Etiquette – Meaning, its Need and Types of Etiquettes
What Makes Human Beings Different from Animals ? Answer – It is the way they carry themselves in the society. Here comes the importance of manners and etiquette. It is essential for an individual to behave in a responsible manner acceptable to the society. People around us must not feel embarrassed by our behaviour.One should […]
Four Dimensional Model of Virtual Teams
Virtual team is the new reality of 21st century workplace. Large number of HR practitioners as well as organizational leaders has come to acknowledge it as different from traditional teams. They have now shifted their attention towards devising and utilizing new tools and techniques to manage the unique challenges posed by virtual teams. Jessica Lipnack […]
Interview Etiquette – Codes of Conduct for Interviews
Etiquette refers to good manners which help transform a man into a gentleman. An individual must behave well in public to gain respect and appreciation from others. It is essential to behave in a socially acceptable way. Interview is nothing but an interaction between the employer and potential employee where the employer tries to judge […]
Importance of Negotiation in Daily Life
Conflict has never benefitted anyone, instead it adds to one’s tensions and anxiety. It is better to discuss things and reach to an alternative benefitting all. Issues must not be dragged unnecessarily and efforts must be made to come to a conclusion involving the interests of all. No point in being adamant and rigid. One […]
Essential Steps Involved in Building High-Performance Teams
High-Performance teams ensure the long-term success of an organization by delivering excellence in business outcomes through collaborative teamwork. Such teams rarely are formed naturally, rather they are formed and managed with certain strategic intent. Given below are some of the crucial steps involved in the formation of High-Performance teams: Fostering Collaboration amongst the team members […]
The closed and open model approach to the study of public administration focuses on the organization itself. One way to study complex organizations is to view them as an open or a closed system. Before we try to understand the open and close system with respect to the study of public administration in general and organizations in specific, let us make an effort to know what an open and a closed system are.
An open system is a system which interacts and exchanges matter with its environment, imagine a pond while a closed system remains isolated from its environment; think an aquarium. While studying complex organizations American sociologist James D Thompson published a book in 1967 called Organization in Action in which he analyzed the behaviors of the complex organization as entities in action. He studied the organization in the light of their technologies and environment and thus he came to identify the meaning of a closed and open system within organizational context.
According to Thompson, an organization is called a close system when:
The examples he gave of a closed system were Taylor and his Scientific Management, Weber’s concept of beurocracy and Gulick and Urwick’s Administrative Management.
Thompson also defined an open system with respect to organizations, he said that: The complex organization is a set of interdependent parts which together make up a whole because each contributes something and receives something from the whole which in turn is interdependent with some larger environment. So an open system is dynamic, full of surprises as well as uncertainties. Systems keep evolving through a continuous process of development and strive to attain homeostasis or the state of equilibrium.
An important case study was carried out by Philip Selznick in 1940s to study the open system approach to organizational analysis. He conducted his research on the emerging Tennessee Valley Authority entitled TVA and Grass Roots (1949).
He focused his research on the aspects of decentralization and involvement of already existing local and state agencies, with a view, to practice democratic planning. It was during this case study that he defined an open system also known as the institutional approach, about which we know from the previous chapter.
According to Selznick, an organization is understood to be a means to achieve goals but the members of the organization act more than just means; they participate whole heartedly with each individual equipped with different skills, expertise, motivations and desires.
An organization also needs to interact with parties, interest groups and other agencies, which communicate and influence the organization; and each other.
From the managerial context, an organization cannot take only one strict approach that is, either of an open or a closed system, it needs to keep switching positions as and when need arises to achieve the stability and certainty required to perform jobs and deliver goals.
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