Page 155 - DMGT402_MANAGEMENT_PRACTICES_AND_ORGANIZATIONAL_BEHAVIOUR

Management Practices and Organisational Behaviour

Notes The organisation system works by taking inputs, converting them into finished products and
delivering outputs to its task environment. Inputs consist of human, informational, material
and financial resources used by the organisation. The finished products are the materials and
resources as they are transformed by the organisation's technology component. Once the
transformation is complete, they become outputs for customers, consumers and clients. The
actions of suppliers, customers, regulators and other elements of the task environment affect the
organisation and the behaviour of people at work. Transforming inputs into high quality outputs
is critical to an organisation's success.
Figure 8.2: H J Leavitt, "Applied Organisational Change in Industry: Structural,
Technological and Humanistic Approaches"
Task Environment
Competitors Unions Regulatory agencies Clients

Structure
Inputs:
Material
Capital
Output:
Human Task Technology Products
Services

People (actors)
Organisational Boundary

Source: J G March, (ed.,) Handbook of Organisations, Rand McNally (1965) Page 1145.

8.3.2 The Formal and Informal Organisation

The formal organisation is that part of the system that has legitimacy and official recognition.
The informal organisation is the unofficial part of the organisation which was first fully
appreciated as a result of the Hawthorne studies conducted during the 1920s and 1930s. It was
during the interview study, the third of the four Hawthorne studies, that the researchers began
to develop a fuller appreciation for the informal elements of the Hawthorne works as an
organisation. The formal and informal elements of the organisation are depicted in Figure 8.3
below.
Figure 8.3: Formal and Informal Elements of Organisations

Social surface

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