Organization's Complexity O Organizations example essay topic

Modern Organizations become more and more difficult to manage. How does a manger manage an organization in perfect way? What is the most enabling asset for a manager to manage an organization? A manager's correct frame of reference is considered as his / her most enabling asset. What is a manager's correct frame of reference for managing an organization? Firstly, the manager should understand what the properties of organizations are.

Bolman and Deal (Bolman and Deal 1997, p 22-23) suggest, the organizations are complex, surprising, deceptive and ambiguous as the following: Properties of organizations o Organizations are complex. The main reasons of this complexity are people and the difficulty to understand and predict their behavior. In addition, the interaction between and among individuals makes relationship more complicated. o Organizations are surprising. Results are hardly predictable in any organization. Expectation of today's decisions will often be different from tomorrow's results. o Organizations are deceptive.

Once a decision is made, many times the expectations are camouflaged. Because sometimes decision is different from expectations. This deception increases organization's complexity. o Organizations are ambiguous. With all of the complexity, surprise, and deception, the organization becomes ambiguous. It is difficult to determine what is really going on in an organization. Bolman and Deal (1997) cite the following sources of ambiguity in organizations identified by McCaskey (1982): We are not sure what the problem is.

We are not sure what is really happening. We are not sure what we want. We do not have the resources that we need. We are not sure who is supposed to do what.

We are not sure how to get what we want. We are not sure how to determine if we have succeeded. When organizational event is clear, it is not hard for manager to deal with. But when most of the events are incomplete and ambiguous, it is too hard for manager to deal with.

Even it is difficult to know what is happening or what it means. In the story of Blind men and the elephant, each blind person got the different result after touching the elephant. The reason is that each blind man knew a part, but no one knows the whole. The organization's situation is similar with the elephant, and every person has different idea of what is happening and what should be happening. Each idea contains a little truth, but no idea is complete enough to manage an organization. How can the managers solve the problem and cope with the more and more ambiguity and complexity?

Surprises, complexities and ambiguities of organizational events require more useful approaches. Determining what is really happening requires more complete ways and angles than many managers currently use.