sociological notions
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sociological notions |
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[bureaucracy] [culture]
[mechanism] [power] [theory
(espoused/in-use) (X/Y/Z)]
[discursive practice] [enactment] [panopticon] [structuration] [surveillance] |
These notions are covered in Business and Organizations courses offered by Veryard Projects and Antelope Projects. (First years are expected to master the basic notions only.)
Max Weber described an ideal form of bureaucracy, which he equated with administrative rationality. For Weber, bureaucracy represented modern progress, as against the quasi-mediaeval and feudal patterns of arbitrary authority and corruption. More recent sociologists, however, have identified various forms of bureaucratic dysfunction, including inflexibility, inefficiency and ineffectiveness.
| Course Material | Structure and Culture: Social Patterns of Business Organization (pdf) |
| Further Material | Reading List (html) |
The social sciences don’t always follow simple laws and generalizations, and reliable prediction is often not possible. However, this doesn’t mean that social scientists are reduced to mere description. Explanation in the social sciences depends on the identification of causal mechanisms.
In contrast with determinate laws, mechanisms are uncertain in their effect. There are three reasons for this.
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Weber | The ability of a person in a social context to achieve his/her own goals, despite resistance from others. Equivalent to domination. |
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Marx | A structural relationship, independent of the conscious intentions and desires of individuals. |
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Parsons
(Pluralistic) |
A positive social capacity for achieving shared goals. Power is distributed through social structures, although some individuals may have more power than others. Individual power reflects a degree of influence, rather than a state of domination. |
| Course Material | Technology: Power, Meaning & Design (pdf) |
| Further Material | Notes on Power (html) |
Chris Argyris introduced the distinction between the espoused theory
and
the theory-in-use.
| Espoused theory refers to what people say they do – what they espouse. Often people genuinely believe that this is what they actually do; sometimes they are merely paying lip-service to it. | Theory-in-use refers to what people actually do, or what they can be independently observed to do. |
McGregor introduced the distinction between Theory X and Theory
Y, which refer to beliefs about the behaviour and motivation of workers,
which may be embedded in management practices and organization culture.
Ouchi argued that McGregor’s distinction doesn’t work for all cultures,
and identified a third theory, Theory Z, which he used to explain
the behaviour of most Japanese companies and some Western companies.
| Theory X refers to a set of beliefs in which workers are lazy, require constant supervision, and are motivated only by financial rewards and penalties. | Theory Y refers to a set of beliefs in which workers can be trusted to pursue the interests of the firm without constant supervision, and respond to a range of motivators. | Theory Z refers to a set of beliefs about lifetime commitment between employers and employees. |
Note that these distinctions are independent (orthogonal). Thus for example it is quite possible for a manager to espouse (pay lip service to) theory Y, but to practise theory X. The reverse is also possible.
"Managers construct, rearrange, single out, and demolish many 'objective' features of their surroundings. When people act they unrandomize variables, insert vestiges of orderliness, and literally create their own constraints." [Weick, Social Psychology of Organizing, p243]
Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon was originally a prison so designed that the warder could watch all the prisoners at the same time. By extension, this term is used to describe any technical or institutional arrangement to watch/ monitor large numbers of people. It provides a useful metaphor for various modern technologies
Besides the impact on the people being watched, the pantopticon also has an effect on the watcher. The panopticon gives the illusion of transparency and completeness – so the watcher comes to believe three fallacies
| Course Material | Technology: Power, Meaning & Design (pdf) |
| Further Material | Monitoring at Work (UK Data Protection) |
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