Organizational Theory & Behaviour Organizational

Organizational Theory & Behaviour Organizational Theory and Behavior Organizational Culture, Ideologies, Reform and Efficiency The modern day business environment is under incremental pressure to satisfy the mutating needs of its many categories of stakeholders. This basically means that they have to offer high quality products and services at competitive prices, treat their employees in a fair and stimulating means; obey all legislations; ensure social and environmental responsibility and so on. Most of these new efforts are organized under concepts of organizational culture, ideologies, reform and efficiency.

Yet, it is interesting to identify if these concepts have any link to the classic theories of economics and organizational behavior. A first source to study in order to offer an answer is constituted by Brian R. Fry's Mastering Public Administration: From Max Weber to Dwight Waldo (1989). In the series of essays, the author presents and builds on perspectives from reputable economists, such as Luther Gulick or Frederick Taylor.

This gradual approach represents the very core of the book as it reveals the evolution of the field, from Weber's approach to a rationalization process, to Chester Bernard's understating of organizations as systems of exchange or Herbert Simon's focus on the importance of the decision making process. The final realization is that organizations are not stable and secure entities, but that they constantly undergo change process. Additionally, they find it imperative to evolve in order to survive and remain competitive within the changing climate.

In a nutshell, the book makes the greatest amount of references to the importance of organizational reform, but also to other components of organizational behavior such as human relations, culture and efficiency. Another valuable source is constituted by Montgomery Van Wart's Changing Public Sector Values (1998). The work is complex and the information presented is comprehensive. Drawing back from numerous public institutions, jobs and situations, as well as from various schools of economic thought, Van Wart proves the importance and necessity for creating and enhancing the value of public entities.

The goal is approached through three distinct channels -- (1) a bottom up approach, focused on the individual administrator; (2) a top down approach focused on organizational culture, and (3) the approach to values from a functional and practical angle. The conclusions can easily be extrapolated to the totality of entities, public or private, to reveal how an incremental emphasis is being placed on culture, ideologies, reform and efficiency. The third source to be analyzed is represented by Camilla Stivers' Gender Images in Public Administration: Legitimacy and the Administrative State (2002).

With a slightly more specific agenda in mind, Stivers' book looks at the role of women in public institutions. Sadly enough, she finds that despite the growing number of public administration female students, their actual role and presence within public institutions remains reduced, due to a long lasting perception of public jobs as having a masculinity in nature. The final recommendation is for change in this aspect and for the introduction of.