NAME: ENDURANCE DANJUMA

REG NO: 2101101002

COURSE: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR (II) BAM 321
DEPT: HNDI BUSINESS ADMIN AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES
QUESTION:
Critically examine the concept of organizational typology with
particular reference to Amitai Etzioni

INTRODUCTION

Organizational typology is constructed to study the different types of organization. It relates to

the different categories into which organizations can be classified. It involves a scheme of
categorization of organizations based on certain general characteristics. Strictly speaking,
organizational typology is a multidimensional classification because modern organizations are
complex social unit having diverse characteristics. It serves as a tool of differentiation. Each
typology brings out certain unique characteristics of the organizations studied. In actual life, two
organizations may appear to be similar on some points, but they may also differ on some other
points. The typology must be based upon some crucial points so that clear cut distinctions may
be made among different organization.

WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR?

According to Keith Davis “organizational behavior is the study and application of knowledge
about how people act within organizations. It is human tool for the human benefit. It applies
broadly to behavior of people in all type of organization such as business, government, schools,
etc. it helps people, structure, technology, and the external environment blend together in to an
effective operative system”.
Stephen Robins defines organizational behavior as a “field of study that investigates the impact
that individuals, groups, and structure have an organization for the purpose of applying such
knowledge improving an organization’s effectiveness

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TYPES OF FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS

Sociologist Amitai Etzioni (1975)Etzioni, A. (1975). A comparative analysis of complex

organizations. NEW YORK, NY: free press. Developed a popular typology of organizations
based on how they induce people to join them and keep them as members once they do join. His
three types are :

1. Utilitarian organizations
2. Normative organizations
3. Coercive organization
1) Utilitarian organizations: (also called remunerative organization) provide an income or
some other personal benefit. Business organizations, ranging from large corporations to
small mom-and-pop grocery stores, are familiar examples of utilitarian organizations.
Colleges and universities are utilitarian organizations not only for the people who work at
them but also for their students, who certainly see education and a diploma as important
tangible benefits they can gain from higher education.
2) Normative organizations: (also called voluntary organizations or voluntary
associations) allow people to pursue their moral goals and commitments. Their members
do not get paid and instead contribute their time or money because they like or admire
what the organizations does.
3) Coercive organizations: Some people end up in organization involuntarily because they
have violated the law or been judged to be mentally ill. Prisons and state mental institutions
are example of such coercive organizations, which, as total institutions seek to control all
phases of their member’s lives.

CONCEPTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR TYPOLOGY WITH REFERENCE

TO AMITAI ETZIONI
Organizational behavior is based on a few fundamental concepts which are relevant to the nature
of people and organisations. There are some basic assumptions in organizational behavior such
as, (1) difference between individuals; (2) a whole person; (3) behavior or an individual is
caused; (4) an individual has dignity, (5) organisations are social systems; (6) mutuality of

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interest among organisational members; (7) holistic organizational behavior. Now let’s look at
all assumptions in detail:

1. Individual differences idea comes from psychology. Every person is different from the
day of birth, every person is unique and personal experiences make a person more
different than the other. Every individual differs in many ways like intelligence,
physique, personality, learning capability, communicative ability etc. Therefore only an
individual can take responsibility and make decisions, whereas a group is powerless until
all the individuals within the group act accordingly.
2. A whole person indicates that when an individual is appointed in an organisation, he/she
is not hired only on the basis of skills, but also on likes and dislikes, pride and prejudices.
An individual’s way of living in a family cannot be separated from organisational life.
This is why the organisations need to provide their employees with a proper work
environment where they can work hard to progress and develop their abilities to become
a better employee and also a better person in terms of growth and fulfillment.
3. Caused  behavior  indicates that when an individual behaves in an unmannerly fashion
then there is a cause behind it. Anything could be the reason of this cause such as
personal problems at home within the family, or problems with coming early to the office
etc. If an individual starts reacting in an unmannerly fashion with other staff members
then a manager should understand that there is definitely a cause behind it. Managers
should investigate about the cause and tackle the issue at the root level.
4. Human dignity indicates that every individual needs to be treated differently. It shows
human dignity because people at every level of professional ladder want to be treated
with respect and dignity. Every job needs to be done with respect and recognition this
helps every individuals aspirations and abilities to improve. The concept of human
dignity rejects the idea of using employees as economic tools.
5. Organisations are social systems indicates that from sociology we know that
organisations are social systems; therefore the activities within the organisations are
governed by social and psychological laws. Organisations have formal and informal
social systems. Social systems in an organisation indicate that the company has dynamic

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 change ability rather than static set of relations. Every part in the system is
interdependent on each other.
6. Mutuality of interest indicates that both the organisation and people need each other.
Organisations are formed and maintained on the basis of some mutuality of interest
among the participants. People require organisations to reach their goals, while
organisation needs people to reach organisational objectives. Lack of mutual interest
causes disorientation among the participants and the group. Mutual interest provides a
common goal for all the participants, which results in encouragement of the people to
tackle problems of the organisation instead of raising fingers at each other.
7. Holistic concept indicates that when all the above six concepts of organisational
behavior are placed together a holistic concept arises. This concept interprets the
relationship between people and organisation in terms of the whole person, entire group,
entire organisation and the whole social system. Views of different people are taken into
account in an organisation to understand the factors that influence their behavior. Issues
are analyzed in terms of the total situation affecting them rather than in terms of an event
or problem.

CONCLUSION

Compliance theory is an approach to organizational structure that integrates several idea from the
classical and participatory management models. According to compliance theory, organization
can be classified by the type of power they use to direct the behavior of their members and the
type of involvement of the participants. In most organization.

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REFERENCES

Etzioni, A. (1975). A comprehensive analysis of complex organizations (rev.ed.).

New York , NY :Free Press.

Etzioni, A. (1997). Modern organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hal

Moorhead, G., & Griffin, R. W. (1995). Organizational behavior: Managing people and
organizations (5th edition). Boston. Houghton Mifflin, (p.4)
Simms, L.M., Price, S.A., & Ervin, N.E. (1994). The professional practice of nursing
administration. Albany, NY: Delmar Publishers. (p. 121)