Critical Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Critical Review - Essay Example The perspectives that are taken in organizational theory should be keenly considered since they determine how people will understand organizations or how they will behave within their contexts. In understanding organizational theory, it is always necessary to make some philosophical assumptions, which act as a guidance tool; however, these assumptions are usually full of contentions since they usually do not have any evidence to support them. Chapter 2: Modernist organizational theory: Back into the future Modernist organizational theory argues that chaos and disorders among human beings can be overcome through human will and intentions, this means that the order can be maintained by creation of systems, bureaucracies and methods of management that aim at restoring order in a disorderly world. In understanding modernist organizational theory, it is important to look at the intellectual environment and organisations as part of systems; these can be looked at in two different ways. One of the ways is looking at the scientific activities that surround them which include development of the organizational theory; the second way is looking at the organizations as complex systems. Modernist organizational theory is more concerned about bureaucracy as a form of organizational and whether it is an agent of disorder and chaos in the world or it works to restore order in the world. Bureaucracy has been adopted in most of the organizations since the beginning of the 20th century as a means for efficient and effective organisations. Neo-modernist organizational theory: putting people first The modernist approach has been overtaken by the neo modernist approach, which puts the welfare of the people at the centre of the organization. The neo modernist organizational theory uses insight and techniques of the social sciences to build up an organizational and managerial presumption that is usable in problems connected with authority in organizational context. The neo modernist o rganizational theory pays special attention to the values and beliefs that individuals have and how they shape their experiences within organizations (Kets de Vries, 2004, p194). In addition, it also concentrates on how individual values and beliefs are shaped by their experiences in organizations, this leads to organizational culture and ways in which people’s needs can be woven in to those of organizations. This theory has two perspectives on how organizations are usually structured; the first perspective is where the management needs to be sensitive to the needs of the employees in order to create a conducive environment for all stakeholders of the organization. The second perspective is for the management of the organization to create a democratic space, which empowers all stakeholders in the organization (Westenholz, 2003, p110; Johnson, 2006). Chapter 6: post modernism as a philosophy: the ultimate challenge to organizational theory? Post modernism as a philosophy aims to disprove the modernist assumption that the world can be understood objectively by disproving the proposition that it is feasible to come up with a rational and generally applicable basis to scientific inquiry that can explain the universe from an objective point of view (Thompson, 2003, p185). Postmodernism has had the greatest impact on