New Organizational Forms

Abstract

A definition of organizational form is proposed in terms of labor power, the object, means, and division of labor, and the control of labor at the organizational and institutional level. A number of typological approaches are then reviewed, focusing on the delineation of new organizational forms. The central hypothesis is that new organizational forms are emerging as a result of the transition from industrial to postindustrial capitalism. This hypothesis is elaborated by means of a number of historical and structural subhypotheses specifying the links between corporate dynamics and postbureaucratic organizational forms, the role of computer-integrated production in the internalization and replacement of external, bureaucratic rules by software, and the role of an ideology of responsiveness in service organizations and government agencies. Finally, six characteristics emphasizing the flexibility of postbureaucratic, technocratic organizational forms are examined: informalism, universalism, weak classification and framing of options, loose coupling, interdependence and networking, and the propagation of a corporate culture to counteract the centrifugal and deconstructive tendencies of structural flexibility. In contrast to the technical rationalization of work by computers, these elements of structural flexibility are seen as a form of social rationalization.

Estruturas organizacionais para P&D

“…Comparamos e contrastamos as empresa com alguns parâ-metros financeiros básicos e, depois, documentamos em detalhe como o trade-off centralização-descentralização foi gerenciado por meio do design organizacional. Já que os teóricos enfatizam o paradoxo nas novas formas organizacionais, interessamonos especialmente pelas estruturas usadas para simultaneamente atender às necessidades básicas de P&D voltadas para a ciência e para os negócios (Child e McGrath, 2001;Heydebrand, 1989 Modelos descentralizados. Quatro das 14 empresas mantêm uma abordagem descentralizada do gerenciamento de P&D, apesar de suas estratégias e abordagens à descentralização sugerirem três formas (Figura 3).…”

Novas formas organizacionais: a necessidade de superação das perspectivas sobressocializadas e subsocializadas

“…Esses aspectos indicariam a superação da diferenciação que caracteriza a sociedade moderna. Em outras palavras, estaria ocorrendo a transição das formas burocráticas para as formas organizacionais pós-burocráticas, também denominadas novas formas organizacionais (THOMPSON, 1993;CLEGG, 1998;HEYDEBRAND, 1989).…”

Bureaucratic versus Non-bureaucratic Organization: Explaining Form, Function, and Change in New Forms of Organizing

“…In Mintzberg's adhocracy, novelty emerges in "multidisciplinary teams, each formed around a specific project of innovation" (Mintzberg, 1983, p. 256) continually recombine existing knowledge and skills. Heydebrand (1989) criticized Mintzberg's (1983) typology and proposed that the current multidivisional organization exhibits properties that are far more complex internally than the divisional form described by Mintzberg five years earlier. The advent of new technological systems helped managers to "undermine older social and technical forms of control" (Heydebrand, 1989, p. 342) and this trend would lead to the emergence of loosely coupled profit centers with decentralized decision-making in the future.…”

“…During the 1980s, Mintzberg (1983) and Heydebrand (1989) provided additional typologies of post-Weberian organization. Mintzberg (1983) classified five ideal organizational types.…”

“…The advent of new technological systems helped managers to "undermine older social and technical forms of control" (Heydebrand, 1989, p. 342) and this trend would lead to the emergence of loosely coupled profit centers with decentralized decision-making in the future. Heydebrand (1989) did not conceptualize the M-form as the finale in organizational development. He argued that contextual processes related to increasing technological capability in some contexts, such as electronics and aerospace, will cause decline in the Weberian type by improving social rationalization of management processes and laying foundations for a new organizational culture and practice.…”