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Organization Concept
Resorting to the classical concept, we can
define any organization as a group of two or more people who perform
tasks, either in group, either individually but in a coordinated and
controlled manner, performing on a certain context or environment,
looking to achieve a pre determined goal through the effective
affectation of several means and resources available headed or not by
someone with the duty to plan, organize, lead and control.
From this definition of organization
should withhold some fundamental concepts for its adequate
comprehension, namely:
1. Coordinated performance: to exist an
organization, it’s not enough that a group of people perform looking to
achieve a common goal; it’s also necessary that those people organize
themselves, being, that develop their activities coordinately and
controlled to achieve certain results. This coordination and control is
usually performed by a leader but many times we find organizations in
which these tasks are performed by all members together through for
example, a collegial organ.
2. Resources: represent all means made
available to the organization and necessary for the fulfillment of its
activities/tasks. In these resources are included human resources,
materials, technological resources, financial resources, market image
and credibility before the exterior.
3. Effective affectation: organizational
resources described on the previous point are, by definition, scarce,
hence its allocation should be effectively performed in order that the
probability of achieving the pre determined goals be the biggest
possible. It’s from here that emerges the main justification for the
organizations’ management needs.
4. Goals: represent desired targets or
organizational resources and obtain in the future or, by other words,
the purpose that justifies all developed activity or even the
organization’s own existence. Naturally, all organizations should
determine not only their goals, but also define measures and ways of
performance and allocation of resources that believe to be more adequate
as a way to achieve them.
5. Context: represents all the external
surroundings that, directly or indirectly, influence its action and
performance. On this external surrounding is included the economic
context, technological, social-cultural, political-legal, and still a
group of elements that perform closer and directly with the
organization, such as clients, suppliers, competitors, union
organizations, media, among others.
As we easily understand, the previously
described concept for the organization, can be applied to any kind of
organization whether is business or not. The only difference remains on
the base goals to which each one proposes.
In the case of business organizations, the
main goal or last end will be the maximization of its value for his
owners achieved through the satisfaction of all its members and
cooperators of production and/or distribution of goods and services in
order to satisfy the specific needs of its consumers.
If we refer to non business organizations
like hospitals, schools, sport clubs, union associations, or others, the
main goals are slightly different, even though the last end always is
the needs’ satisfaction or the interests’ defense of a particular group
of people or the society in general. This way in case of hospitals, the
main goal is the health of the population to which is destined while
schools will be the learning of its students, sports clubs will be the
obtainment of good sportive results and union associations will be the
defense of the workers’ rights.
Translated from Portuguese
by Susana Saraiva, Portuguese-English and English-Portuguese translation
specialist. Contact: spams@sapo.pt.
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