Chapter 12: Organizational Pathologies
Problems for Participants
Organizations can create problems for participants as well as provide opportunities.
Some of the most cited problems in research are alienation, inequity, and
overconformity or ritualism (Scott p. 320).
Alienation
Marxist theory emphasizes that workers in capitalist societies are often
alienated from the fruits (ie., profits) of their labor and end up in menial
jobs that do not improve their abilities. In Marx's view capitalists abuse
the power of ownership to alienate laborers from their work. Seeman (1975)
argues that powerlessness and self-estrangement are the two most common
forms of alienation in work.
High satisfaction tends to be associated with intrinsic interest of work,
level of control, level of pay and economic security, and opportunities
for social interaction (Special Task Force, 1973). Kohn and associates
found that "men in self-directed jobs become less authoritarian, less
self-deprecatory, less fatalistic, and less conformist in their ideas while
becoming more self-confident and more responsible to standards of morality
(Spenner, 1988, p. 75).
Inequity
In the US, inequities in pay and advancement still occur between race and
gender. In the 1980's black males made 72% of white males per hours and
due to lower employment stability only 56% of yearly pay (Jaynes and Williams,
1989). Women only earn about 70% of men (Marini 1989). Often the bureaucratic
structures maintain these inequities.
Overconformity
Merton argues that rules, discipline, and career ladders can lead to an
"over-concern" with adherance to rules and increase individual
conservatism (Merton, 1957) -- rule conformity becomes an "end in itself".
But do organizations promote or reduce conformity. Some studies in developing
countries show that membership in schools and factories improved openness
to new ideas and reduced fatalism (Inkeles, 1969). However, Milgram's
famous electric shock experiment shows the negative sides of obedience
to authority (Milgram 1974).
Problems for Publics
Unresponsiveness
Public Service Organizations
Often public service organizations are criticized for being unresponsive
to their customer's needs. Weber had concerns that the increased
influence of public officials would cause power to shift from the leaders
to the bureaucrats.
Michel's study of the Social Democratic party also showed that oligarchic
tendencies shift power from the majority to an elite minority who become
increasingly more conservative with time. The new leaders become enamored
of the social trappings of their position and become more concerned with
organizational survival than the stated goals of the organization. The majority
end up "rubber-stamping" executive decisions.
Private Sector Organizations
Private companies can also be unresponsive, though they are subject
to the mediating influence of competition. Hirschman
(1970) notes two different ways the "public" can indicate dissatisfaction
with service quality. They can exit, or withdraw patronage and seek
services or products elsewhere -- this is the typical economic option. Or
they can use their voice and attempt to change the situation -- this is
the typical political option. Firms can benefit more from voice than from
exit.
Inefficiency and the Public
Good
Olson (1965,1982) noted that because the benefits of a public good are available
to all regardless of their personal contributions, it's hard to entice "rational
actors' (and organizations) to contribute to it's production unless there
are more selective incentives involved. But the problem is that the inefficiencies
caused by the actions of the organization toward their own interests are
borne by society in general. Olson concludes that "the great majority
of special-interest groups redistribute income rather than create it, and
in ways that reduce social efficiency and output".
Relentlessness
Coleman (1974) notes that "corporate actors" rather than individual
actors are becoming the dominant force in society. Corporate interests tend
to be much more narrow, intense, refined, and more single-minded than with
individuals. Participants within these corporate actors become constrained
by their positions and cannot act outside the narrow goals of the organization.
Ultimately individuals lose power to these corporate actors. In a sense
this represents the ultimate form of alienation
(Scott p. 339). "In today's more complex world, power lost by one person
may not be gained by any similar person but absorbed by a corporate actors
and employed in pursuit of its specialized purposes" (Scott p. 339).