Organizational Theory

Metaphors for Organizations One of the most common organizational metaphors is that of machines. This has been applied in many different contexts -- health care organizations (Suchman, 2011), the military (Demchak, 1991) and as an explanatory force for larger theories about the nature of organizations (Nassehi, 2005). The machine metaphor views the organization as converting inputs into outputs by way of specific systems and processes. The mechanical nature of this metaphor helps to place the organization in the context of the outputs and how the organization needs to arrive at those outputs.

Every machine has a specific task. A complex machine may be a combination of many different machines -- think of how a computer works. There are many different features, and this is one of the aspects of this metaphor that is commonly applied to organizations as well. All elements of the organization are simply the systems and processes by which an output is achieved. The machine metaphor is somewhat limited, however, especially where human behavior is concerned.

The machine metaphor is valuable for managers, but not fully explanatory for the nature of the organization as a whole. For example, all machines have some sort of operator, who flicks the on switch and adjusts controls. The manager in the metaphor performs this function within the machine that is the organization.

When applied to the military, where other humans are bound to follow orders unquestioningly, and where institutional knowledge is concentrated at the top with the operators, the machine metaphor is more apt, but in other organizations all humans should be considered an autonomous actors. The parts of a machine are not autonomous. They have no capacity for independent thought, and merely perform their functions as required. So the machine metaphor struggles to account for human behaviors, because humans do not behave as parts of a machine.

Thinking of an organization as a machine therefore will result is challenges in its operation, because the operation of the organizational machine is going to be quite a bit different. The organism metaphor is another popular one, where the organization is likened to a living organization. This is, in one sense, an improvement on the idea of the machine. An organic machine still has a number of internal systems that serve to convert inputs into outputs.

One difference, however, as that the component parts of an organism are complex and perpetually-evolving. The human parts of an organization are the same -- complex and evolving. They are different, too, in that they are autonomous. The organism sometimes might seem autonomous -- injuries and ailments for example can arise seemingly spontaneously -- but more likely we simply do not fully understand those processes. The organism will respond to external stimulus, something that an organization will as well.

In managerial control, this metaphor seems slightly stronger than the machine metaphor. With an organism, one can perform diagnostics when something seems amiss, and this is similar to management of organizations. Arguably, this can happen with a machine as well but there is often less clarity about the nature of problems in organisms -- think of the times a doctor cannot really tell you what is wrong -- and this is also the case with organizations. Where a machine can theoretically perform perfectly, organisms have varying levels of performance.

Organizations are the same -- they can all have different ceilings, even if they are designed more or less the same way,.