Network Approach Theory
The network theory basically deals with how relationships influence the behavior of people who work together in the same organization. The network approach also goes beyond people to examine the structure and relationship between social entities. The entities may vary from organizations, companies, groups, among others. The notion of social networks, sociograms, and sociometry was created over fifty years ago. The network analysis helps to study different organizations and how they behave. For instance, I am going to study the behavior of my workplace. My company is called Portland cement and it deals with the production of cement. There are a lot of people who work at the company who have different beliefs and behaviors. The network analysis also tries to explain how the social structure or the people and relationships around a person may affect their behaviors and beliefs. Causal pressure is inbuilt in the social structure of my workplace. The network approach tries to detect and measure the magnitude of the pressures experienced by the employees. The axiom of the network approach suggests that reality ought to be conceived and investigated from the perspective of relations being between and within units rather than the properties of the units themselves. This implies that in order to understand the behavior of people, one has to investigate the behavior of a particular person who is in the midst of other people and not when he/she is alone. The network approach can therefore be viewed as a relational approach to understanding the behavior of the people or organization. The network approach mainly focuses on the relationship between people in the workplace and not their characteristics. Having this in mind, it becomes easier to study the relationships between employees in my workplace. The relationships between people in the workplace normally arises from the feelings people have over each other, due to an exchange of ideas and information, or even the exchange of tangible things such as goods or money.
When the relationships between people are identified, the network approach suggests that the relationships should be mapped. The network analysis assists the company to uncover the informal and emergent communication patterns that are present in the organization. The emergent patterns are then used to explain some organizational phenomena. These are some of the ways the network approach can be used to learn the relationships in my workplace. In 1991, O’Reilly and Chatman developed a model which can be used to study the dynamics and operations of an organizations based on the values of the individuals. The model was based on the belief that different cultures may be distinguished by the values which are enforced in different organizations. For instance, there are a number of requirements that are required for one to create an Organizational Cultural Profile for my workplace. Organizational Cultural Profile is a self-reporting tool which is used to analyze a particular organization based on its culture and values. The requirements in order to create a cultural profile for my workplace include: innovation, outcome orientation, stability, attention to details, supportiveness, team orientation, respect for people, and aggressiveness. The cultural profile is used to measure how culture affects the performance of an organization. To attain the final result, the employee values are measured against the organizational values in order to foretell the intention of employees to stay and also to predict turnover. The two approaches help one to completely understand an organization. In my case, the network approach helps to understand the relationship between people during their communication. It is most important when it comes to communication in the company. The cultural model is also important as it helps to unmask cultures of all the employees and determine their commitments to deliver results. The two, therefore, plays a significant role in developing a more comprehensive understanding of a company.
Types of organizational structures that stem from globalization
We now live in a global economy and participate in a global marketplace. The organizational structures have also been forced to change due to a number of changes that have in the world market place. The transport system and telecommunication has improved across the globe which has made the world to become connected in political, economical, and organization terms. Globalization has also resulted to practices like outsourcing; the process in which businesses and companies transfer their manufacturing and services to countries where the labor is cheaper. Most of the companies in the United States, for instance, have outsourced most of their manufacturing divisions to China where cheap labor is readily available. This has resulted to changes in the structures of many companies. In the current global economy, many different organizations have international and multi-national presence, with employees of one company found in different parts if the world. Globalization has resulted to a scenario where businesses are no-longer centered within few Western nations. Companies can now open different branches across the developing world because telecommunication has made it possible to manage all of them on one headquarter. With the modern telecommunication, companies no-longer have to hold board meetings where every person is physically present. With the onset of teleconferencing, board members and other members of the management can hold meetings using teleconferencing facilities. This has significantly changed the way companies used to hold meeting because initially physical presence of a person was important. Despite the positive effects of globalization on the structures and operations of companies, there are a number of disadvantages associated with it. With the invention of modern technology and equipment, the labor from humans is no longer necessary. This implies that globalization has resulted to a significant amount of job loss.
Any company would like to go international into the global economy for a number of reasons. The going into a global economy by an organization is a structure that has come with globalization. The reason is because it would like to have an international recognition like its competitors. The more it increases its operations into other countries in the world, the more it will have an advantage over its competitors. Secondly, every management would like to increase its business base by increasing the sale of the products or services. An increase in the sales of products and services implies an increase in the profit of the company. Globalization has resulted to more innovations and inventions in most companies. With the availability of modern technology and facilities, the professionals have a chance to invent more ideas because they have facilities and machineries at their disposal. The inventions and innovations are necessary for the company to be relevant in the market. The market is composed of competitive forces which pressures an organization to ensure that its professionals are coming up with more ideas. Teleconferencing is another field where globalization has created. Initially, directors had to meet and stay in a round table for meetings. But with the effect of globalization where companies have different branches across the world, directors are now forced to hold their meetings through teleconferencing. They use teleconferencing because the directors are at different continents, for instance, overseeing the operations of the other branches. In terms of job loss, companies are struggling to maintain the staff although sometimes they are forced to fire some because their services are no longer required by the company. This is because the modern machineries are the ones which do the labor. The structures have made work easier for the workers within the companies because most of the labor is done by machines so no hard work.
