Analysing Organisations in Different Perspectives Based on Metaphors of Organisational Behaviour - Case Study Example

Academic Essay analysing metaphors of organisational behaviour Insert Name: Course Name: Tutor: Date: Introduction Organisational behaviour can be scrutinised from different perspectives and likened to various aspects in our day to day life. This is a good stride toward understanding how and why the organisation behaves the way it does; why it operates or is operated the way it is. Some years back, many organisations were much resistant to change and were not willing to embrace, for instance, the technological new dawn with ease (Shafritz and Ott 2001). This is because of, among other things, the fact that the organisations had not been cultured with allowances made for possible change. Thus the culture of the organisation was to run in a more or less tight established mode of operation (Shafritz and Ott 2001). These included those days when people held the idea of a bureaucratic organisation as dear; when the line of command would only drop from up. Nevertheless, organisations have had to go a different way through adaptation in different ways to survive in the vast paradigm shift that occurs in the day to day operation of the organisation, become fit to survive in the environment through adaptation hence garner the ability to meet its various needs. On this perspective therefore, the organisation can be said to exhibit characteristics of an organism which has body members and which each member of the body functions to ensure harmonious functionality of the entire system. Moreover, the main assumption is that each member of the whole body functions only to fulfil a commonly known purpose; just like each part of the body of a living organism functions to ensure that life is sustained in the organism. Culture on the other hand is an organisational perspective which must stand to ensure that transformation in the organisation suits the environmental changes but at the same time is well and technically designed to accomplish the objectives for which it exists. This is the point at which the organisation starts being seen as a machine. Therefore, when looking at an organisation on the perspective of a machine, we look at the purpose of the organisation, that it has a formal design, its task allocation structure, that it has a system of formal rules and procedures and specialisation is paramount besides there being coordination of the entire operation. In attempting to understand organisations as political systems, we acknowledge that the very set-up of the organisation underpins the possibility of conflict emanating from the fact that in its set-up, there is pursuit of an array of interests by the participants namely the labour and capital (Smircich, 2006). Though some of the interests may be common there is a likelihood of others creating conflict while other interests being complementary. In this paper, endeavours are made to evaluate the organisation as a machine and a cultural phenomenon. The case of Victorian Police force: it is by measure the second largest police force in Australia. The top officers have reportedly compromised their professional ethics and replaced it with personal ambition intermarried with jealousy and corruption. Misconduct is suspected to be widespread. In that line, the misconduct leads to a leak of top secret information thereby sabotaging murder investigation. Thus the former police media chief, the secretary of the Victoria Police, and former police assistant commissioner are faced with charges conspiring to leak information to sabotage police investigation into the murder case (Victoria Police 2008). General Analysis of the police force as an organisation As the nature of the organisation is good in helping us understand the mode of operation and the perspectives of organisational will each fit the particular organisation, it is imperative that we look at the organisation in its settings, role and purpose. The police force is an important part of the system that deals in ensuring that crime in the society is dealt with. In curbing crime, there might be investigations that may need to be carried out and which will require the co-operation of the individuals in the entire system. Since one of the major tasks the police force has is to guarantee maintenance of law and order, this forms the central objective which aligns the operations of each of the units in that direction. Of course keeping secrets is one of the major ways that can be used to get the required information to facilitate the right judgement or decision making. The police force has a complex command structure with staff numbering over 13,600 and the number of stations reaching about 340. It deals with gambling, the impact of drugs on the society, road safety, motor vehicle theft, robberies, trafficking of illicit drugs, among other complicated tasks (Gioia, Schultz and Corley 2000). The main role of the police has been to act as community guardians. The Victoria Police is comprised of a structure which constitutes six standing committees. Each of the committees is endowed with tasks in its respective docket which include; IT and telecommunication, ethical health, organisational development, finance and physical resources, policing operations and management of people and general development. There is a way in which each of them is expected to operate and fulfil the main objective of service delivery to the people. By this we can view the Victoria Police as a system of distributed powers a long the line or chain of command which starts from the top notch to the lower staff. And the general operation of the organisation is overseen by other entities like the OPI. The Victoria police viewed as a machine Here, an organisation can be looked at as a device that is specifically meant to fulfil a particular purpose. Thus, as a machine, the organisation is responsible for perpetuation of the process of converting the diverse inputs into products or services. This allows key resources like skills and capital as well as raw materials to be transformed into another form that has a different value other than that of the inputs. The concepts that underpin the operation of the organisation as a machine are, among other factors, its formal design, specialisation, fulfilment of particular purpose, structure task allocation, formal rules and procedures. In analysing the machine metaphor, attention is directed to the manner in which given actions are likely to get support or be discouraged. In one article by the Australian Friday, there is condemnation of letting secrets pass across the boundaries that they ought not to have passed. This is a good illustration of how letting top classified information is discouraged by this police institution and thus an elaborate example of the machine metaphor of the organisation. By leaking the confidential information, the article states, there was probably misconduct and corruption on the part of the section of the Victoria police. This illustrates an act that is discouraged being accomplished thus breaking the formal design of the organisation. The structure of the OPI is such that the actions are supported by powers mandated upon the institution and through which allocation of tasks within the organisation is made possible to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. The machine metaphor as mentioned also presents an organisation as having formal rules and procedures which when not adhered to tend to bring disharmony in the entire system. As a machine, a given organisation may have bureaucratic system where procedures are given in one directional vertical format and the design of the organisation only allows procedures to be followed based on that predetermined format of doing things. Given the assumption of an existent common goal or purpose that binds all the units of the organisation together, this is betrayed by allegations of corruption which disintegrates the parts of the system which hinders the smooth achievement of service delivery. As a machine has components that must work properly the organisation is faced with a breakdown in part of the system where a vital process is wrongly intercepted and a loop is caused that interferes with the expected operation of the whole and thus the desired result cannot be achieved of dealing with the murder to its end. Since the purpose of the organisation is to succeed in its mission of creation, failure of the part of the organisation in its task of working towards a common goal does not deter the entire organisation from running but rather the part that has failed must be repaired or replaced. In this case the failure constitutes one that requires replacement and putting in measures to ensure accountability and avoid any possibility of a repeat. The office of police integrity thus comes in to do its work in ensuring that the perpetrators are not only relieved of their duties but are also charged for their actions. The organisation as a political system The Victoria Police force as an organisation has a culture that has bee established over a period of time and which forms the basis of the actions that are undertaken and justifies the entire organisation as a political system as discussed. Thus the Victoria police force as a unique institution has its own way of doing things. Mr. Mullet is faced with a dilemma presented by two conflicting interests; that of satisfying his personal interests and the other of fulfilling the objective for which he is entrusted with the office. This distinct mode of doing things, among other issues makes the organisation distinct from others in the macro-environment. However, it is this same way of operation that has been compromised by the three individuals accused of going against the demands of their office and the organisation that the secrets should remain secrets. It is therefore possible to look at the Victoria police as a system of government in that it is part of the wide political set-up and directly influenced by the political set-up (government in terms of decisions made and mode of operation. The conflict of power exhibited in the manner in which the secretary deals with the investigation of murder is a clear manifestation of the organisation’s image as a political system. When the secretary thinks differently and acts differently in contrast to the expectation of his office, organisational politics arise which open a stage of conflicting interests and power. The resulting diversity thus created tension in the entire force that a resolution has to be thought of. By this, the perpetrators are reminded that “this is not the way you ought to have acted; you are supposed to have done it this other way”. Another way that has meticulous significance for understanding organizational politics in Victoria police is to envisage interests in relation to three interrelated spheres regarding one's role in the organization in terms of task, career; as well as personal life. Task interests are associated with the work one has to execute (Terry, and Hogg 2001). The secretary of the Victoria police force had a task of ensuring that the duties of the executive are upheld; implying he had to see unto it that tasks such as production and sale of products are done in a manner that is quick and timely (Axley, 1984). Other jobs included overseeing the role of the accountants and all the organisation’s employees including the sales people. The manager also liaises with all the members of eth organisation to ensure that they bring on board useful information far fetched from outside the company or the organisation; such that the information shall be used to better the normal functionality of the organisation. Despite the fact that there are a lot of similarities in the modern societies based on the issue of global village and exchange of cultures, it is still very important to consider the fact that there are still considerable cross-national differences in relation to organisational culture. Japan has been a major centre of focus given its recent success with a subsequent decline in the industrial Britain. But all these have been viewed in the context of organisational culture which differs from Japan to America to Britain; each one of the societies has its salient characteristics which make it distinctive from the rest. This means of course that the Victoria Police analysed on the perspective of organisational is likely to be very different or distinct from the Metropolitan of the UK. And some organisational cultures are attached to particular historical development or recognition. If an organisation was established to address the issue of poverty and there is no longer poverty to be addressed, the organisation must evolve to suit any other function or objective. For instance examining the historical development of the Victoria Police (Victoria Police 2008/2009) and the functions it first used to handle, we find that they have actually substantially changed simply because there is no longer World war which formed the better part of the functions Victoria Police addressed (many functions it performed then used to arise from the fact that WWI had an impact in this society more so among the youths). Yes gold rush period also ended which brought challenges hence forming a basis for the Victoria Police to form its societal objectives too. Thus, though the organisation is looked at as an aggregate that brings employees together, there is need to emphasise the interdependence of the organisation, recognise the shared concerns and mutual help. These differences will have an ultimate impact on the how the particular organisation can be analysed as a political system. In conclusion, when analysing organisations in different perspectives based on metaphors of organisational behaviour, the type of the organisation being analysed helps in the task and is a very important and an integral part of the entire process of evaluation. The spirit of shared-concern of a village or community permeates work experience, and there is substantial stress on interdependence, collective concerns, as well as mutual help. It is not surprising to find that employees view the organisation as an extension of their families hence they often make lifelong dedications to it. Nevertheless, we see this bond broken by virtue of a conflict of interest between the secretary and the organisation in our case. Reference List: Axley, S., R. 1984. Managerial and Organizational Communication in Terms of the Conduit Metaphor, by Academy of Management. Cornelissen, P. 2002. 'The merit and mischief of metaphor:' British Journal of Management, 13: 277–279. Gioia, M. D. Schultz and Corley, K. 2000. 'Organizational identity, image and adaptive instability', Academy of Management Review, 25: 63–81. Human Relations, December 1, 2008; 61(12): 1713 - 1742. Martins, J., 1992. “Three perspectives of Cultures in organizations” Oxford University Press, USA Morgan, G., 1980. “Paradigms, Metaphors, and Puzzle Solving in Organization Theory”, Johnson Graduate School, Cornell University. Paulson, C., J. 2002. 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