What Are Organizations?

Organizations have existed for as long as people have worked together. Archaeologists have discovered massive temple dating back to 3500 B.C. that were constructed through the organized actions of many people. The fact that these impressive monuments were built suggests not only that complex organizations existed, but that the people in them cooperated reasonably well. We have equally impressive examples of contemporary organizations, such as the Sydney Olympics, Hong Kong’s new island airport at Chek Lap Kok, and the people who coordinate that complex network of computer connections called the Internet.

“[A] company is one of humanity’s most amazing inventions,” says Steven Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios. “It’s totally abstract. Sure, you have to build something with bricks and mortar to put the people in, but basically a company is this abstract construct we’ve invented, and it’s incredibly powerful.

So, what are these powerful constructs that we call organizations. They are groups of people who work interdependently toward some purpose. Organizations are not buildings or other physical structures. Rather, they consist of people who interact with each other to achieve a sets of goals. Employees have structured patterns of interaction, meaning that they expect each other to complete certain tasks in a coordinated way – in an organized way.

Organizations have a purpose, whether it’s hosting the world’s greatest athletes or selling books on the Internet. Some organizational behavior scholars are skeptical about the relevance of goals in a definition of organizations. They argue that an organization’s mission statement may be different from its true goals. Also, they question the assumption that all organizational members believe in the same goals. These points may be true, but imagine an organization without goals: It would consist of a mass of people wandering around aimlessly without any sense of direction. Overall, organizations likely have a collective sense of purpose, even though it is not fully understood or agreed upon.