Definition of an Organization.
What is an Organization? by Sumitava Mukherjee “An Organization is a system of consciously coordinated activities or efforts of two or more persons”.- Chester Barnard, Management Consultant. This definition of Barnard implies formal planning, division of labor and leadership. Organizations can also be thought as “social entities that are goal directed, deliberately structured activity systems with a permeable boundary” according to Bedeian and Zamnuto. There are a couple of things to be noted. If a couple of enthusiastic people plan and decide to help kids then they form an organization but, if a few people find a kid in trouble and helps the kid out (without conscious co-ordination and planning) then they don't form an organization. In Bedian and Zamnuto's definition, 'deliberately structured activity systems' basically means that the organizations are (on-purpose) structured so that it is possible to systematically divide complex tasks among multiple people or units to achieve a common purpose and 'permeable boundary' is a conceptual boundary (apart from the physical fencing) that defines who/what is a part of an organization. This is also related to brand management. Effective Organization matters! There are a couple of guidelines that people have proposed and seems to be applied in most classical organizations(In classical organizations hierarchy of power and responsibility flow from top to bottom). • • • • • • Each person in the organization should report to only one boss. The responsibility and authority of every supervisor should be expressed clearly in writing. Every person is responsible for the acts of her/his sub-ordinates. Every person should be assigned a single function (or as less functions as possible) based on specialization and skills of the person. The operation functions (line functions) and staff functions should be kept seperate but line managers and staffs managers should be encouraged to coordinate to boost synergy. The span of control