Communication

1
Communication Organisation

• Week 3
• Some Perspectives of
• Organisation Theory

2
Three Phases

• Modernism
• Symbolic
• Postmodernism

3
Modernism
General Systems Theory ( Ludwig von Bertalanffy,
1950)
To explain all things scientific from atoms and
molecules to living systems including
inter-relating people in organisations.
A System is a thing with inter-related parts.
Each part is conceived as affecting the others
and each depends upon the whole (Hatch MJ 1997)
4
Organisation
Output
Input
Transformation
Feedback
An Open Systems View of Organisation
5
There are Systems and there are Systems!
Perhaps we should call them Sub-Systems? All
organisational Levels are in effect a separate
sub-system of the whole
Super-system (Top management)
System (Middle Management)
Sub-System (Supervision)
6
Symbolic-Interpretive
Enactment Theory.Karl Weick (1969) Concepts
like Organisation become reality only because
Managers think about them Considering
something creates a type of reality.- Reality
Theory
Social Construction of Reality.. Berger P and
Luckman T (1966)
.
Human social order is produced through
interpersonal interactions and negotiations and
based upon shared experience and shared history
7
The Postmodern Perspective
Postmodernism was a reaction to the rational
approach to Such matters as architecture. The
clean functional lines of Modern design were
seen no longer to reflect the Diversity
of Society.
Some suggest that postmodernism allows for an
Anything goes approach. It questions the
fundamentals of the Scientific Method and whether
Progress is desirable. Indicating that those
that espouse it tend to in order to hold onto
power.
8
In questioning the rational, ordered world the
postmodernists Find attraction in complexity and
organic fluidity. Organisations no Longer need
conform but can exist as virtual entities
instead.
Likewise, they consider the self perpetuation of
Modernist power structures to be alien to the
concept of democracy and would wish to see a
bigger voice for minorities Women, ethnic groups
etc
9
The Multiple Perspectives compared
Source Hatch MJ (1997)
10
The Metaphors of Organisation Theory
Source Hatch MJ (1997)
11
Questions?