Moderism and Postmodernism Versus
Introduction
Organisation is a dynamic and important field of studies as it holds an entire structure of a company. With a well structured organisation, this will help align employees’ interest to work towards company’s goals. An organisation will also save the company time and resources as work can be delegated among the departments based on specialisation which will allow unnecessary movements to be eliminated. Without an organisation, there will be disorder in a workplace which will eventually lead to the fall of a company. There are four different theory perspectives of organisation which are modern, symbolic-interpretative, post-modern and critical theory and each theory has a different understanding of power, control and resistance.`
In this essay, I will be looking at two different theoretical perspectives, modern and post-modern and discuss how each perspective’s differs based on their ontology and epistemology. Next, I will analyse and look into their understanding of power, control and resistance in organisations and lastly, I will end this essay with a conclusion on their overall views in organisations.
Power, Control & Resistance
Before I begin my analysis of the two different perspectives, I would first like to define what is power, control and resistance. Power plays a huge part in an organisation as it has the capacity to bring about change and influence individuals. It also holds the role of having control over people and resources such as information, decision making and politics which would affect an organisation. (Hatch & Cunliffe, 2006) Both power and control plays an indispensable role as it directs people to reach organisation goals with efficiency and effectiveness.
With power and control, resistance in an organisation is unavoidable as it is a part of the organisation structure. Criticisms and conflicts are also bound to exist as there might be different goals of the organisation and each individuals, hence, employees might resist
Organisation is a dynamic and important field of studies as it holds an entire structure of a company. With a well structured organisation, this will help align employees’ interest to work towards company’s goals. An organisation will also save the company time and resources as work can be delegated among the departments based on specialisation which will allow unnecessary movements to be eliminated. Without an organisation, there will be disorder in a workplace which will eventually lead to the fall of a company. There are four different theory perspectives of organisation which are modern, symbolic-interpretative, post-modern and critical theory and each theory has a different understanding of power, control and resistance.`
In this essay, I will be looking at two different theoretical perspectives, modern and post-modern and discuss how each perspective’s differs based on their ontology and epistemology. Next, I will analyse and look into their understanding of power, control and resistance in organisations and lastly, I will end this essay with a conclusion on their overall views in organisations.
Power, Control & Resistance
Before I begin my analysis of the two different perspectives, I would first like to define what is power, control and resistance. Power plays a huge part in an organisation as it has the capacity to bring about change and influence individuals. It also holds the role of having control over people and resources such as information, decision making and politics which would affect an organisation. (Hatch & Cunliffe, 2006) Both power and control plays an indispensable role as it directs people to reach organisation goals with efficiency and effectiveness.
With power and control, resistance in an organisation is unavoidable as it is a part of the organisation structure. Criticisms and conflicts are also bound to exist as there might be different goals of the organisation and each individuals, hence, employees might resist
References: 1. Mary Jo Hatch and Ann L. Cunliffe 2006, Organization Theory: Modern, symbolic and postmodern perspectives, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, New York 2. Pauline Rosenau 2002, Post-Modernism and the Social Sciences, Greenwood Publishing Group 3. Simon. H. A. 1997, Administrative Behavior, 4th Edition, Free Press 4. Jaffee. D. 2008, Ch.2. Conflict at work throughout the history of organisations. In Dreu, Carsten K. W. de., Gelfand, Michele J. (eds.). The psychology of conflict and conflict management in organizations, New York London, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 5. Foucault. M. 1995, Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison, Vintage Books, New York 6. Hammerstedt. S & Loughlin. M 2009, Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropologies 7. Frederick Winslow Taylor 1923, The principles of scientific management, Forgotten books 8. Jackson 2000, Systems Approaches to Management, Plenum Publishers, New York. 10. Lars Skyttner 2005, General systems theory: Problems, Perspectives, Practice, World Scientific