Formal
Organizations
Wendy Whiting Blome, LICSW, PhD
National Catholic School of Social Service
Fall 2010
What is a formal organization?
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…collectivities of people, with a high degree of
structure, working together to meet goals
(Hutchison, 2008, p. 409)
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All organizations must: define objectives, hire
staff willing to work towards goals, control the
contributions of staff, get resources from
environment, dispense products or services, and
work with environment
Organizations are Everywhere…
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In what organizations do you participate?
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Have you ever thought about how the structure
of the organization affects the functioning of the
organization?
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How might the structure of the organization
affect client outcomes?
Leavitt’s Diamond Model of
Organizations
From: Scott, R. (2003). Organizations: Rational, natural, and
open systems—Fifth edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:
Prentice Hall/Pearson Inc, p. 18.
Organizational Theories
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Rational system theories
 Ideal-type
bureaucracy
 Scientific management
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Natural system theories
 Human
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relations
Open system theories
 Contingency
Rational System Theories of
Organizations
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Max Weber—proposed bureaucracy as
the most efficient organizational form
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Focused on internal structure of
organization—not the environment
Ideal-type Bureaucracy
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Formal rationality—there is ‘one’ best way to organize
Clear hierarchy; chain of command—worker to
supervisor to manager to administrator
For greatest effectiveness, communication follows
hierarchy
Division of labor
Merit based recruitment
Record keeping important to document actions
No organization will meet the ideal-type 100%
Organizations will vary in how they implement
components
Scientific Management Theory
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Frederick Taylor—established during preindustrial period; problems of unhealthy work
environments; child labor
Question: how can scientific methods be
applied to the work place?
“Enlightened capitalism”—how can work be
structured so it is more efficient?
Analyze tasks—which produce maximum output
for minimum input of resources
Managers use data, not arbitrary decision
making; are ‘fact finders’
Scientific Management (cont)
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Taylor believed labor and management have compatible
interests—work at peak efficiency for top wages
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Rational approach to organizing tasks from the ‘bottom
up’
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Believed man was rational and would make economic choices
based on the degree of monetary reward offered
Change individual tasks to change larger structure of the work
Mass production—simplify work of each person;
enforced inspection oriented rather than prevention
oriented approach
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Ignored human component—boredom, sense of completion, self
determination
Scientific Management (cont)
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Given credit for developing principles of management
including:
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Clear delineation of authority and responsibility
Separation of planning from operations
Incentives for workers
Management by exception
Task specialization
Criticism—assumes workers are motivated by money
alone
In social services more agencies are tracking ‘billable
hours’; have incentive systems for workers—ex: SW
gets bonus if exceed billable target for the month
Environmental (remember Leavitt) demands from 3rd
party payers—organizations are dependent on the
resources, so they will organize the work accordingly
Natural Systems Theories of
Organizations
Developed in response to concerns about
rational system theories
 Recognized the ‘irrational’ aspect of
organizations
 Difference between ‘stated’ and ‘real’
goals of organizations
 Examples?????
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Human Relations Model
Hawthorne effect—Rational theories did
not explain why effectiveness and
efficiency increased
 Elton Mayo and others recognized the
importance of human interaction in
organizational studies
 Emphasis on informal structures within
organizations
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Human Relations (cont)
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Assumes organizational effectiveness needs congruence
between goals of the organization and the personal
needs of the workers
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Views people as having an inherent desire to work and
can exercise self control and self direction if they are
committed to the goals of the organization
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Democratic style, confidence of leaders in subordinates
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Difficulties with model: social service organizations lack
clear service technology
Open System Theories of
Organizations
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Maintenance of boundaries and cross
boundary transactions are important
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All systems are part of larger systems
Builds on Systems Concepts
Input-conversion-output processes
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Input processes—all open systems draw from the
environment raw materials needed to achieve goals
and maintain existence
Conversion processes—resources are processed in
keeping with the system’s purposes; the work the
system does to achieve its goals
Output processes—results of the conversion process
are returned to the environment, these output
resources may in turn become raw material for another
system within the environment
Example….
What is the ‘input’ for a mental health
clinic?
 What is the ‘conversion process’ for the
clinic?
 What is the ‘output’ of the clinic?
 The ‘output’ of the clinic is the ‘input’ of
what other organizations?
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Organization—in—Environment
Contingency theory is the organizational
version of the person-in-environment
approach
 Social work builds on the importance of
viewing a person within an environmental
context
 What does that mean when looking at
organizations?
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Contingency theory
Used in organizational management—‘It
depends’ model
 No one best way to organize—depends on
the nature of the environment
 If organization’s internal features best
match the demands of the environment
the organization will thrive
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Contingency Theory (cont)
Design of organization must ‘fit’
organizational strategy and structure
 Look at the ‘fit’ between the manager and
the organization and the environment
 Significant work by Paul Lawrence and
Jay Lorsch
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Example…..Beacon Center
What was the ‘fit’ between the
organization founder, Martha Green, and
the environment?
 When Helen Blue became director had the
organizational environment changed?
 The organization had two more CEOs—
what type of leader should the Board be
looking for now?
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Mechanistic—Organic Continuum
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Contingency theory looks at the continuum
from mechanistic to organic organizations
Mechanistic….
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Job highly specialized; separated into discrete
tasks
Supervisor assigns and directs work
Hierarchical structure
Communication top down
Decisions made high in organization
Mechanistic systems manage the process
Organic....
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The more varied the environment the more
differentiated the structure
Focus of work is on results
Responsibility is delegated
Teamwork is emphasized
Project teams adapt to needs—fluid structure
Information is shared
Organic systems manage the results
Examples….
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Social service agencies can be found all
along the mechanistic—organic continuum
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Where does your agency fall?
Applying Contingency Theory
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Northouse article—using contingency theory to
analyze leader—organization match
 Leader—member
relations: confidence, loyalty felt
for leader
 Task structure: level of structure of each task and
how it is monitored—from highly to minimally
structured
 Position power: amount of authority a leader has to
reward or punish—pay raises, promotions, fire staff
Contingency model….
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Questionnaire asks people to identify their ‘least
preferred coworker’
High score=relationship motivated
Low score=task motivated
Read chart (p. 111) from top to bottom—good
leader-member relations; high structure, strong
power—low LPC score would be effective
Not all leaders are effective in all situations
Exercise….
Look at Northouse page 121, Case 6.2
 What kind of leader-member relations
exist?
 What level of task structure?
 What kind of position power?
 Given a LPC of 44 would you anticipate
problems or success for this leader?
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Summary….
Social work is conducted in organizations
 The structure of organizations influences
the success of staff and the outcomes for
clients
 Social workers are part of organizations
and are responsible for assuring
organizations function effectively and
efficiently
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