Structure and basic elements of social organization. Elements of social organization

Considering the organization from the point of view of a social object, a social group, we give the following formulation.

Social organization (from Late Latin organize - communicate a slender appearance) represents a system of social groups and relationships between them to achieve certain goals through the distribution of functional responsibilities, coordination of efforts and compliance with certain rules of interaction in the process of functioning of the management system. In it I interact various social groups, whose members are integrated by interests, goals, values, norms based on joint activities.

Social organization is usually characterized by the following basic signs:

1. having a common goal(production of products or provision of services);

2. formalization of relations in the organization and normative regulation of the behavior of members of this organization;

3. hierarchy of relationships. The existence of a system of power and management, which implies the subordination of workers to management in the process of work;

4. distribution of functions(powers and responsibilities) between groups of workers interacting with each other;

5. availability of communication. A set of rules and regulations governing relationships between people;

Social organization is one of the most complex types of organizational systems, because in there is a certain duality inherent in its nature:

· firstly, it is created to solve certain problems,

· secondly, it acts as a social medium for communication and substantive activity of people.

A whole system of interpersonal relationships is superimposed on a pre-created social organization.

For example, before labor social organization As a rule, two tasks are set:

1) increasing the economic efficiency of production and the quality of products, services and labor provided;

2) social development of the team or employee as an individual.

Organization structure:

I. Two types of structures of social organization can be distinguished: production And non-productive:

Production type of social organization structure is formed depending on the production factors of human activity and includes the following components general structure, How:

a) functional (labor content);

b) professional (training and retraining of personnel);

c) socio-psychological (interpersonal relationships);

d) managerial (management system).

The qualitative signs of the functioning of the production type of structure of a social organization are the needs and interests, the employee’s requirements for work and, first of all, for the content and conditions of work, for the conditions of his professional growth, for the organization of work. A specific area of phenomena associated with the production type of structure of a social organization is a system of measures to develop motivation for production activity (this is moral and material incentives, etc.).

Non-productive type of structure of social organization arises when members, for example, labor organization(team) participate in various types non-production activities that fill the non-working and free time of employees. The non-productive structure of a social organization includes a significant part of the activities of public, cultural, sports and other organizations.

The general structure of the social organization of an industrial enterprise arises and develops both in work time(during the production process, during labor), and in free time from work.

II. Within any organization there are external and internal levels of structure.

The structure of an organization has several components, among which the most important are the specialized division of labor, the sphere of control and coordination of joint activities of people working in a given organization. All this forms internal environment organizations. But the latter operates within a certain external environment.

External environment. Social factors external to the organization are woven into a complex tangle of political, economic, legal, social and socio-cultural influences that are constantly present in the life of the organization and significantly influence the formation of its activities. The external environment affects not so much the daily work of people, but their attitude towards their organization and the behavior of the organization itself as a whole. In particular, a positive image in the eyes of public opinion gives people pride in belonging to the organization. In this case, it is easier to attract and retain employees. When does public opinion develop distrust or even negative attitude to the organization, people come to it without much satisfaction, rather driven by considerations of profit, lack of choice, etc.

Internal environment Organizations are the immediate environment in which people united by common goals, interests and activities have to work. You should always keep in mind that the organization, its management, managers and subordinates are people united in certain groups. When an enterprise is opened, a specific person or a specific group of people makes the appropriate decision, and not at all an abstract leadership. When low-quality products are produced, it is not the abstract “workers” who are to blame, but a few specific people who are insufficiently motivated, stimulated, poorly trained or irresponsible in their responsibilities. If management - the individual employees of the management system - does not understand or recognize that each employee is an individual with unique demands, interests, needs, and expectations, the organization's ability to achieve its goals will be jeopardized.

Organization is a multi-valued concept. In the social understanding, an organization is the presence of groups that consider themselves part of a social society, united by one goal, which is accepted as common by all members of society.

An organization stimulates and encourages people to join together in organizations and interact. In an organization, people complement each other, combine their abilities, which makes them stronger in the process of life.

As part of the functioning of an organization, people use it to achieve the goals for which it was created. They assume that the organization will be able to give them the opportunity to engage in meaningful activities, provide necessary information, will provide the necessary rights, independence, power, guarantees of safety and social security.

The main feature of an organization is the presence of a goal that its members strive to achieve. The general goal of a social organization forms the basis - the basis for developing a development strategy and establishing key goals for the most important functional subsystems of the organization.

An important feature of a social organization that needs to be highlighted is its isolation, expressed in the closedness of internal processes, which ensures the presence of boundaries separating the organization from the external environment.

Another distinctive feature of a social organization, like any other, can be considered the implementation of its activities based on the principle of self-regulation, which in turn presupposes the ability to independently resolve certain issues of organizational activity.

Another sign of a social organization should be called organizational culture, which is a set of established traditions, symbols, values, and beliefs. These values largely determine the nature of relationships and the direction of people’s behavior within a social organization and directly their relations with the outside world. Organizational culture includes subjective and objective elements. Subjective elements include rituals, myths associated with the history of the organization and the lives of its participants, and accepted norms of communication. Objective elements mainly characterize the material side of the life and activities of the organization. The objective elements of social organization include, for example, its symbolism.

Organizational culture is one of the most important elements that create the internal environment of a social organization.

Considering the concept of social organization, one should note its characteristics: direction and orderliness. For the effective functioning of a social organization, maximum orderliness and optimization of interaction and cooperation are necessary. High orderliness of social organization may be associated with poor organization of the social system.

Distinctive features of social organization:

1 highly formalized organization system;
2 rationalization of the system aimed at achieving a specific goal and solving problems;
3 a set of interactions between people with increased coordination of actions, their integrity and predictability;
4 coordination of members of a social organization for the common achievement of results. The school-institute of education performs educational and developmental functions, helps individuals acquire knowledge and become familiar with world culture. Political movement - political institution, expressing the interests of society, allowing the implementation of the initiative of both a separate subculture and society as a whole;
5 the presence of goals in an organization is one of the main features. The goal gives meaning to the existence of the organization, determines the specific specifics of the direction of activity and unites a group of people;
6, the isolation of an organization is characterized by the isolation of internal processes and determines the line of boundaries of one social organization from another. These boundaries may be political, material, cultural, religious, legal, etc.;
7 the presence of connections between its individual elements. These connections differ from the social specificity of organizational social groups. For example, we can identify several significant connections between the elements of social organizations: economic and environmental, national and ethnic, technological, managerial, formational, etc.;
8 process of self-regulation, which implies the ability to independently determine certain tasks.

Thus, a social organization is a group of individuals focused on achieving common goals, on forming a structure, effective management within the subculture and interaction with social institutions.

In everyday usage, the word “organization” means the establishment of a certain order aimed at achieving a certain goal.

Organization people in a group is the establishment of hierarchical subordination between them, which allows them to cooperate in achieving a common goal. A small group striving to achieve such a goal, within which social roles are differentiated and hierarchized, is an example of the simplest social organization.

Principles of social organization

Social organization always meets the following criteria:

the presence of a consciously set general goal towards which the organization’s activities are aimed;
the presence of a status-role hierarchy—the distribution of individuals along the vertical of social statuses and roles;
the presence of institutionalized norms and requirements that individuals within the organization must comply with;
presence of functional specialization.

Levels of social organization

In sociology there are four levels of organization:

the first level is the nuclear family - a social group that is characterized by living together, running a joint household and reproduction. The nuclear family consists of an adult man and woman who have socially sanctioned sexual relations, and minor children born to the couple or adopted. The nuclear family is a widespread type of group;
the second level is a complex family, represented by two types: a polygamous family, consisting of several nuclear families united by a common spouse, and a branched family, which is several nuclear families connected by blood relationships;
third level - groups united by blood relationship and right of inheritance. Unlike a family, such groups do not live together and do not maintain a common household;
The fourth level consists of the most numerous social groups based on social stratification.

At the global level, society is organized in the form of more or less distinct stratification - layers. As W. Goodenow showed, the structure and size of local groups depend on the type economic activity. After local community, the dominant form of organizing differentiation is social class. This differentiation is most clearly observed between slaves and free citizens in slave-holding societies. In a somewhat softened form, social differentiation manifests itself between estates and closed castes in estate and caste societies, as well as between rich and poor social strata.

When exploring the origins of society, sociologists have always turned to the problem of social organization, seeing a close relationship between organization and the social. Thus, it explains the diversity of historical types of society with different levels of social differentiation or social division of labor. A. Radcliffe-Brown and J. Murdoch, on the contrary, discover the principles of social organization in the empirical study of cultures.

The problem of organization theory was considered most comprehensively and in detail by B.Z. Milner, who in his work describes a number of theories of organizations as a generalization of world experience in the field of studying organizations. A social organization is “a consciously coordinated social entity with defined boundaries that functions on a relatively permanent basis to achieve a common goal or goals.”

Among the main theories of organization, Milner identified the following:

A. Fayol's theory of organization, which analyzes the structure of the organization as a whole and formulates the principles of its functioning. In total, Fayol identifies 14 principles, which are grouped according to different criteria in this way: structural principles, process principles and principles of the final result. Fayol considered the choice of appropriate principles depending on the situation as the art of management;
M. Weber's bureaucratic theory of organization, which describes the form, or pattern, of an organization that guarantees the predictability of the behavior of employees. The bureaucratic structure provides a high level of accountability for results to the management of the organization and to those associated with it;
“System-4” scheme by R. Likert, based on factors effective organization— human motivations, which manifest themselves through: setting goals, decision making, control, decentralization. Likert argued that organizations built around regulations classical theory, are not effective, since they have traits of conservatism and do not respond properly to changes outside world, while the organization must be able to respond to external changes and take them into account, this is the key to higher productivity and profitability of the organization;
G. Simon's theory of administrative behavior, which is based on the concept of an administrative worker proposed by the author and which examines the processes of influence of established goals on rational behavior in organizations;
Glacier's theory is considered a universal theory of organization formation. It identifies at least four subsystems in each organization: executive, representative, appellate and legislative, each of which performs its own function within the organization and constantly interacts with the other subsystems;
the theory of organizational potential by I. Ansoff (1970s), which is based on two historically established approaches to the formation of organizational structures - structural and dynamic.

Structural approach characteristic of the period before the Second World War, based on internal structure organization and the division of functions in it, while ignoring the impact of external factors on the dynamics of change in organizational structures.

Dynamic approach became widespread in post-war period and focuses on the analysis of the organization’s interaction with the external environment and sources of resources. One of the main theses of this approach is the existence of a relationship between the nature of external relationships and the behavior of the organization, on the one hand, and its internal organization- with another.

The distinctive features of the organization are

complexity - the degree of differentiation within the organization, which includes the level of specialization, the number of levels in the organization's hierarchy and the degree of territorial distribution of organizational units;
formalization - pre-developed and established rules and procedures governing employee behavior;
the relationship between centralization and decentralization, which is determined by the nature and specifics of decision-making, i.e. depending on the levels at which decisions are developed and made in the organization.

Social organization, unlike other types of social grouping, has a certain structure social relations individuals and motivating orientations that unite members of an organization and guide their behavior. In accordance with the structure of the organization, tasks are distributed, subordination and formal coordinating mechanisms are developed.

- This is the framework of the system, ensuring the integrity and orderliness of the organization. All elements of the structure are in a functional connection and represent a whole that is transformed under the influence of external and internal factors, but retains its essence.

In the organizational structure, the following types of organizational connections are distinguished:

linear - characterized by administrative subordination officials; this is the simplest type, characteristic of small-scale organizations and based only on leadership-subordination relationships;
functional - characterized by the absence of administrative subordination, there are connections for the implementation of individual works; typical for complex organizations where high professionalism is required in solving management problems;
linear-functional type corresponds to large organizations with a complex, branched control system;
cross-functional, or cooperative, - established between departments or positions of the same level;
divisional - appear as a result of an increase in the scale of the organization and the formation of its branches; I. Ansoff considers this type of organizational structure as functional structure, repeated several times;
multinational - appear in the process of division of multinational organizations and the formation of branches in different countries.

The principle of hierarchy - fundamental in the structure of the organization. The hierarchical structure of an organization is inevitable, since direct management of the activities of a large number of people sooner or later becomes impossible and the need for subsequent levels arises. For this reason, an organization always takes the form of a pyramid. The top of the pyramid is the leader of the organization, the base is its ordinary members, the middle part, which gradually narrows, approaching the top, are various intermediate levels of management. At these levels, joint activities are coordinated and individual actions are integrated into a single whole. In this case, hierarchy is a form of division of labor not only horizontally, but also vertically.

The hierarchical structure of an organization presupposes inequality and one-sided dependence between individuals, the subordination of subordinates to superiors, and control by superiors over compliance by subordinates with norms and requirements. Consequently, hierarchy presupposes coercion as one of the methods of functioning of the organization.

Members of the organization are subject to rules and regulations, and hierarchical relationships control the will of the employee, adapting his individuality to organizational functions and impersonal requirements of the organization.

Organizational culture develops in every organization, and has its own unique one. Among the essential characteristics of the organization are the following:

norms and rules of employee behavior;
employees' language of communication;
history of the organization, including specific incidents, legends, ceremonies and rituals, and specific forms incentive awards;
arch of the most important provisions the activities of the organization, determined by the mission and development strategy and expressed in the totality of social norms and values of the organization, shared by the majority of employees;
sustainable forms of human relationships within the organization, general principles activities;
a set of established patterns of behavior and working techniques that contribute to better organization of work;
philosophy and ideology of management;
orders and norms that underlie relationships and interactions both within the organization and beyond;
a set of basic ideas shared by members of the organization (or its active core), developed in the course of solving problems of external adaptation, internal integration, goal achievement, and conscious influences of managers;
the character and “personal qualities” of the company, based on the experience of many generations of its employees.

Social organizations, their structure

Organizations are found almost anywhere and everywhere. A person is born in an organization - a maternity hospital and dies, becoming a client funeral home. Heirs try to settle the affairs of the deceased in organizations such as a law office, tax agency, bank and court. These are all modern organizations.

In primitive societies, concerns about health, education, and assistance to the elderly fell on the family or community. Industrialization made life more complex, and the need arose to create many special organizations.

The link between primary group and the organization is charismatic group, formed to achieve certain goals. Its head is a leader who is distinguished by charm and attractive power, or charisma. Group members respect the leader and are ready to serve him faithfully for the time being. Typical charismatic groups are Christ and his disciples, Gandhi and his supporters. Signs of charismatic groups are the instability of the organizational structure and dependence on the leader, when the position of any group member depends on the leader’s attitude towards him. Since personal relationships are highly variable, the group structure is also unstable. Usually, over time, rules of behavior in the group are formed, and it becomes more orderly.

Public associations- one of the types of organization - common throughout the world; they are formed by supporters of a certain politician, environmentalists (“greens”), religious groups, clubs of chess players, mushroom pickers, philatelists, etc. These associations have three main features:

they are formed to protect the common interests of their members;
membership in them is voluntary and is not inherited;
organizations of this type are weakly connected with government agencies;
Most members of voluntary associations work for free. There are especially many such organizations in the USA.

Total institutions It is customary to distinguish it as a special type of organization in Western sociology (E. Goffman). They are created to defend common interests by state, religious and other organizations. Examples of such institutions:

hospitals, boarding houses for people who cannot take care of themselves (blind, elderly, poor, sick);
prisons and concentration camps, intended for those who are considered dangerous to society;
military barracks, naval crews, closed educational establishments, labor camps and other similar institutions;
men's and nunneries and other shelters where a person comes for religious reasons.

Residents of total institutions are often isolated from society, and often under surveillance.

The bulk of all organized activities in industrial societies carried out in institutions, administrative departments and simply in organizations (in Western sociology they are usually called bureaucracies). A person meets with them constantly.

Structure of social organization

Structure is an important element of any organization and is expressed in the division of activities according to certain rules or laws. In each modern organization there is a director, a business manager, etc., the order of subordination of officials, who in turn are the bosses of other employees, has been adopted. As a rule, there is a system of vertical dependence (from top to bottom): the board of directors, the main managers of organizations, middle-level managers and subordinate managers who control the activities of ordinary employees. The structure as a whole is a system of relations between people that obey existing norms, but at the same time deviate from them within certain limits, determined by personal feelings, preferences, sympathies and interests, i.e. There are also informal relationships here.

Thus, social structure includes a set of interrelated roles, as well as ordered relationships between members of the organization, primarily relations of power and subordination. These relationships are transformed as a result of the exchange of resources and changes in the nature of their use, which constitutes a reserve for the development of the organization - the introduction of innovations in the field of division of labor, changes in the motivation of participants in the labor process, the formation of new forms of social control and informed management decisions.

In the basic scheme of the activities of any institution important role plays its purpose: an organization without a purpose is meaningless and quickly disintegrates. Target is considered as the desired result or the conditions that employees of the organization are trying to achieve using their activity. Sociologists and professional managers identify three interrelated types of organizational goals:

goals-tasks- programs of general actions that are set by a higher-level organization. Laboratory work at a research institute, treatment of patients in a hospital, teaching at a university - these are goals and tasks that determine the meaning of the organization’s existence;
goal-orientation - a set of goals of participants that they realize through the organization. If goals-tasks and goals-orientations diverge, employees, striving to implement their personal plans, treat work formally, the activities of the institution become ineffective;
goals-systems - the desire to preserve the organization as an independent whole. Often, an organization, having lost its real goals, exists only in order to survive, to preserve at any cost an institution that has become useless to anyone (except the employees themselves). The main goals are divided into smaller ones, which should correspond to the division of the institution into levels (departments, sectors, laboratories, workshops, sections).

Employees of the organization - personnel - interact with each other in accordance with the normative and behavioral structure. If the placement of personnel takes into account the abilities and creative potential of everyone, then it is possible to combine efforts and achieve an organizational effect.

Organization from the point of view of technologists - it is a place where a certain type of work is done. The concept of “technology” is also understood here as a system of material objects - machines, materials, duplicating equipment, transmitting and receiving equipment, as well as the facility building itself, workshop areas, storage facilities (in the narrow sense, “mechanical” - these are physical objects associated with human activity), and as the body of knowledge of workers about the most rational means of using this system. Technology in this understanding is used in the most complex areas of production in the form of a deviation from the usual, routine methods and rules, and the creation of fundamentally innovative solutions and methods of activity.

Every organization exists in a specific physical, technological, cultural and social environment. No organization is possible without connections with the outside world - with higher organizations, suppliers, law enforcement agencies, political and other institutions that operate in this particular society. Managers consider the main factors influencing the external environment to be the state and the political system, the economy, social and cultural factors.

Organization management are dealt with by special bodies whose task is to control the activities of all elements, to keep them in permissible limits deviation of individual parts and the organization as a whole from its goals, monitor compliance with the norms and rules of the organization, using various methods, including rewards and punishments.

Currently, the management of an organization has become very complicated and its functions, as a rule, are concentrated in a special group - the administration (bureaucracy). It is known that in many societies there is a tradition of sharply negative assessment of bureaucracy, considering it as a synonym for formal, soulless paperwork, as an example of indifference to personnel. Indeed, officials sometimes take the formalization of their activities to the point of absurdity. Sociologists have experimentally proven that constant, strict adherence to the rules also has negative consequences for the official himself: he loses the ability to accept independent decisions, apply creatively existing rules, i.e. actually becomes incompetent.

An equally important problem, especially acute in Russia today, is related to the corruption of officials who want to gain additional income through official opportunities. In almost all countries, bribery occurs of persons who have the right to change the “rules of the game” in the interests of one entity to the detriment of another and even to the detriment of the state or organization. Most researchers come to a pessimistic conclusion: it is impossible to completely eradicate corruption. However, it is necessary to create conditions under which corruption becomes unprofitable and too dangerous, i.e. the risk of exposure and punishment will outweigh the possible benefit.

Of course, bureaucracy is formalistic and soulless, but Max Weber (1864-1920) noted that the bureaucratic form of government is the only workable one. Bureaucracy is an organization consisting of officials, positions and positions that form a hierarchy. Bureaucrats differ in the formal rights and responsibilities that determine their actions and responsibilities, and constitute the most efficient machine management based on rationalization. It is characterized by strict responsibility for each area of work, coordination in solving problems, optimal operation of impersonal rules, and a clear hierarchical dependence. All this, taken together, determines the rather predictable behavior of the organization’s employees and helps management coordinate their activities. In turn, predictability and coordination are the main factors that contribute to increased efficiency and productivity. Although the features of a bureaucratic organization impart an impersonal character to the final results of activities, in most cases the work of officials is preferable to the inefficiency of the organization. The problem is how big the bureaucracy is and how strong its vested interests are.

Thus, under social organization imply an orderly and coordinated association of people, which is intended to perform clearly defined functions and aimed at achieving specific goals. This is a regulated, hierarchical structure of an institutional nature, in which the formal roles of participants are clearly distributed and strict norms and rules are established to which they must obey. The main difference between a social organization and other social groups is the formal nature of intra-organizational relations. The organization is recognized as one of the most important elements modern society, since most social groups that determine human life exist in the form of organizations (for example, kindergarten, school, army, institute, work collective, etc.).

Social organizations, depending on their goals, can be educational, economic, political, etc. The most common are socio-economic systems. Social systems that realize themselves in the production of goods, services, information and knowledge are called social organizations. These organizations play a significant role in modern society. Their features are 1:

Realization of human potential and abilities;

Formation of unity of different interests of people. Unity of goals and interests serves as a system-forming factor;

Complexity, dynamism and high levels of uncertainty.

The mechanisms of interaction between people through socialization create a control system, including punishment and encouragement of individuals, so that the actions they choose do not go beyond the norms and rules of behavior acceptable for this system. In a social organization, objective (natural) and subjective (artificial, by human will) processes take place. Objective ones include cyclical processes of decline and rise in the activities of the organization (in accordance with the life cycle of the organization), processes associated with the actions of the laws of the organization, for example, synergy, composition and proportionality, awareness.

Subjective processes include processes associated with the choice of a particular management decision.

Exist various definitions concepts of social organization.

Social organization in the broadest sense f - any organizational human communities or a set of interconnected social groups. In another sense, this is the name of a specific, actually social subsystem of behavior regulation, the presence of which allows us to consider the organization as a social system.

When considering administrative, primarily production organizations, social organization acts as a subsystem within complex sociotechnical systems, the components of which have different nature(origin): technical, technological, economic and social. In this case, social organization is considered as a social subsystem.

Social organization can be represented as a set of subsystems that perform individual functions or ensure the achievement of certain goals. An example is a model of social organization, representing it in the form of three relatively independent social subsystems:

1) a formal structure aimed at achieving overall organizational goals;

2) a cooperative system focused on achieving the goals of individuals, primarily on their successful completion of certain career stages;

3) a political system (business strategy), aimed at fulfilling tasks by divisions of the organization and influencing them.

A social system, interpreted in a narrow sense, is a subsystem in the system of regulation of organizational human behavior in which the source of influence on behavior is culture, primarily social norms. The components of this subsystem are usually formal and informal organizations.

Labor organization- one of the most important and most widespread types of social systems. It is a self-regulating system that is consciously created by people to achieve common goals. Without exaggeration, we can say that a person lives in the world of a labor organization. Every day he directly or indirectly encounters many organizations from which he receives necessary goods or services or in the activities of which he himself participates, producing other goods and services for other people. Ultimately, both individual and group behavior are determined by involvement in organizations (belonging to the relevant labor organization) or contacts with them. Labor organizations play the role of an institution that unites and coordinates the behavior of people specializing in different types and types of activities. They include people in a common, unified labor process, planning and programming their activities, regulating and correcting their behavior if necessary, monitoring the progress of the process and the results of work. Being a means to achieve a goal, a labor organization arises whenever there is a need for joint cooperative labor. The essential features of a labor organization as a system include its integrity and the presence of functions of components (subsystems) that are autonomous in their goals, the irreducibility of its properties as a whole to a simple sum of the properties of all elements, interaction with the external environment, which acts as a condition and limitation for its existence.

In the role of a social system, the labor organization acts mainly as social community, which has a hierarchical structure and has at least two components (subsystems) - an object and a subject of control. It is characterized by the non-identity of the interests of social groups and individual workers with the goals of the organization, has a goal-oriented nature and is assessed through goal achievement, which presupposes the presence of elements of rationality in it.

The labor organization is based on the division and specialization of labor along functional lines. It is built on a hierarchical principle, which is due to the need to coordinate the multidirectional activities of horizontal structures at various levels; performs certain functions in relation to internal social components and elements and society.

A labor organization performs three sustainable functions: the main target (mission of the organization); socially integrative; managerial and normative. The first is related to the achievement of the results of the functioning of a labor organization, assessed through the criterion of goal achievement. In the hierarchy of functions, it is the main one, since the organization was created for its implementation. In relation to the target, the other two functions act as both a resource and a limiter. The meaning of the social integrative function is that the bearer of social action in an organization is its social elements - the subjects of social action (people, social groups) that form a microsociety or work collective. The managerial-normative function is associated with maintaining the integrity of the organization, relieving possible social tensions and resolving conflicts, satisfying the various needs of employees (including belonging to a labor organization and communication) and maintaining the necessary social, moral and psychological comfort. It ensures the interaction of the labor organization with the external environment, the integration of the organization into the macrosociety (society). It transfers the system of requirements developed by society and its social institutions (laws, norms, rules, etc.) to the level of microsociety (work collective) and addresses them to individuals.

Formal and informal organizations- two ways of social organization.

A formal organization has the following features:

1) it is rational, i.e. it is based on the principle of the expediency of conscious movement towards known target;

2) it is impersonal, i.e. calculated on individuals, the relationships between whom are established according to a drawn up program. In a formal organization, only service connections between individuals are provided, and it is subordinated only to functional goals.

Formal organizations include:

1) a vertical (linear) organization that unites a number of bodies and divisions in such a way that each of them is located between two others - higher and lower, and the leadership of each of the bodies and divisions is concentrated in one person;

2) functional organization, according to which management is distributed among a number of persons specializing in performing certain functions and jobs;

3) headquarters organization, characterized by the presence of a headquarters of advisers, experts, and assistants who are not included in the vertical organization system.

Informal organization represents a spontaneously (spontaneously) formed system social connections, norms, actions that are the product of more or less long-term interpersonal and intragroup communication.

The reasons for the emergence of an informal organization stem from the shortcomings of a formal organization: firstly, in the inevitable limitations of a formal organization, which in principle cannot cover and regulate all processes of the functioning of a social organization, and, secondly, in the specificity of an individual’s activity in an organization, expressed in non-identity his interests and his organizational function.

At the same time, in an informal organization, an individual has the opportunity for organizational initiative, introducing elements of a broader social environment (interests, influences, plans, etc.) into the organization. This is due to his desire for additional (besides functional) interaction with other people, to satisfy his various social needs.

Informal organization comes in two varieties:

1) informal organization - a concept introduced into the theory of organization by R. Dabin within the framework of his concept of organization as a sociotechnical system. According to this concept, an informal organization is a special subsystem of social regulation of behavior in the activities of people in production organizations, coexisting with such subsystems as technical and technological, formal and informal. The concept of informal organization was introduced into organization theory as a result of the complication of ideas about the nature and functions of informal relations in an organization.

The peculiarity of an informal organization is to provide a certain variation in the performance of private business tasks within the framework of the organization and the instructions of the formal organization. Its main tasks are the modification of rigid rules of behavior predetermined technical organization and recorded in the norms of the formal organization, taking into account the specifics of private tasks performed within the framework of a given activity. According to Dubin, the informal organization orients the individual to solve creative problems within the boundaries and forms defined by the formal organization.

This term It is also used by a number of domestic specialists. Thus, according to A.I. Prigozhin, an informal organization is one of two subsystems of informal regulation, in which informal mechanisms for regulating behavior are associated with the sphere business relations. Informal relationships arise in connection with and in the process of productive activity. An informal organization uses self-organization mechanisms in the sphere of business relations to achieve institutional goals. We can say that an informal organization is one in which informal service relationships have functional (production) content and exist in parallel with the formal organization (for example, an optimal system of business connections that spontaneously develop between employees, some forms of rationalization and invention, methods of decision-making and etc.);

2) socio-psychological organization, acting in the form of interpersonal connections that arise on the basis of mutual interest of individuals in each other without connection with functional needs, i.e. a direct, spontaneously emerging community of people, based on the personal choice of connections and associations between them (comradeships, amateur groups, relationships of prestige, leadership, sympathy, etc.).

The picture of informal organizations is extremely varied and changeable in terms of focus of interests, nature of activity, age and social composition, sustainability, etc. Depending on the ideological and moral orientation and style of the organization, it can be classified into three groups:

1) prosocial, i.e. socially positive groups. These are socio-political clubs of international friendship, funds for social initiatives, groups for environmental protection and rescue of cultural monuments, club amateur associations, etc. They, as a rule, have a positive orientation;

2) asocial, i.e. groups that stand apart from social problems;

3) antisocial. These groups are the most disadvantaged part of society and cause concern.

Considering the organization from the point of view of a social object, a social group, we give the following formulation.

Social organization(from Late Latin organize - communicate a slender appearance) represents system of social groups and relationships between them to achieve certaingoals through the distribution of functional responsibilities, coordination of efforts and compliance with certain rulesinteractions during the operation of the control system. Various social groups interact in it, whose members are integrated by interests, goals, values, and norms based on joint activities.

Social organization is usually characterized by the following basic signs:

having a common goal(production of products or provision of services);

formalization of relations in the organization and normative regulation of the behavior of members of this organization;

hierarchy of relationships. The existence of a system of power and management, which implies the subordination of workers to management in the process of work;

distribution of functions(powers and responsibilities) between groups of workers interacting with each other;

availability of communication. A set of rules and regulations governing relationships between people;

Social organization is one of the most complex types of organizational systems, because in its nature is based onwell-known duality:

firstly, it is created to solve certain problems,

secondly, it acts as a social medium for communication and substantive activity of people.

A whole system of interpersonal relationships is superimposed on a pre-created social organization.

For example, before labor social organization As a rule, two tasks are set:

1) increasing the economic efficiency of production and the quality of products, services and labor provided;

social development of a team or employee as an individual.

Organization structure:

Two types of structures of social organization can be distinguished: production Andnon-productive :

Production type of social organization structure is formed depending on the production factors of people’s activities and includes such components of the general structure as:

a) functional (labor content);

b) professional (training and retraining of personnel);

c) socio-psychological (interpersonal relationships);

d) managerial (management system).

Non-productive type of structure of social organization arises when members, for example, of a labor organization (team) participate in various types of non-production activities that fill the non-working and free time of employees. The non-productive structure of a social organization includes a significant part of the activities of public, cultural, sports and other organizations.

The general structure of the social organization of an industrial enterprise arises and develops both during working hours (during the production process, during the labor process) and in free time from work.

II. Within any organization there are external and internal levels of structure.

External environment. Social factors external to the organization are woven into a complex tangle of political, economic, legal, social and socio-cultural influences that are constantly present in the life of the organization and significantly influence the formation of its activities. The external environment affects not so much the daily work of people, but their attitude towards their organization and the behavior of the organization itself as a whole. In particular, a positive image in the eyes of public opinion gives people pride in belonging to the organization. In this case, it is easier to attract and retain employees. When public opinion develops a distrustful or even negative attitude towards an organization, people come to it without much satisfaction, rather driven by considerations of profit, lack of choice, etc.

Internal environment Organizations are the immediate environment in which people united by common goals, interests and activities have to work. You should always keep in mind that the organization, its management, managers and subordinates are people united in certain groups. When an enterprise is opened, a specific person or a specific group of people makes the appropriate decision, and not at all an abstract leadership. When poor quality products are produced, the culprit is not the abstract “workers”, but a few specific people who are not sufficiently motivated, stimulated, poorly trained or irresponsible in their duties. If management - the individual employees of the management system - does not understand or recognize that each employee is an individual with unique demands, interests, needs, and expectations, the organization's ability to achieve its goals will be jeopardized.

Elements of organization.

Organizations are highly fluid and highly complex social entities. However, their analysis must begin with a fairly simple model (see figure).

External environment

Rice. Elements of organization

Let's consider the individual elements of this model.

Social structure is the central element of any organization. It refers to patterned, or adjustable,aspects of relationships between organizational participants. There are two points of view on the social structure of a group.

On the one side, normative structure

with another - actual structure

Regulatory structure includes values, norms and role expectations.

Values - these are criteria for attractiveness and reasonable choice of goals, as well as assessment of surrounding social norms.

Norms - these are generalized rules governing behavior that change and improve, leading individuals to achieve collective goals and organizational goals. Roles determine the contribution to general activities depending on the position occupied, as well as mutual expectations of the participants, mutual control over their behavior. Values, norms, and roles are organized so that they constitute relatively cohesive and enduring systems of mutual trust and prescriptions that govern the behavior of organizational members.

Concerning actual structure, then it can be defined as behavioral structure . It differs significantly from the normative structure primarily in that it you are in the forefront step personal qualities participants and their mutual assessments of these qualities . In general, a behavioral structure is a system of relations between people that is within the framework of a normative structure, but at the same time deviates from the normative structure within certain limits, determined by personal feelings, preferences, sympathies and interests.

The social structure of an organization varies in degree of formalization.

Formal social structure - This is a structure in which social positions and the relationships between them are clearly specialized and defined regardless of the personal characteristics of the members of the organization occupying these positions. For example, there are social positions of the director, his deputies, heads of departments and ordinary performers. The director can be businesslike and energetic, fully consistent with his position, or he can be passive and incompetent. But still formally he remains a director. The relationships between the positions of the formal structure are based on strict rules, regulations, regulations and are enshrined in official documents.

In the same time informal structure consists of a set of positions and relationships formed on the basis of personal characteristics and based on relationships of prestige and trust. From the point of view of the informal structure, a competent and conscientious department head may have higher prestige and mean more than the director of the organization. The informal structure is more changeable, mobile and unstable than the formal one, because such relationships are not reinforced by formal rules, regulations and norms and, therefore, can easily be destroyed, for example, if the allocated manager does not live up to expectations.

2. Goals. Goals are very important, since it is for the sake of achieving them that all the activities of the association of people are carried out. An organization without a goal is meaningless and cannot exist for any long time. The goal is considered as the desired result or the conditions that members of the organization are trying to achieve using their activity to satisfy collective needs. The joint activities of individuals give rise to goals of different levels and content. With interrelated types of organizational goals: goals-tasks, goals-orientation and goals-systems.

Goals-tasks - these are designed as general action programs vii orders issued externally by a higher-level organization. Enterprises are given tasks by the ministry or dictated by the market (a set of organizations, including related companies and competitors) that determine the target existence of the organizations. It is obvious that these goals are a priority and the attention and main activities of all participants in the organized process, without exception, are directed towards their implementation. Teaching at school, treating and receiving patients in a hospital, laboratory work in research institutes - all these are goals and tasks that determine the meaning of the organization's existence.

Goal-orientations - this is a set of goals of participants that are realized through the organization . This includes the generalized goals of the team, which also include the personal goals of each member of the organization. An important point of joint activity is the combination of goals-tasks and goals-orientations. If they diverge significantly, motivation to achieve goals and objectives is lost and the organization’s work may become ineffective. In an effort to fulfill goal-orientations, members of the organization brush aside goals-tasks or strive to fulfill them only formally.

Goals-systems - This desire to preserve the organization as a a self-sufficient whole, i.e. maintain balance, stability and flatness. In other words, this is the organization’s desire to survive in the existing external environment, the integration of the organization among others. The goals of the system must fit organically into the task goals and orientation goals.

The listed goals of the organization are the main, or basic ones. To achieve them, the organization sets itself many intermediate, secondary, derivative goals: strengthening discipline, stimulating employees, reorganization, improving the quality of work, etc.

3. Members of the organization, or participants - an important component of the organization. This a collection of individuals, each of whom must possess the necessary set of qualities and skills that allow him occupy a certain position in the social structure of the organization tions and play an appropriate social role . Together, the members of the organization represent staff, which interact with each other according to a normative and behavioral structure. Possessing different abilities and potential (knowledge, qualifications, motivation, connections), members of the organization must fill all the cells of the social structure without exception, i.e. all social positions in the organization. The problem of personnel placement arises, combining the abilities and potential of participants with the social structure, as a result of which it is possible to combine efforts and achieve an organizational effect.

4. Technology. An organization from a technological point of view is a place where a certain type of work is performed. The concept of “technology” is usually attributed to three meanings.

Firstlyout, technology is often presented as a system of physical objects that make up an organization (machines, materials, duplicating means, transmitting and receiving equipment, etc.).

Secondly, technology is understood in a narrow, “mechanical” sense: it is physical objects connected to human activity. A car and a radio differ only in that human energy is applied to them differently - different actions are performed to produce them.

Thirdtheir, the term “technology” is used to denote the totality of people’s knowledge about the processes occurring in a given area of the organization’s functioning. An organization cannot engage in any kind of activity without knowing how to use the means, transform them and implement them. Technology in this understanding (called know-how) is systematized knowledge of useful and most rational practical actions. It is this interpretation of technology that is used in the sociology of management.

5. External environment. Every organization exists in a specific physical, technological, cultural and social environment. She must adapt to him and coexist with him. There are no self-sufficient, closed organizations. All of them to exist, to function, to achieve goals, must have a lot numerous connections with the outside world.

By studying the external environment of organizations, we can identify the main factors influencing them by the external environment:

the role of the state and the political system;

market influence (competitors and labor market);

the role of the economy;

the influence of social and cultural factors;

technology from the external environment.

It is obvious that these environmental factors influence practically all areas of the organization’s activities.

In general, it can be said that each of the organizational elements - social structure, goals, organizational members, technology and external environment - serves as a critical component of all organizations. Thus, organizations are represented as element systems, each of which is unthinkable without the others. For example, goals themselves, like a single social structure or technology, are not the key to understanding the nature of the functioning of organizations, just as there is no organization that can be understood in isolation from its environment.

LECTURE 4: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

1. Concept of culture, organizational culture, its origin.

2. Levels and elements of organizational culture

3. Typology of organizational culture

CONCEPT OF CULTURE, ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Culture has a significant influence on individual and group behavior and activities of people. However, only in recent years have managers begun to understand and appreciate the importance of a common culture to production.

What is culture? The term “culture” (from Lat. culture) - the concept is multifaceted, complex, ambiguous.

First of all, culture - this is what is reportedknowledge that is passed on from generation to generation in order toenable group members to live in a particular time, place or situationtions.

Culture - it is a phenomenon that sets the human species apartamong other living su society Combined with biological evolution, culture has not only helped the human species to survive, but also to grow and develop on this planet and even in space.

Culture - it is also learned behavior and knowledge thatintegrated by the group and shared by group members. Group beliefs and practices become habitual, traditional and distinguish one group (civilization, country or organition) from another.

Thus, we can highlight the features of culture:

Shared by all or almost all members of some social group;

Passed on by older members of the group to younger ones;

Forms behavior (morality, laws, customs) and the structure of perception and vision of the world.

Culture gives meaning to many of our actions. Therefore, it is possible to change anything in people’s lives only by taking into account this significant phenomenon. Culture is formed over years and decades, therefore she is inertial and conservative . And many innovations do not take root only because they contradict the cultural norms and values that people have mastered.

In a broad sense, culture is a mechanism for reproducing social experience that helps people live and develop in a certain environment, maintaining the unity and integrity of their community. Of course, the need to reproduce acquired and borrowed social experience is also relevant for the organization. However, until recently, the processes of formation of organizational culture proceeded spontaneously, without attracting the attention of either the subject of organizational power or researchers.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

The issue of organizational culture is relatively new and little studied both in our country and abroad. Even in the USA, research into this problem began only in the 80-90s, and in Russia even later. Interest in this problem is evidenced by requests from managers and specialists, as well as actual orders from organizations to carry out research projects.

Despite the diversity of definitions of organizational culture, they have common points.

samples, which members of the organization adhere to in their behavior and actions;

values, which an individual can adhere to: what behavior should be considered acceptable and what should not. An accepted value helps an individual understand how he should act in a particular situation.

symbolism, through which value orientations are transmitted to members of the organization (legends, myths).

We will determine organizational culture How: this is a set of the most importantassumptions made by members of the organization and receiveexpressed in the organization’s stated values that definepeople with guidelines for their behavior and actions.

In organizations with a long history and tradition, almost every employee can recall a story, legend or myth that is associated with the origin of the organization, its founders or prominent members.

Thus, organizational culture sets a certain frame of reference that explains why the organization functions in this particular way and not in another way. Organizational culture makes it possible to significantly smooth out the problem of coordinating individual goals with common goal organization, forming a common cultural space, including values, norms and behavioral models shared by all employees.

Organizational culture includes not only global norms and rules, but also current regulations. It may have its own characteristics, depending on the type of activity, forms of ownership, position occupied in the market or in society. In this context, we can talk about the existence of bureaucratic, entrepreneurial, organic and other organizational cultures, as well as organizational culture in certain areas of activity, for example, when working with clients, staff, etc.

The bearers of organizational culture are people. However, in organizations with an established organizational culture, it seems to be separated from people and becomes an attribute of the organization, a part of it that provides active influence on workers, modifying their behavior in accordance with the norms and values that form its basis.

ORIGIN OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Many issues related to organizational culture are not new in themselves. Over the past 15-20 years, a systematization of the available material has been carried out.

The first attempt to study the activities of a corporation in a cultural aspect can be considered the work of a group of American scientists led by E. Mayo in the early 30s.

In the 1950s, dozens of studies were conducted in dozens of large and medium-sized firms in the United States and Canada to study the natural emergence of cultures and subcultures based on the different needs of workers.

In 1969, a book was published written by a group of researchers from Cornell University dedicated to various industrial traditions and rituals.

In the early 80s. The best-selling book “Theory Z” by Japanese author Ouchi was published.

There are several reasons for the popularity of this topic in the United States and Western countries:

In the 70s, American firms had a powerful competitor in Japan - a country with a completely different culture. Naturally, the question arose: why?

The inconsistency of the traditional rational-bureaucratic approach to organization with the spirit of alienation and formal impersonality present in it was discovered.

Thoughtful marketing of the very idea of publishing best-selling books on organizational management.

Popular

Why do you dream about a hole near the house?

« A hole in a dream is a rather unfavorable symbol, especially if you accidentally fell into it. Popular dream books and approximate interpretations will help... »

Dream interpretation of minced meat see

« As paradoxical as it may sound, meat in a dream is associated specifically with a woman. This means that minced meat precisely signifies the presence of the weak... »

Why did you dream about the apple?

« What an apple means in a dream, as a rule, portends very good events. However, for a correct interpretation, all details must be taken into account... »