Images of organization - Free Essay Example

Summary Chapter 2 of the book Images of Organization by Gareth Morgan focuses on todays organizations which operate like machines. The operations in an organization are predetermined and a high degree of precision is always exhibited. Organizations today have to adhere to a set program of activities where there are preset rules like time of arrival, break, departure as well as the bulk of work to be completed in a particular day. Operations have thus turned to be repetitive and mechanical with operations running for 24 hours. The employees working in this organization therefore are required to work as parts of the whole machine (organization). They have to adhere to major and minor instruction in their day to day operations making the procedures predetermined and repetitive. This mode of operation has both advantages and disadvantages. The strength of this approach can only be experienced where goals are fixed and where there is a compliant and eager workforce as well as a stable environment. Absence of such preconditions will always lead to dire consequences in mechanizing an organization. In the former, it forms the basis for effective operations (Morgan, 1998). However, the greatest challenge to using this approach of running operations in an organization is lack of flexibility. This means that introduction of new ideas and ways of doing things will always be very difficult and challenging. The chapter also provides a detailed account of the origin of mechanistic organization use of machines during the industrial revolution is highlighted. Notably, the author traced the use of mechanistic organization in military during the times of Frederick the great of Prussia (Morgan, 1998). Later, his ideas were borrowed and applied in organization and management. This timeline saw the development of various theories trying to incorporate the idea including Webers bureaucracy theory. Development of this theory received a significant boost from the contributions from scientific management and classical management theories. The chapter then wraps up with a highlight of the strengths and limitation of a mechanistic organization. How does education and skill levels impact labor in a mechanized organization? In a mechanized organization, there is a very high degree of specialization. This means that every employee expertly executed his duties in his respective area of work (division of labor). In this regard, people will excel in their areas of specialty at least over time. This renders education and skill levels quite inconsequential. This is because with time, every employee in his area of operation will gain the experience needed to face the challenges of that specific area. Again, the repetitive nature the operations make the employee more familiar with what is expected of him at that position. Personally, I feel that education and skills will only be relevant during the entry stage. Afterwards, the levels of the same will not impact on the quality of labor as the employee gets familiar with is expected of him. This underlies the functionality of machine which has a definite level of production. Is it inhumane to make people work an assembly line job? Definitely, its very inhumane to make people work in an assemble line. This is because besides the high pressure people are supposed to work under, they are often subject to physical punishment and abuse. This is because the supervisors expect one to work like a machine free of faults and very consistent. This is however a far cry of the human nature where man is not perfect. Once in a while flaws may occur which will consequently attract rebuttal. Again, people on the assembly line are denied a chance to live while on duty. This is because they are reduced to mere machines expected to perform so many tasks within a very short period of time. Morgan states that (28) Job cycles are often very short, with workers sometimes being asked to complete work involving seven or eight separate operations every forty or fifty seconds, seven or eight hours a day, fifty weeks a year. In other instances, strict requirements are put in place like zero defects which leaves workers straining to enjoy working. Workers emerge as the last priority and can best be portrayed as machines having human parts. Every employee along the assembly line can best be described as part of a big machine which is expected to work at a constant predetermined rate. This is negates the fact that these workers have a soul. Personally, I find making employees work in an assembly line very inhumane. Besides being overworked, they are denied a chance to enjoy what they do. Morgan asserts that majority of the people finds the job alienating or boring (Morgan, 1998). From another perspective, its utterly ignoring the fact that its men at work not machines. Why are sweat shops bad? Do they not provide jobs in needy economies? Despite providing jobs in the needy economies, sweatshops are bad because of the way they provide these jobs. Providing a job is one aspect and providing it in a humane manner is a different aspect altogether. In this regard, sweatshops will always be considered bad if they will not improve some of the areas which attract criticism. One of these areas is working hours where workers in these shops are forced to work for long hours sometimes even continuous 12 hours in a day. Another major source of criticism is wage level. Despite working for long hours, workers in these shops are paid very low wages. Their working conditions are a far cry of what can be termed as ideal. They are also known to seek cheap labor a craving which entices them to use child labor which has always tainted their image. Personally, I reckon that if the sweatshops can appreciate the dramatically changing condition under neoliberal globalization, their objective of providing jobs in needy economies will no longe r be considered as misguided. In this regard, aggressive measures should be taken to address the faulty areas like working conditions, wage level, working hours and child labor. Discuss the pros and cons of scientific management. Scientific management was developed by Frederick Taylor and was a solid foundation on which work design was built in the first half of the 20th century. Its principles still prevails today in various forms. This approach has its advantages and disadvantages in management. One of its advantages is that disagreements and conflicts are greatly reduces in the workplace. This is because the approach bestows a lot of control on the leaders. Employees have to do what they are instructed to do and if they feel that its not good to them, they are at liberty to leave. This facilitates a harmonious running of operations in the organization. This approach also ensures that there is quality production and minimal wastage due to the high levels of monitoring. This ultimately reduced the production costs. Again, it increases productivity as well as facilitating replacements of skilled workers with unskilled ones. The other advantage is that every operation is pre-planned thus eliminating delays and time wastage. This improves efficiency and effectiveness which is a target for all kind of organizations regardless of their scope. The effectiveness will consequently improve an organizations profitability. Scientific management is also very advantageous during recruitment because mangers will only be going for the individual who reflects the skills needed to perform a specific task. However, some disadvantages also accrue to this method of management. One of them is that it dehumanizes employees by failing to recognize their social life and their higher needs. They are reduced to mere slaves or machines. Again, their ideas which at times may be very vital are ignored causing demotivation. Its also a major cause of a high turnover rate because it does not appreciate employee variance. Employees are made to do the same thing repeatedly making it boring and alienating. Give an example of a mechanized organization that is not dehumanizing. I do not believe there is any mechanized organization which is not dehumanizing. This is because in any mechanized organization there must be factors which contribute to dehumanization. For example there must be repetition of same activities day in day out. There must also be high degree of adherence to rules as well as human rights issues. This can be well seen in the variety of mechanized organizations like Ford, Mac Donalds, Nike etc. How have labor laws and unions responded to automation? Labor unions are formed with the prime objective of enhancing economic status of the employees as well as improving their working conditions through bargaining collectively. The labor laws are also drafted to ensure that this end is well achieved. Automation goes against these objectives because its a leading cause of unemployment because it reduces the number of workers needed. This has always set the unions and its laws against it. Despite the benefits which come with automation, unions find it as a major threat to employment opportunities. To the union, automation means that some employees will be laid off and that is why they are opposed to it. Discuss mechanization of the government, bureaucracy, and its inhibiting nature A bureaucratic government can better be described as mechanized government. It is more or less similar to a mechanized organization. As the world today embraces democracy in various fronts, a mechanized government will have no room for democracy. This is because people will not be given any chance to air their ideas. Excessive control by the leaders will definitely breed misuse of power. This may create a perfect environment for high level corruption and misuse of state resources. For example, a president may be tempted to appoint his friends or give grants to their companies. This has a potential impact of breeding distrust among his constituents. Again, the government will find it hand to embrace changes (political and economic) especially in todays turbulent world.