Undoubtedly you have had recent experiences with numerous organisations. Ten to fifteen minutes of reflective thinking should result in a fairly large list of organisations. Don’t be misled by thinking that only large organisations, such as your college or General Motors, are relevant for consideration. How about the clinic with the doctor(s), nurse(s) and secretary/bookkeeper? Or the corner garage or service station? The local tavern, McDonald’s and the neighbourhood theatre are all organisations. You should not have any difficulty in listing a number of organisations with which you have had recent contact.

The second part of the exercise, however, gets tougher. You are asked to describe several of the key characteristics of the organisations that you have listed. One of the major issues in studying and describing organisations is deciding what characteristics or factors are important. Some of the more common characteristics considered in the analysis of organisations are:

1. Size (small to very large);

2. Degree of formality (informal to highly structured);

3. Degree of complexity (simple to complex);

4. Nature of goals (what the organisation is trying to accomplish);

5. Major activities (what tasks are performed);

6. Types of people involved (age, skills, educational background, etc.);

7. Location of activities (number of units and their geographic location).

You should be able to develop a list of characteristics that you think is relevant for each of your organisations. Now to the third, final and most difficult task. Think about what is involved in the management of these organisations. For example, what kinds of functions do their managers perform? How does one learn the skills necessary to be an effective manager? Would you want to be a manager in any of these organisations? In effect, in this exercise you are asked to think specifically about organisations you have been associated with recently, develop your own conceptual model for looking at their characteristics, and think more specifically about the managerial functions in each of them. You probably already know a great deal more about organisations and their management than you think. This exercise should be useful in getting your thoughts together.

Procedure

Step 1

Prior to class, list up to ten organisations (e.g. work, living group, club) in which you have been involved or with which you have had recent contact.

Step 2

Enter five organisations from your list on the form ‘Profile of Organisations’ (below).

a. List the organisations.

b. Briefly outline the characteristics that you consider most significant.

c. Describe the managerial functions in each of these organisations.
Step 3

During the class period, meet in groups of five or six to discuss your list of organisations, the characteristics you consider important and your descriptions of their management. Look for significant similarities and differences across organisations.

Step 4

Basing your selections on this group discussion, develop a list entitled ‘What we would like to know about organisations and their management’. Be prepared to write this list on the board and to share your list with other groups in the class.

Transcribed Image Text:

Organisation - 2 3 4 5 PROFILE OF ORGANISATIONS Key characteristics Managerial functions