“Theoretical categories are not cast in stone, they are ways to think – different categories stimulate different thoughts” (Hatch and Cunliffe 2006, p. 97) How do the three perspectives (Modern, Symbolic-Interpretive and Post-modern) contribute to different ways to think about organization. According to Hatch and Cunliffe, organization theory can be differentiated by identifying and clarifying three perspectives which are the modern, symbolic-interpretive and the post-modern. Each perspective has different approach when it comes to the structure, culture or even the technology which applies to the organizations.
In this paper, I will be explaining how the three perspectives are poles apart to one another by mainly focusing on organizational structures and culture. In order to be able to distinguish the three perspectives, I will state the characteristic and contrast in further detail. What is organization theory? Based on my understanding, organization theory is about ideas and principles that flow within an association on how work can be done by investigating through different perspective.It is important to study organization as improvements can be carried out to make sure organizations are performing efficiently through developing the organizations structure and mission statement. Modern, Symbolic-interpretive and Post-modern perspectives Modernists are objectivists who focus on reality of knowledge which is build based upon the conceptualization and the theorization.
There is always lucid definitions on how thing occur, often through the use of data that are collected from tools of measurement. For example, a company earns profits based on the CEO’s ability to make right decisions while investing the money.Hatch and Cunliffe stated that the data which modernists recognize are from the five senses, through what they see, heard, touch, smell and tasted (Hatch and Cunliffe, 2006, p. 15). Modernism organization works according to the system implemented by the general system theory.
The system can be set through deductive modes where theories are tested by using practice (Hatch and Cunliffe, 2006, p. 26) It is aimed to build a set of rules that can be used in organization so that everyone will be able to follow, perform and function, ensuring the entire process in the organization works smoothly.Henri Fayol is a representative from modern organization as he developed the scientific management which is a framework on how system flows in organization. His contributions included identifying different organizational activities and established the principles of management, for example the esprit de corps and unity of command (Daniel A wren, 2006, p.
215). When modernist operates a company, rules and laws is development for the members to follow. On the other hand, symbolic-interpretivists who are subjectivist, define reality through what they experienced by having emotions and feelings towards what had happened.Ontology of symbolic-interpretive is by believing what is meaningful.
It is established by creating reality which has not existed and proves it was real. Organizations aim to get an understanding from verbal and written form between human interactions. The main focus on symbolic-interpretive is the social construction of reality where assumption are made base on point of view as a community. The objective to get theory developed is through observation. Modernist sees reality as an illusion that was created through language and discourse.
The epistemology of post-modern stated that there is no exact truth and therefore no precise explanation of meaning. However, it is to believe that organizations are entities that take every possible aspect to reinforce power with their knowledge. The relationship between concepts is always changing as there is no clear definition of a word or concept can be fully verified. Basically, these theories are developed on the basis of critically analyzing the assumptions of major theories that attempts to establish the totality of human existence.Post-modernism seeks to rebuke the notion that history repeats itself in a consistent form of logic through ‘social progress’ and ‘rationalization’.
Organization structure The three perspectives can be compare and contrast by using the organization structure which is the social and physical structure. Social structure is defined as connection and interaction among individual within each department in an organization whereas physical structure refers to the layout or geographical design of organization (Lecture notes 3, 2009, slide 9). The social structure concept is developed by Max Webber.It is called a systematic study of bureaucracy which refers by modern theorist for developing the division of labour, hierarchy of authority and corporate rules and procedures.
(Hatch and Cunliffe, 2009, p. 103). From a modernist point of view, structure differentiates through characteristic for having flat or tall organization structure. Tall organization structure has division of labour by having many vertical hierarchy level from top to bottom with fewer departments whereas flat organization structure has more divisions but less hierarchical level (Lecture notes 3, 2009, slide 10).
Modernists presume that social structure has a strong correlation between performance, roles and human behaviour. They focus on rules to make sure work performance can be carried out effectively and efficiently. Unlike modernist, symbolic-interpretivist define organization structure, where human could create things and contribute to work which is meaningful to them by reconstructing structure through observation and participation. It is a focus on how to organize rather than having a structure such as level or hierarchy as compare to modernism.
A symbolic interpretivist identifies the reason why work is produced in a certain way by having stable routines in work through knowledge and human interactions to accomplish organization goals. In order to carry out a set of routine activities, it is assumed that members interact using existing scheme. Improvisation is another main concept in symbolic organization where emergency happens, interactions and system will work in a different way to establish another performance. As different individual have different experiences and feelings, even some of the routine remain the same but they applied in another way.
Sometimes, unpredicted situation will create ground-breaking improvision routine that later on widely used in the organization. Symbolic-interprevists sees organization as a community. Instead of testing and experimenting to get hard evidence like modernist, shared interest and understanding through interview and questionnaire are more likely to be the focus of symbolic-imterpretivist by emphasizing on interpretation of interacts. Post-modernist does not accept the fact that organization has structure because they do not think that there is a boundary.Approaches such as de-differentiation, de-centralization and de-constructing are used by post-modernist.
Modernist have actual system and method that are recognized by people within an organization and there are restrict on surpassing hierarchy level but post-modernism provide recourses and technology for people to set up their own ideological methods to accomplish their goal. Members of post-modernism organization have their own mindset on what need to be done instead of having a standard process among the members.They concern more about how to solve a problem through studying implications rather than trying to figure out the reason behind it like a modernist. Post-modernism are considered to be a feminist organization as every individual has equal rights. Modernism physical structure is from Hawthorne studies where theorists analyze organization productivity through the layout, lighting and sound from the environment (Lecture note 3, 2009, slide 5). The investigation on distance shows that communication decreased when people are split into smaller division, varied hierarchy level or even different building.
While symbolic-interpretivist would believe physical structures for a building symbolize meaning and space. The location of the building and structure of a building can express their organization values. For example, electricity company Origin has a logo ‘O’ with the word ‘origin’ below it. It gives out the message that this company provides natural gas that is environmental friendly (Origin, 2009, page 1) The RMIT university business school used the logo RMiT with the word ‘BUSINESS’ at the bottom to symbolize that it is information about business school.Physical structures for post-modernism will be distinguished by having legitimate authority over others. For example, the office of a CEO is at the top of the building.
CEO of a company is the person who has the power to control everyone. Organisation Culture In general, organization culture is developed by having assumption what is happening and also the degree of awareness to participate to be part of the culture. According to Schein, there are three levels of culture which are artifacts, values, and assumptions (Schneider & Barsoux 1997, p. 1) Artifacts consists of organizations visible symbols, mark or logo which can represent the image of the organizations. Values of organization can be the beliefs which used to develop mission and vision statement which is referred by employees. According to modernist, corporate culture can influenced performance within organization.
Modernism organization form culture where individual shares same goal. They argue that external factors can either help organization to improve performance once they adapt the new transformation or reduce the effectiveness once they could not catch up with the change.Quantitative analysis method is used to measure the degree of how culture relate to organization adaption and performance. Kotter and Heskett used the financial analysis various company to evaluate the strength of the culture (Hatch and Cunliffe, 2006, p. 189).
Nowadays, research can by looking at corporation financial year review to see the performance of culture versus effectiveness. From symbolic-interpretvists’ point of view, they recognized organizational culture as long as they understand and it is reasonable to them.They need interpretation and validation that are meaningful when looking at organizational culture. For example, stories within organizations can lead to an understanding of culture (Liam, 1989, p. 3). Through story-telling, symbolic-interpretivist believes that people can be energized to create success or be more alert with the problem they are facing.
This can be done through promoting a manager who has great achievement to inspire the rest of the staff. Social constructionist uses qualitative data gathering methods where observation will be carried out to narrow their perspective to investigate organization culture.They will examine through having interview with their focus group (Lecture 4, 2009, slide 19). Unlike modernism and symbolic-interpretive, post-modernist stress that organization culture is not real. They actually have ideological opinions towards cultural and serve it as an illusion. They advocate power and maintain power to make themselves privilege compares to the others within the organization.
Both modern and symbolic-interpretive does not have power involved. Modernism focuses on effectiveness and helps to understand how culture fixes into corporation.
