Fun fun fun!
Oct. 20th, 2003 08:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancerjodiHere's the midterm I need to turn in by Thursday's class for my Sociology of Organizations class. Ick. I got the notes together for questions 1-4 yesterday by reviewing what I've read so far this semester and typing incomplete sentences into a word document to later turn into normal paragraphs. I'm hoping to get the info together for questions 5 and 6 during my lunch break today, and then type it up after work before I head to my dance class.
I'm halfway there till the end of the semester, I just need to keep reminding myself :/
Answer one of the two questions in each of the three sections, for a total of three (3) questions. The three answers should be 2.5 to 3 pages each (no longer), typed & double-spaced, with a 12-point font size. Answers are due at the start of class on Thursday, Oct. 23th.
Be sure to develop your answers based on the assigned readings, including Scott’s text and the Handel reader (and others as noted). You can draw on your class notes and handouts for any answer. Use of personal experiences to illustrate points is not acceptable on the exam. Although some of the same readings might be relevant to different answers, you shouldn’t make the same arguments or draw on the same portions of the same readings in your answers to different questions.
Rational and Natural Systems Perspectives
1. Braverman presents a strong critique of Taylor’s scientific management approach. Do you read this as an indictment of all rational systems approaches, or just of scientific management as Taylor developed it? Present an overview of rational systems theory and then compare and contrast Taylor’s conception of scientific management to Weber’s conception of bureaucracy and Fayol’s or Simon’s conception of administration (in Scott). After making this comparison, explain how you would apply Taylor’s argument to these other rational systems perspectives.
2. The human relations approach has been regarded by some as a humane, pro-worker alternative to rational systems management and by others as a means for strengthening management control and undermining potential worker resistance. Summarize the major tenets of the human relations approach and the research findings from which it emerged. Evaluate the evidence in the readings for understanding human relations management as a successful alternative to rational systems approaches and as a tool for increasing management control (referring to all the Handel chapters assigned in week 3). Write a persuasive conclusion in favor of your position.
Organization and Environment
3. How does the environment influence organizations? Be specific and use examples. Refer to all the readings in week 4, and some in week 5.
4. Which perspective provides a more compelling explanation of organizational behavior: population ecology or institutionalism? Compare and contrast these perspectives and review the evidence presented for each.
Organizational Development and Change
5. Can professionals be content in bureaucratic organizations? If so, what are the conditions for this? If not, what are the consequences of professional employment in bureaucracies? Refer in your answer to Schutt, Dalton, Perrow, and Lipsky. Include some explanation of how the environment of organizations affects the likelihood of conflict between professionals and organizations (drawing on Scott and Schutt).
6. Can work organizations be managed as democracies? Review the arguments for and against the inevitability of oligarchy in Michels, Lipset, Trow and Coleman, and Schutt. Which arguments do the best job of explaining the likelihood of maintaining more democratic management in work organizations? Review the evidence and ideas in Rothschild-Whitt and Whyte and come to a conclusion.
I'm halfway there till the end of the semester, I just need to keep reminding myself :/
Answer one of the two questions in each of the three sections, for a total of three (3) questions. The three answers should be 2.5 to 3 pages each (no longer), typed & double-spaced, with a 12-point font size. Answers are due at the start of class on Thursday, Oct. 23th.
Be sure to develop your answers based on the assigned readings, including Scott’s text and the Handel reader (and others as noted). You can draw on your class notes and handouts for any answer. Use of personal experiences to illustrate points is not acceptable on the exam. Although some of the same readings might be relevant to different answers, you shouldn’t make the same arguments or draw on the same portions of the same readings in your answers to different questions.
Rational and Natural Systems Perspectives
1. Braverman presents a strong critique of Taylor’s scientific management approach. Do you read this as an indictment of all rational systems approaches, or just of scientific management as Taylor developed it? Present an overview of rational systems theory and then compare and contrast Taylor’s conception of scientific management to Weber’s conception of bureaucracy and Fayol’s or Simon’s conception of administration (in Scott). After making this comparison, explain how you would apply Taylor’s argument to these other rational systems perspectives.
2. The human relations approach has been regarded by some as a humane, pro-worker alternative to rational systems management and by others as a means for strengthening management control and undermining potential worker resistance. Summarize the major tenets of the human relations approach and the research findings from which it emerged. Evaluate the evidence in the readings for understanding human relations management as a successful alternative to rational systems approaches and as a tool for increasing management control (referring to all the Handel chapters assigned in week 3). Write a persuasive conclusion in favor of your position.
Organization and Environment
3. How does the environment influence organizations? Be specific and use examples. Refer to all the readings in week 4, and some in week 5.
4. Which perspective provides a more compelling explanation of organizational behavior: population ecology or institutionalism? Compare and contrast these perspectives and review the evidence presented for each.
Organizational Development and Change
5. Can professionals be content in bureaucratic organizations? If so, what are the conditions for this? If not, what are the consequences of professional employment in bureaucracies? Refer in your answer to Schutt, Dalton, Perrow, and Lipsky. Include some explanation of how the environment of organizations affects the likelihood of conflict between professionals and organizations (drawing on Scott and Schutt).
6. Can work organizations be managed as democracies? Review the arguments for and against the inevitability of oligarchy in Michels, Lipset, Trow and Coleman, and Schutt. Which arguments do the best job of explaining the likelihood of maintaining more democratic management in work organizations? Review the evidence and ideas in Rothschild-Whitt and Whyte and come to a conclusion.
