Topic > Exploring organizational paradigms

Organizations shape our lives. They have an influence on our life, our freedom and our behavior. Organization theory is a social science that seeks to understand the behavior of organizations. Organization theory is a set of prepositions that explain how organizations build relationships with particular environmental factors and how they manage them. Furthermore, organizational theories are intended to find solutions to possible problems in an organization or increase the organization's capacity. Organization theory finds ways to develop organizations. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayModernism There are three main paradigms in organization theory. These are modern, postmodern and symbolic interpretatives. All of them have a different approach to organizational studies. These paradigms work for different causes, so they use different methods to study behavior. This essay will provide a brief information about each paradigm, talk about their ontology and epistemology. Additionally, the behavior of organizational members of each paradigm will be discussed. Then, the essay will talk about the best ways to study behavior by providing examples of the members and their studies. Furthermore, this essay will compare the goals and purpose of each medium paradigm. Modernism society went through major changes in the 19th century. Some of these changes are urbanization and the industrial revolution. Due to the industrial revolution, there were some developments in society. These developments are; large groups of humans working together, workers starting to work with machines, industry developing rapidly, and companies encountered through testing. Because of these developments, researchers have been looking for a way to organize people, maximize production, and manage large groups. To find solutions to these problems, it has become important to maximize efficiency and production. Theories have been developed for administration and to increase efficiency. This era in the world is called Modernism. Modernism understands nature from the human intellectual. Furthermore, the modernist angle is about using the five senses rather than emotions. This paradigm states that the only way to be accurate is through rationality. Modernism in organization theory values ​​statistics to arrive at a rational decision. Modernists believe in objectivism, because only scientific research methods can provide impartial, objective, and numerical results. Modernist ontology is realist and its epistemology is positivist. A modernist organization focuses on performance. Its main goal is to increase production. Therefore, employees are subject to supervision. When it comes to employment, modernism in organization theory uses scientific methods. Modernist organizations are very disciplined and fully controlled. These rules influence the behavior of its organizational members because the members must focus on the efficiency and development of the organization. Meanwhile, they are not allowed to talk about their thoughts and complaints. This is why Modernism has a "downside". It does not focus on the members' ideas. Modernist Theories The first example of the theory is called Scientific Management Theory. However, in literature it is called "Taylorism". Taylorism refers to Frederick W. Taylor's views on management. According to this theory, scientific methods must be used to study the behavior of organizational members. Thefounder of the theory, Taylor is an engineer who values ​​efficiency. He studied the movements of iron workers to find ways to maximize production. With his studies on movement in the organization he laid the foundations of this theory. Scientific management theory states that workers should be supervised and that workers should be assigned tasks according to their abilities. Another theory is called bureaucratic theory, founded by Max Weber. This theory focuses on organizational structure. Weber believed that organizations should be like government. He didn't believe in a charismatic leader. He believed that employees should be assigned roles based on their abilities. Weber's bureaucracy has a hierarchical structure, meaning that lower-ranking employees answer to a higher-ranking employee. Furthermore, he believed that employees and managers should have a professional rather than a personal relationship. The management style in Weber's idea of ​​bureaucracy is defined by rules, the rules are written for each employee and there are also rules for unexpected situations. Symbolic Interpretivism Symbolic interpretivism has a different perspective. His perspective is subjective. Symbolic interpretivism is a relativist ontology and its epistemology, the nature of knowledge, is interpretivist. The symbolic refers to slogans, interactions and meanings. Symbolic meanings influence behavior. For example, a designer dress is much more expensive than a regular dress. However, wearing a designer dress attracts more people, which gives people confidence, that's why people still buy designer clothes rather than ordinary clothes. The symbolic interpretation discusses how humans define the outcome of their experiments. Look for hidden meanings in employee actions. It also helps people understand what is right and what is wrong. Compared to modernism, symbolic interpretation is subjective and its perspective goes beyond the five senses. According to my seminar notes (Review and Essay Plan, December 2018) seeks “first-hand” knowledge and uses qualitative research methods to study behavior. Therefore, the symbolic interpretive perspective states that surveys do not help and suggests researchers go and talk to people in person to conduct interviews. The symbolic interpretive perspective explains why people do these things, for example, they don't have an idea about something so it has become a norm for them. Symbolic interpretivists believe that it is not possible to know whether an employee is working or not when someone does not validate his or her work. The symbolic interpretation states that such things, such as logos, create a connection with the organization and the employee. Symbolic interpretivists believe that an organization is like a corporation because of its flexibility. They see the organization as a place where people can get creative and take part in work that has meaning for them. Unlike modernists, symbolic interpretivists want to emphasize organization rather than building a hierarchical structure. The focus in symbolic interpretation is to reconstruct an organization by observing and communicating. Symbolic interpretivists call for interpretations and statements that have meaning when examining organizational culture. The symbolic interpretation suggests when there is a compassion among employees within an organization, it will help them be more productive. The symbolic interpretive perspective aims for organizational members to find what they care about, so that they can be successful in their work. Symbolic Interpretive Theories Chicago School is where they have beenestablished the foundations of sociology. He is famous for his symbolic interactionist perspective. This school studied philosophical pragmatism and changes in the city from a sociological perspective. The school was interested in relationships between individuals and groups, so they studied social psychology and anthropology. One of the most important aspects of this school is that it used an empirical approach in its studies. Another important thing to remember is that the Chicago school also valued participants' exam research. The school used the radio and newspapers to make propaganda and saw social life as a "system of interaction" and believed that social relations were achieved through interaction, the school tried to find solutions to social problems. Herbert Blumer believed that people were influenced by things that had meaning to them; the meanings of things created by social communication; and these meanings change due to the interpretive aspect of communication. (Simosi, 2019) The Iowa School is another major school of symbolic interactionism. Compared to the Chicago School, the Iowa School used quantitative methods rather than qualitative methods. Postmodernism in the Old Testament The extensive control aspect of modernism was denied over time, social protests were advanced, the "privileged youth" lost his power. During the postmodern era, ethnic minorities and oppressed groups have come together. Postmodernism is about examining every community, the postmodern perspective includes an organization criticizing and diminishing managerial ideas. The foundational philosophers of postmodernism are Michael Foucault and Hayden White. According to my workshop notes (Postmodernism, November 2018) postmodern organizations have a flat structure, like IT workers. Postmodernism in organization theory does not believe in a structure. In modern organizations there were boundaries between employees and managers. However, in postmodern organizations, these boundaries have lost their power. Unlike the modern perspective, the postmodern perspective values ​​“the creation of an organization” rather than the structure of an organization. Postmodern organizations use decentralization and dedifferentiation. According to Chia (1995), the postmodern approach to thinking is an approach that qualifies activity, change, growth and development. Postmodern epistemology believes that the world is made up of people's shared language, and that members of each language find meaning in the world through their own special language forms and games. Postmodernists must seek to expose power relations to show the fragility of the business of organizational life. (Parker, 1992) In a postmodernist organization, employees do not answer to their superiors as in a modernist organization. Postmodernist organizations choose to give their members the chance to succeed, and within the organization, every employee is responsible for themselves. These organizations use dissimilarity as a resource to achieve sufficient results. () All in all, with its flat structure and flexibility, postmodernist organizations offer its organizational members a free environment to work in. He motivates his employees not with salary, he motivates them through empowerment. For this reason, these aspects of the postmodernist perspective have a beneficial influence on its organizational members. Postmodernist Theories Postmodernism opposes modernism by arguing that people cannot be studied scientifically. But like modernism, postmodernism uses quantitative methods to study. There are two main theories used by postmodernists. These theories.