Evolution of Formal Organization (Your Name Here) (Your School’s Name Here) Introduction Evolution in organizational development is inevitable. Over the years, there has been a transparent rapid growth and accelerating changes particularly with new discoveries ranging from simple to highly technical. There has been an implementation of new theories and methods to deal with new problems and solutions. Tremendous improvements had been obvious among many formal organizations though some had been adopting changes at slow pace.
All of these progressive improvements caused significant changes which increased the pace and complexity of human life. All of these are in association with formal organizational changes. Evolution of Formal Organization Formal organization refers to a large secondary group such as business corporations and government agencies organized to achieve their goals efficiently operating in a deliberate way, not to meet personal needs but to accomplish complex jobs. Over the past century, the face of the organizations has completely changed.
With the advent of the problems arising in bureaucratic organization mainly stemming from hierarchy and rigidity, formal organization had sprouted which encountered many challenges during its evolution. The race and gender issues were among the first challenges met. Big businesses exclude women and other minorities during the early 1960 thus it was common to see white men to hold managerial posts. Women were generally considered as less effective and less competent member of the organization so with the other minorities. The Japanese organization reflecting the nation’s collective spirit was the second challenge faced.
United States organizations’ hiring and advancement strategies involved promotion and raises in salaries as rewards to be achieved by winning in individual competitions which is much different from the Japanese organizations strategies which involved hiring of new school graduates together who were given the same salary and responsibilities. There was also a big difference in the employee’s lifetime security. It was common for a U. S. employee to move from one company to another for career advancement and layoffs during economic set back were a usual event.
For the Japanese organizations, workers are usually hired for a lifetime, fostering a mutual loyalty between the workers and the company who usually have holistic involvement to the worker’s life providing them home mortgages, sponsor recreational activities, and schedule social events. For U. S. organizations, the workers home and workplace are viewed as separate entity. U. S workers were obtained highly specialized training specific on a certain thing while the Japanese workers had broad-based training in all phases of the operation. The aspect of decision making was also in big difference as U. S. rganizations mainly relied on their executives while the Japanese gave roles to the workers to participate in dealing with issues. The challenges of work are considered to have significant roles in the evolution of the formal organizations. Looking at the nature of many jobs at present, they are far different from a century ago. For instance, the work of designers, artists, writers, composers, programmers, business owners, and others which way back are full of simplicity now demand creativity and imagination. The ways of how the works are done now differ in various ways as compared to past centuries.
Yesterday, the executives set production goals but take no role in dictating how to accomplish tasks involving imagination and discovery. Now, highly skilled workers are bestowed with creative autonomy enabling them to generate good ideas with less supervision. Establishment of competitive work teams enhanced every member’s creative contribution and lessened the alienation often found in conventional organizations. Another obvious evolutionary change is the structural shape of the. The pyramid shape of conventional bureaucracy had been progressively replaced by a flatter organizational form with fewer levels in the chain of command.
The modern organizations had greatly increased its flexibility. Looking back at the typical industrial age organization, it represented a rigid structure guided from the top. The ideal model in the information age is a highly flexible organization, one that both generates new ideas and, in a rapidly changing global marketplace, adapts quickly – this represents most of the current formal organizations that has adopted evolutionary changes. The above challenges took a major role in the evolution of formal organization.
Many factors as well have impacts for the organization to be effective with the ccommunication and feedback mechanisms within the various parts of the organization on top. Formal checks and balances of power and authority keep the organizational structure strong and effective. Worthwhile mentioning that formal organizations evolve in much the same manner as the other social groups. Statuses and roles become more specialized and differentiated as they got larger and as so with environment changes, the organizational needs and demands do change as well. Current Trends in Formal Organization
Current trends in formal organizations are highly associated to technological advancement. With the evolution of computer technology, members of formal organizations are facing a tremendous decline in social relations and interaction becoming slaves to computers and online deals. More organizational tasks are now highly relying on computers and high technologies. Adaptation of new learning models is implemented. According to Tomoya Corporation CEO Eric Suave, “The amount and frequency of work driven by tacit knowledge—complex interactions which require that people handle ambiguity and solve problems based on experience—are on the rise. (E. Suave, Communities of Practice, n. d. ) Such trend enlarges the training and development strategy of organizations with the evolution of youngest internet generation of knowledge workers known as “millennials”. It is challenge to organizations to eliminate hierarchy and corporate bottlenecks, open up internal communications, and provide ongoing training and development opportunities to draw the interest of these younger group. The technological advancements had also changed the communication preferences and expectations of all generations of workers.
Generally, constant changes of technology have strong impacts on the different aspects of organization which requires the community keep upgraded to adapt to new trends and techniques. Small Group and Formal Organization The summary of the tabulated differences between the small and formal organization closely resemble the differences presented by the challenges met commencing on the early evolution of the formal organization. Micah’s organization which still holds more on bureaucratic principles needs lots of changes to become more open and flexible.
One of the first aspects that need to be defined is the specific roles and powers of authorities and all the members. Without giving emphasis on that aspect, the tendency of the higher authorities to reproduce their own positions will continue thus the pyramidal model structure of authority will not be given a chance to change. Establishing a clear line of communication with timely feedback and active participation of members also needs to be highly emphasized.
A German sociologist Robert Michels said, “An oligarchy develops when a few individuals at the top of an organization acquire sufficient unchecked power and authority to make arbitrary decisions irrespective of the needs, wants, and concerns of the rest of the organization, its clients, and neighbours. ” (Hansen, 2003, p. 3). For Micah’s organization to be more effective, all the members must take responsibility putting stress on the point that responsibility are not solely for authorities and administrators but for the entire organization members to partake.
Micah’s company needs to appoint staff based on their competence and should undergo highly specialized training to enhance their capabilities in performing specific tasks. In addition, a set of specific rules and regulations needs to be structured and the organization in general needs to be more focussed on the task carried out by the members rather than giving emphasis on the personality of a member. Future Trends in Formal Organization
A case study on designing and establishing a succession planning system is believed to assist in identifying and developing the top talent within the organization that ensures a continuous pipeline or bench strength into key positions and demonstrates that the organization has the right people with the right skills moving into the right position within the right timeframe. (SHRM Case Study, 2005, n. d. ) An article exploring foresightful organization elaborated the role of foresight in the future of organization.
Foresightful organization is described as an organization that has sharpened its ability to see, to observe, to perceive what is going on both externally and internally, and to respond accordingly with members who spontaneously forge connections between past, present, and future. (Tsoukas and Shepherd, 2004, n. d. , chapter 1) The above mentioned trends surely will be implemented in and will be highly popularized in the future in fact some organizations had already adapted them and are already taking part in the formal organizations progressively.
An understanding of all the details explored in this research paper, it is easy to predict that formal organizations such as that of Micah’s have great chances of evolving from a bureaucratic organization into a better structure. The pace of evolution however largely depends on how her company will implement changes. Organizational evolution and progress cannot be expected to occur by chance alone.
The evolution and potential success of any formal organizations are ultimately dependent on the actions and inactions of every the entire members from the top officials, members, and constituents. References: Hansen,M. Social groups, the evolution of formal organizations, and integrity. Integrity (Spring Semester 2003) Vol. 5. No. 2. Retrieved August 01,2008 from http://web. sau. edu/aaup/Complete%205-2. pdf Suave, E. Communities of practice: Addressing workforce trends through new learning models. Relearn Magazine.
Retrieved August 01, 2008 from http://www. elearnmag. org/subpage. cfm? section=best_practices&article=37-1 SHRM case study: establishing a successful plan (November 2005). Society for Human Resource Management. Retrieved August 01,2008 from http://www. shrm. org/hrresources/casestudies_published/CMS_013567. pdf Tsoukas H. and Shepherd J. Managing the Future. (March 22, 2004). Retrieved August 01,2008 from http://www. blackwellpublishing. com/content/BPL_Images/Content_store/Sample_chapter/1405116145/Tsoukas_sample%20chapter_Managing%20the%20future. pdf
