Organization: Contemporary Principles and Practice, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 3

New Conditions, New Organization

WHAT THIS CHAPTER COVERS

There has been a retreat from the “conventional” organizational forms described in the previous chapter. New forms of organization have emerged, largely as a result of changed conditions in the external environment. The intention of this chapter is to provide an overall picture as a background to the specific aspects of new organizational forms and processes that will be examined in Parts II and III of this book. The chapter starts with a review of the growing dissatisfaction with the conventional form of organization that has been modeled around the paradigms of bureaucracy and hierarchical command. It goes on to discuss ways in which the present conditions under which business operates have created a momentum towards new organizational forms. These new conditions are connected with globalization, new technologies, the knowledge-based economy, hypercompetition, and demands for social accountability. The chapter closes with a comparison of conventional and new organizational forms based on the organizational choices examined in Chapter 1.

The Retreat from Conventional Forms of Organization

Military, political, and religious activities have been organized, often on a large scale, throughout recorded history. As the previous chapter described, the forms of organization that evolved shared many common features, despite ...