisations and environments (Ott et al., 2011b).

On reflection of the mass of theories we were presented with, I’m not convinced that any one field of theory has it exactly right; I remain a sceptic. However, if I were to choose a method of organisation that, in my opinion, has the most potential for success, I would look to Mary Parker Follett and her advice to managers giving orders to employees (Follett, 1926). For a fairly old theory now, considering how far this field has developed, I find Mary Parker Follett to be one of the most forward thinking of the theorists we studied. Her argument that orders should not be motivated by hierarchical situations but led by the situation in which a superior and subordinate find themselves makes sense to me. I feel that if I were in an office environment, working with my manager to overcome problems would encourage a more open and team-working atmosphere, conducive to creativity and commitment to a shared goal.

Although I’m not entirely convinced that this area of expertise is for me, I do feel satisfied that at the very least, this year I’ve learnt something in a completely different field to the physical geography I focus on back at UCL.

References:

Follett, Mary Parker (1926), “The Giving of Orders”, in OTT, J. Steven, SHAFRITZ, Jay M., and JANG, Yong Suk (2011), Classic Readings in Organization Theory (7th Edition). Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 156-161.

Ott, J. Steven, Shafritz, Jay M., and Jang, Yong Suk (2011a), “Chapter 3: Human Resource Theory, or the Organizational Behaviour”, in OTT, J. Steven, SHAFRITZ, Jay M., and JANG, Yong Suk (2011), Classic Readings in Organization Theory (7th Edition). Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 149-155.

Ott, J. Steven, Shafritz, Jay M., and Jang, Yong Suk (2011b), “Chapter 9: Theories of Organizations and Environments”, in OTT, J. Steven, SHAFRITZ, Jay M., and JANG, Yong Suk (2011), Classic Readings in Organization Theory (7th Edition). Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 472-477.

Smith, Adam (1776), “Of the Division of Labour”, in OTT, J. Steven, SHAFRITZ, Jay M., and JANG, Yong Suk (2011), Classic Readings in Organization Theory (7th Edition). Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 41-45.

Weber, Max (1946), “Bureaucracy”, in OTT, J. Steven, SHAFRITZ, Jay M., and JANG, Yong Suk (2011), Classic Readings in Organization Theory (7th Edition). Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 77-82.