What is an organization?
Provide a scholarly answer to the following question: “what is an organisation?”
Providing an answer to the question “What is an organisation?” could appear like a very
demanding task. In fact, not only might different people have different views on what the
term suggests, but, also, the concept is in itself quite broad.
The evolution of this phenomenon is quite complex. An “organization”, meant as a union
between different individuals who join their strengths in order to achieve a common goal,
is a concept, which has been present since the beginning of time.
Nevertheless, the way in which we interpret this term has undergone a big evolution in
recent times. If we ask a researcher, he would most certainly tell us that organizations are a
very specific subject and are defined in a very unique way.
So, exactly, what is an organization? If we look it up in the dictionary the answer we will
more or less find is the following: “a group of people that work together in a structured
way for a shared purpose.” (Cambridge Dictionary, online). And this is also what the
common belief seems to think.
Nevertheless, researchers have analyzed the subject with more in depth observations and
have situated this phenomenon in specific historical times. One historical background in
particular has been taken into consideration while studying these structures: Capitalism.
Capitalist organizations were at the base of the 19th and 20th centuries and researchers
from the Frankfurt School, also know as the Institute for Social Research, took time in
analyzing them.
The major influence at that time was Marxism and the mind of Max Weber.
Marxism situates power in the struggle between the workers and the capitalists, and sees
organizations as “ those entities that bring together the powerless working class and the
powerful capitalists” (Amiridis, 2012). Moreover, the organization is seen as “the stage
where this struggle takes place, where capitalists, management and workers are in an
antagonistic existence” (Amiridis, 2012).
Weber, on the other hand, in his text “Economy and Society“, describes organizations as
the relationship between people, which are either closed to others or limit the admission of
outsiders. Also, they can only be defined as organizations if their regulations are enforced
by specific individuals.
This idea of enforcement leads us to one of the main themes and key words present in the
world of organizations: power. Max Weber wrote many pages on this subject and had very
