Various Ways to Look at Organizations (Metaphors)

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    Various Ways to Look at Organizations (Metaphors)

    © Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC.

    Probably everyone in the workplace has their own conception
    of what “organization” means. As with most highly complex
    terms, everyone is right and everyone is wrong.

    The concept of organizational culture
    is much like an organizational “personality”. Organizations,
    like people, have life cycles.

    Many people view organizational
    learning
    much like we view organisms to be learning. Organizations
    can accumulate and manage
    knowledge
    as well. There are a variety of books that describe
    other traits of organizations much like traits of people, e.g.,
    depressed organizations, addictive organizations, etc.

    One of the most common ways to look at organizations is as
    organizational systems. (This is the
    view that was used in this library when describing the concept
    of an organization.) This view is becoming common among professionals
    who study, teach and write about organizations. Practitioners
    who work with organizational management to improve organizations
    also tend to view organizations as systems. Note that machines,
    organisms, persons, groups, families, family dynasties are all
    systems, too.

    Two people can be looking at the very same organization, but
    have completely different perspectives and language about the
    same organization. Unless you know the various ways to view organizations,
    you’ll miss all the perspectives — you’ll miss the more accurate
    truth about the organization you’re studying. You’ll only see
    “one view of the elephant — you’ll grab the elephant’s trunk
    and think it’s a snake.”
    Organizational
    Lens — How Different People Can View the Same Organization Very
    Differently


    For the Category of Organizational Development:

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