The concept of organizations is deeply rooted in the inherently social nature of humans, who thrive through coexistence and continuous interaction. Organizations are defined as systems of coordinated activities involving two or more individuals, and they come into existence when certain conditions are met: people capable of communication, willingness to contribute to common goals, and a shared purpose. Within organizations, the collective interest often takes precedence over personal interests, although conflicts between the two can arise as organizations grow in complexity and hierarchy.
Diverse Types of Organizations:
Organizations span a wide spectrum, including industrial, economic, commercial, religious, military, educational, social, political, and more. These organizations influence individuals’ values, attire, consumption patterns, attitudes, and norms, while individuals, in turn, influence organizations.
Evolution of Organizational Models:
The evolution of organizational models can be categorized into three stages within the twentieth century: Classic Industrialization (1900-1950), Neoclassical Industrialization (1950-1990), and the Information Age (After 1990). Each stage brings forth distinctive organizational structures, cultures, and environments, emphasizing the importance of adapting to changing times.
Organizations as Dynamic Systems:
Organizations are not static entities but living and open systems that constantly evolve, adapt, and change. They are cyclical in nature, with recurring cycles of inputs, transformations, and outputs. This dynamic quality is captured in Figure 1: Organizational Development (OD).
Katz and Kahn’s Open System Model:
Katz and Kahn developed an open system model for organizations, drawing upon systems theory. This model emphasizes the interactions between organizations, systems, and their environments. It highlights key aspects such as input from the environment, transformation of inputs into outputs, exports (outputs), and feedback loops.
Key Concepts in Katz and Kahn’s Model:
Negative entropy: The system’s ability to obtain energy reserves to counter disequilibrium and maintain its organizational structure.
Negative feedback: The system’s capacity to receive corrective information to stay on course.
Dynamic homeostasis: The continuous pursuit of balance and equilibrium.
Differentiation: The division of tasks and specialized functions within organizations.
Equifinality: Multiple paths to achieving desired outcomes.
Limits and boundaries: Varied degrees of openness and barriers between systems and the environment.
Tavistock’s Socio-Technical System:
Tavistock’s model posits that organizations are managed through a combination of technology and human interaction, constantly interacting with their environment. This structured socio-technical system comprises three subsystems: the technical or task system, the managerial or administrative system, and the social or human system.
Participation in Decision Making:
Modern organizations recognize the participation of all members in achieving individual and organizational goals. As organizations evolve, they develop their own goals, often diverging from those initially established. Various stakeholders, including shareholders, clients, employees, suppliers, government, and society, influence decision-making processes.
Organizational Mission, Vision, and Objectives:
An organization’s mission defines its purpose, scope, role in society, and business nature. Vision outlines the desired future state and motivates stakeholders, while objectives provide clear, measurable goals, serving as a guide and success measure.
Balancing Efficiency and Effectiveness:
Organizations must strike a balance between efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency focuses on resource utilization and doing things right, while effectiveness emphasizes results, meeting objectives, and a proactive approach. Ideally, organizations aim for both efficiency and effectiveness to achieve their goals successfully.
Conclusion:
Understanding the various models of human behavior within organizations is crucial in a rapidly evolving world. As organizations adapt and change, they must remain responsive to the dynamic nature of human behavior and the evolving needs of society.
Organizational Models of Human Behavior
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The concept of the organization stems from the very social nature of the human being, who lives in coexistence and continuous interaction with others. This causes the human being to coexist with other human beings and form organizations. Chiavenato (2011) defines an organization as a system of coordinated activities between two or more individuals. He mentions that an organization exists if the following conditions are present; people capable of communicating, willing to contribute to joint action, and a purpose of achieving a common goal. Each member of the organization can put the common interest above personal interest.
According to Chiavenato (2011), organizations can engage both in the production of goods or products (consumer goods, machinery, equipment, etc.) and in the production or provision of services (specialized activities, such as money management, medicine, dissemination of knowledge, traffic planning, and control, etc.). […] there are industrial, economic, and commercial organizations, religious, military, educational, social, and political, among others (p. 6).
These various organizations impact and influence people regarding their value systems, how they dress, what and how they buy, attitudes, and norms, among others. It should be noted that organizations are, in turn, influenced by individuals. Organizations grow, excel, and have positive outcomes. Still, at the same time, hierarchical levels increase, distancing the individual from their personal objectives from the organizational objectives, which almost always causes conflict between them. We can emphasize that organizations are diverse and complex as they grow.
The following table allows us to understand organizational development (OD) over time:
Table 1: The Three Stages of Organizations in the Twentieth Century
Classic Industrialization Neoclassical Industrialization Information Age
Period 1900-1950 1950-1990 After 1990
Predominant Organizational Structure Functional, burrocratic, pyramidal, centralized, rigid, and inflexible. Emphasis on areas. Matrix and mixed. Emphasis on departmentalization by products, services, or other strategic business units Fluid and flexible, fully decentralized. Emphasis on multifunctional networks
Organizational Culture Theory X oriented to the past, traditions, and values. Emphasis on maintaining the status quo. Value to experience Transition. Oriented to the present and the current. Emphasis on adaptation to the environment Theory Y. Future-oriented. Emphasis on change and innovation. Values knowledge and creativity
Organizational environment Static, predictable, few changes, and gradual. Few environmental challenges Intensification of changes, which occur more quickly Changing, unpredictable, turbulent
How to Treat People People as inert and static factors of production, subject to rigid rules and regulations that control them People as organizational resources that need to be managed People as proactive human beings, endowed with intelligence and skills, which must be motivated and driven
People’s Vision People as suppliers of labor People as resources of the organization People as providers of knowledge and skills
Denomination Industrial relations Human Resources Administration Managing human talent
Source: Chiavenato, 2011, p. 9. (translated)
Organizations are social systems that interact with each other. Systems are intentionally constructed and reconstructed to achieve specific goals and objectives. They consist of planning to achieve their objectives. Once they are achieved, they are reconstructed, redefined, or reorganized to achieve new objectives with the least possible cost and effort. It is necessary to understand that organizations are not static but constantly in movement, action, modification, and change. It is a living and open system, not linear but cyclical (Chavianato, 2011, Caciope, Mock, 2005) (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Organizational Development (OD)
The Katz and Kahn Approach
Katz and Kahn developed a model of open system organization by applying the theory systems. This broad and complete model accounts for how all systems interact, achieving changes, movement, transactions, transformations, and balance (Chiavenato, 2011). This author and Fernandez (2014) present several aspects that occur that imbricate interactions between systems, organizations, and the environment. These aspects are as follows:
1. The organization receives input from the environment, other organizations, and others. Every organization must receive energy supplies as no structure or organization is self-sufficient or self-contained.
2. The organization transforms the supplies received into services, products, labor force, etc. In other words, organizations reorganize the inputs received into goods, services, labor, etc.
3. The organization now exports (outputs) these services, products, labor force, etc. This denotes that the organization is an open and cyclical system (Figure 2).
4. Feedback consists of repetitive import-transformation-export cycles (Figure 2).
Organizations transform the supplies received as priorities change, receiving feedback from other organizations, the environment, or people. It should be stated that any change, reform, or transformation in an organization affects others; that is, there is an exchange of energy. Chiavenato (2011) argues that “the social structure is a dynamic concert, and not static. The activities are structured in cycles of events that repeat and harmonize. The functioning of any system consists of recurring cycles of inputs, transformations, and outputs” (p. 14).
Figure 2: Cyclic Open System Process
Katz and Kahn’s approach include negative entropy, negative feedback, dynamic homeostasis, differentiation, equifinity, limits, and boundaries. Negative feedback refers to the negative information the system receives, which allows it to correct deficiencies or deviations, allowing the organization to stay on track. Negative entropy is the process by which the system obtains energy reserves to deal with disequilibrium, disintegration, and disorganization to avoid demise or eventual death and thus maintain its organizational structure.
The system constantly seeks to maintain homeostasis or equilibrium, although it is neither static nor rigid. This allows the system or organization to have a certain constancy. On the other hand, organizations tend to differentiate internally, that is, the division of tasks, roles, and specialized functions. This produces an organizational structure and, in turn, the creation and establishment of regulations. It is important to know that these regulations are subject to change, recognizing that there is more than one way to produce the expected result, in which the initial conditions may differ. The limits and boundaries of systems and organizations vary depending on the degree of openness in each and the barriers present between one system to another and the environment. The means to achieve the objectives may also be different. This is known as equifinality.
Tavistock’s Approach: The Socio-Technical System
This model proposed by Tavistock states that every organization is managed by combining technology and people. This combination constantly interacts with its environment and other systems or organizations. This system is also known as a structured socio-technical system. This dual function is both technical and social. The technical aspect includes the organization and realization of work with the Helpance of technology. On the other hand, social refers to the action of people in relating with others to achieve the organization’s goals.
The socio-technical system consists of three subsystems; technical or task system, managerial or administrative system, and social or human system (Chiavenato, 2011). The technical system includes technology, distribution of tasks, and the positions required to perform the tasks. The managerial system defines the structural organization, objectives, procedures, rules, protocols, remuneration, and sanctions that will be implemented in the organization. In other words, it includes all administrative processes. Finally, the social system covers the informal organization, values, attitudes, culture, level of motivation, and the satisfaction of personal needs.
Participants in the Organizations: From Obedience to Participation in Decision Making
Today, due to the structured process of organizations, all its members participate in achieving individual and organizational goals. However, as an organization grows, they develop its own goals, sometimes very different from those initially established and different from the objectives of the people who formed them (Chiavenato, 2011). Chiavenato (2011) argues that “previously only owners, managers, and employees were recognized as participants in organizations; that is, only their internal participants” (p. 17). Today the organization is conceived as a structured process in which several actors interact whose purpose is to achieve the established objectives, but they impact decision-making.
Chiavenato (2011) refers that the partners and actors of the organization are:
1. Shareholders, owners, or investors.
2. Clients, users, consumers, or taxpayers.
3. Managers and employees.
4. Suppliers (raw materials, technology, services, credits, financing, etc.).
5. Government.
6. Community and society (Table 2) (p. 17).
All actors interact, participate, and seek balance. However, we know that this is never achieved due to constant changes in power relations, changes in priorities, reorganization, reforms, changes in needs, and the emergence of problem subjects, producing the rule of change and adjustment. Chiavenato (2011) states that actors can “influence the decisions of the marketing area, and shareholders in the resolutions of the financial area” (p. 17). This indicates flexible organizational boundaries, boundaries that expand and contract, where decisions, products, or services include some and exclude others depending on the situation/problem/need and the objectives set at a given time.
Table 2: Organizational Factors
Partners (participants) Contributions (investments made) Incentives (expected earnings)
Staff contribute with work, effort, personal dedication, performance, knowledge, skills, competencies They are motivated by salary, benefits, awards, praise, recognition, opportunities, permanence in employment
Investors or Owners contribute money in the form of shares, loans, financing, and credits They are motivated by profitability, utility, liquidity, investment gains, dividends
Suppliers contribute with materials, raw materials, technology, specialized services They are motivated by business, price, payment terms, billing, utility, profit on investment
Customer contribute money for the purchase of the products or services offered by the organization and for their consumption or use They are motivated by price, quality, payment terms, the satisfaction of a need, achievement of expectations
Source: Chiavenato, 2011, p. 16. (translated)
Organize According to the Mission, Vision, and Objectives of the Entity
An organization’s mission is the statement of the organization’s purpose and reason to exist. It can also include the organization’s scope in terms of products and services. Chiavenato, 2011 suggests that the mission should consider the following aspects:
• What is the reason for the organization’s existence?
• What is the role of the organization in society?
• What is the nature of the organization’s business?
• What types of activities should the organization concentrate its future efforts on? (p. 18).
On the other hand, the vision includes what is expected to be achieved. It informs not only the actors but also internal and external stakeholders and the community. The vision includes the direction of the organization and where it is going, provides focus, informs about the future situation, inspires others to join, and motivates all involved to perform their tasks towards achieving the goals. Objectives are set in a clear, precise, and measurable way. Objectives serve as a ‘compass,’ orientation, and guide for achieving the organization’s goals and avoiding improvisation. They also serve to measure the success of the organization.
Organizational Rationality: Between Efficiency and Effectiveness
Every organization should consider simultaneously assessing its efficiency and effectiveness to achieve its objectives successfully. Effectiveness includes aspects such as; emphasis on results, meeting deadlines, achieving objectives, getting results, and a proactive approach. Efficiency emphasizes means, setting and following rules, doing things right, saving costs, fulfilling tasks and obligations, reactive approach, and task focus. Chiavenato (2011) argues that “efficiency increases as costs and resources decrease. Effectiveness is a normative measure of the achievement of results, while efficiency is a normative measure of the use of resources in processes” (p. 35).
Ideally, the organization should be efficient and effective. We refer to efficiency when emphasizing getting things done right using resources well. On the other hand, if the results are evaluated to corroborate whether the objectives were achieved, this is referred to as effectiveness.
References
Chiavenato, Idalberto (2011). Administración de recursos humanos: El capital humano en las organizaciones, 9na Edición, McGraw Hill.
Fernández, E. (2014, 3 de agosto). La organización como un sistema abierto http://teoriadekatzykahn.blogspot.com/2014/08/la-organizacion-como-un-sistema-Links to an external site.abierto.html
Organizational Models of Human Behavior
Organizational behavior (OB) is the study of how people interact, communicate, and behave in organizational settings. It draws on insights from various disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, economics, and political science, to understand and influence human behavior at work. OB can be analyzed at three levels: the individual, the group, and the organization as a whole.
There are different models of OB that assume different approaches to managing people and organizations. These models reflect the underlying assumptions, values, and beliefs of managers and employees about human nature, motivation, performance, and organizational effectiveness. The main models of OB are:
– Autocratic model: This model is based on formal authority, power, and control. The top management makes all the decisions and policies, and the lower-level employees have to follow them without question. The communication is one-way, from top to bottom. The main motivation for employees is to avoid punishment or dismissal. This model was prevalent in traditional organizations, but it is less effective in modern organizations that require creativity, innovation, and collaboration.
– Custodial model: This model is based on economic rewards and benefits. The management provides fair pay, job security, bonuses, rewards, and other incentives to employees, who in turn become loyal and satisfied with their jobs. The communication is two-way, but mainly focused on material aspects. The main motivation for employees is to earn more and stay longer in the organization. This model is better than the autocratic model, but it does not address the psychological and social needs of employees.
– Supportive model: This model is based on leadership and support. The management provides guidance, coaching, training, and feedback to employees, who in turn become more competent and confident in their jobs. The communication is two-way, and focused on personal and professional growth. The main motivation for employees is to achieve their goals and fulfill their potential. This model is more effective than the custodial model, but it does not foster a sense of belonging and teamwork among employees.
– Collegial model: This model is based on partnership and collaboration. The management treats employees as partners and colleagues, who share responsibility and accountability for organizational outcomes. The communication is two-way, and focused on mutual respect and trust. The main motivation for employees is to contribute to the organization’s success and feel valued as members of a team. This model is more effective than the supportive model, but it requires a high level of maturity and commitment from both managers and employees.
– System model: This model is based on adaptation and integration. The management views the organization as a complex system that consists of interrelated and interdependent parts that need to adapt to changing internal and external environments. The communication is multi-way, and focused on information sharing and problem solving. The main motivation for employees is to learn from feedback and improve their performance continuously. This model is the most effective of all the models, but it requires a high level of flexibility and innovation from both managers and employees.
These models of OB are not mutually exclusive or fixed; they can be combined or modified according to the situation and context of each organization. However, they provide a useful framework for understanding the different perspectives and practices of managing human behavior in organizations.
Works Cited
– Biz LibreTexts. “1.4: A Model of Organizational Behavior and Management.” Business LibreTexts (2021). Web.
– Forbes Advisor Editorial Team. “What Is Organizational Behavior?” Forbes (2021). Web. custom dissertation writing service.
– My Organisational Behaviour Notes Team. “Five Models of Organisational Behaviour.” My Organisational Behaviour Notes (2016). Web.
– Tyonote Team. “5 Main Models of Organizational Behavior (OB) [+Pros/Cons].” Tyonote (2022). Web.
