Structure
and Behavior
The study of the structure on one hand, and
the study of the human behavior in the organizations on the other
hand, must be combined through a systematic study. Chiavenato, in
reference to Schein, establishes that it is necessary to remark the
difference between behavior and structure, the structural aspects
are static elements in the organization and refer to the arrangement
of its different components, for example, the departmentalization,
the authority and the responsibility given, the number of hierarchical
levels, the control area or environment, etc.
Schein says that "The deficiency of this
approach is not in the fact of being mistaken, but in the fact of
being incomplete". In order of being able to analyze an organization
it is necessary to understand it, which makes us, complementary, study
its behavior as a human group.
The behavior is dynamic and refers to the cultural
norms which determine the environment of an organization, to the quality
of the human communications, to the positions and functions assumed
by the persons inside the groups, to the ways in which problems are
faced and resolved, to the values and the methods of the organization,
to the styles of leadership applied, to the competence and cooperation
between people and groups.
"Illusion and reality are the two big components
of our lives. But when we ignore reality, reality shows a revenge"
José
Ortega y Gassett
One of the most dangerous illusions is the fact
of thinking that the development or the progress of the human being
and the organization can be generated just by modifications within
the structures.
Just when the "social climate" is
good and the relationships between the members go on properly, when
the business is exempted of major conflicts and every individual is,
at least, somehow motivated and has understood the importance of harmony
and group work, when each worker feels he is improving as a human
being through his work within a shared activity in cooperation, it
is possible to be sure about the efficiency of the organization. Therefore,
if the development of the organization is pretended, the existent
behaviors between people and groups must be studied and something
done about it.
Each organization, seen as a social system,
tends either -depending on the will of its high management positions
or proprietary- to foment determined values, habits, attitudes and
behaviors within its integrants; and generally by counter position,
tends to discourage all those who go against the "establishment"
(according to the psychologist and sociologist Guy Aznar this happens
not only in the organizations but also happens in the entire society.)
This behavior, wished and fomented by the organization, we should
name it as the formal behavior, the one expected by those who are
the authority.
On the other hand, since the structures of the
organizations are filled by people, and given that they demonstrate,
in different ways, their personality in the execution of their work,
framed by certain styles of relationships with other individuals of
the organization, Chiavenato says that "these styles end up being
structured as traditions which reign over the variety of interpersonal
relationships within the organization". Such traditions hardly
could be changed just by the modification of the formal structure.
Here we are, then, in front of the phenomenon of informal behavior.
According to Chris Argyris, the organization
is essentially dynamic and is composed by formal and informal groups
with different goals, remarking three types of processes within it:
The socializing Process: each individual adapts
his goals to the goals of the organization, becoming an agent of the
organization. It can be noticed this way that there is a formal socialization
and an informal socialization.
The personalizing Process: each individual tries
to satisfy their own aspirations.
The process of Fusion: According to Argyris
is both processes (the socializing and the personalizing one) match
this produces the process of fusion, confounding the goals of the
individual and the goals of the organization, being this situation,
of course, the ideal level a manager should wish reach. If this does
not happen, an unbalance will be produced which result will depend,
on each case, from the combination of the powers of the socializing
and personalizing processes.
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