1. Knowledge Objectives • Describe the four characteristics common to all organizations. • Explain dynamic equilibrium and equifinality in open-systems models. • Explain the ways in which organizations learn and decline (fail to learn)

2. What is an Organization? • Common Characteristics of Organizations • Coordination of effort: multiplying individual contributions to achieve results greater than those possible by individuals working alone. • Common goal or purpose: having a focus to strive for something of mutual interest. • Division of labor: dividing tasks into specialized jobs that use human resources efficiently. • Hierarchy of authority: using a chain of command to control and direct the actions of others.

3. Organizing • Max Weber’s Bureaucracy • The most rationally efficient form of organization • Division of labor • Hierarchy of authority • Framework of rules • Impersonal management • Problems with overly “bureaucratic” organizations • Slow • Insensitive • Inefficient

4. Organizing • Open systems perspective • The organization’s principal goal is survival in an uncertain environment. • The organization is an open-system interacting with its environment. • The organization’s surrounding environment is composed of variables that are difficult to predict or control.

5. Organizing • Characteristics of Open Systems • Interaction with the external environment through permeable boundaries. • Dynamic equilibrium in maintaining internal balances with help from the external environment. • Equifinality in achieving similar ends through different means. • Management of the Technical Core & Boundary Spanning units

6. Extending the Systems Model: Learning Organizations • Learning Organization • An organization that is skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights. • Stages of Organization Learning • Cognition (learning new concepts) • Behavior (developing new skills and abilities) • Performance (actually getting something done)

7. Learning Organizations • Five Critical Learning Skills • Solving problems. • Experimenting. • Learning from organizational experience/history. • Learning from others. • Transferring and implementing.

8. Decline • Organizational Decline • The weakening of an organization by resource restrictions and/or mismanagement. • Sources of decline • Complacency/Simplification • Unsteady macroeconomic environment • Resource shortages • Global competition • Reactions to decline • Downsizing, demassing, reengineering

9. Decline • Characteristics of Organizational Decline • Decline Dilemmas • Exit of leaders from the organization. • Control that suppresses participation and morale. • Preference for short-term thinking and risk avoidance. • Intense conflict, preventing teamwork. • Strong resistance to change. • Counteracting Organizational Decline • Kaizen: the philosophy of continuous improvement.