Organic organisation

A term created by Tom Burns and G.M. Stalker in the late 1950s, organic organizations, unlike mechanistic organizations (also coined by Burns and Stalker), are flexible and value external knowledge.

Also called organismic organization, this form of organizational structure was widely sought and proposed, but never proved to really exist since it, adversely to the mechanistic organization, has the least hierarchy and specialization of functions. For an organization to be organic, people in it should be equally leveled, with no job descriptions or classifications, and communication to have a hub-network-like form. It thrives on the power of personalities, lack of rigid procedures and communication and can react quickly and easily to changes in the environment thus it is said to be the most adaptive form of organization.

An organic organization is a fluid and flexible network of multi-talented individuals who perform a variety of tasks, as per the definition of D. A. Morand.

Organic Organizations Leads to Teamwork An organic organization is when the organization exist dependently, meaning that the organization takes into consideration the needs of their employees. Since in an organic organization the ideas and opinions of the employees are taken into consideration, this leads to group leadership and teamwork. Group leadership, is better than individual leadership because there are several people controlling the environment, instead of one person telling everyone what is expected. Since organic organizations takes into consideration the ideas of the employees this opens the doors to create teamwork among employees. The use of Organic Organizations is good because in some way it becomes an incentive to employees to perform to the best of their ability.

References

- Burns, T. & Stalker, G. M. (1961), The Management of Innovation, Tavistock, London.