Reference no: EM133174756

Representative Modern Theories

Learning Objective 1: Understand the basic precepts of systems theory and Karl Weick's theory of organizing and sensemaking.

Learning Objective 2: Understand the basic precepts of Giddens's structuration theory and its applications made by Poole and McPhee to organizations.

Learning Objective 3: Understand how, according to feminist theory, organizations are gendered and a primary site for configuration of gender roles.

Question 1. Where classical theory is based on the metaphor of the organization as a machine, systems theory is based on the metaphor of the organization as a biological organism. Make a list of other possible metaphors that might be used and explain how each one can help us understand the ways that an organization works.

Question 2. In developing a theory of organizational structuration, Robert McPhee proposed that communication occurs in four flows: membership negotiation (who can be a member), activity coordination (what members do), self-structuring (how activities are organized), and institutional positioning (how the organization differentiates itself from others). Think of an organization to which you belong and then make a list of the types of communication that occur within each of the four flows. Can you identify any patterns or structures in these communication practices? Do these structures help people in the organization get their messages across and be understood? Or do they limit what people can say? Or both?

Question 3. Again, think of an organization to which you belong. Name some examples of binary thinking (e.g., cause/effect, rational/emotional, leader/follower, win/lose, public/private) you have observed. How does this binary thinking affect what you have experienced in the organization? Does this type of thinking tend to make "masculine" values (e.g., competition, individualism, being rational, showing no emotion, taking action) more favored than "feminine" values (e.g., cooperation, integration).