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I. Organization and organizing.
What is an organization? Everyone knows: universities, airlines, chemical plants, supermarkets?? These are all organizations.
Organizations enter our lifes in different ways: we work for them, we consumer their products, we see buildings which house their offices, we read about them in the newspapers and absorb their advertisements. When we look at organizations, especially the larger, older, famouse ones, they seen solid, they seem permanent, they seem orderly. That is after all, why we call them organizations.
Organizing- keeping things in order.
Organizing- is a continuous set of activities. We all have different perceptions of, and tolerances for, disorder. In work setting things "getting organized" means different things to different people. Some people seem to operate effectively for years in offices with papers and files strewn all over the place, using their memory as a diary. When challenged about the apparent chaos they will usually report that it is fine for them, as long as no one else moves things around.
Organizing as a social process.
For much of the time organizing is a social as well as personal process, involving groups working together- part of the raw material of meaning- making. This is well illustrated when organizing something from scratch.
Discussing with colleagues seems to make things worse- more disorganized. Different people have different ideas, opinions and interests. Some sound downright. The stress level rises. It is impossible to move forward without making compromises.
But things are starting to shift. People are now listening more to each other. A little bit later a leader has emerged from the ...