Organizational Change

We all know from experience—sometimes pain­ful experience that changes is a central aspect of human life. Just as individuals and relationships change, so too do organizations. The most obvi­ous changes often involve personnel: a new presi­dent of the United States is elected, an executive is fired, a star athlete retires. However, sociolo­gists are most interested in how the organization itself changes.

These changes often relate to other social insti­tutions, particularly the government. Its regula­tory statutes, licensing procedures, tax laws, and contracting for goods and services directly influ­ence the structure of formal organizations. Gov­ernment policies relating to affirmative action or disability rights influence the internal decisions of organiza­tions and may even require the hiring of new per­sonnel.

In addition, an organization's goals may change over time along with its leaders and struc­ture. A church starts a basketball league; an oil company purchases a movie studio; a chewing tobacco firm begins to manufacture ballpoint pens. Such actions take place when an organiza­tion decides that its traditional goals are no longer adequate. It must then modify its previous objectives or cease to exist.

Goal Multiplication If an organization con­cludes that its goals must change, it will typically establish additional goals or expand upon its tra­ditional objectives. For example, in the 1970s many colleges began continuing education pro­grams to meet the needs of potential students holding full-time jobs and wishing to take classes at night. In the 1980s, the Elder-hostel movement opened college campuses to older Americans, who could live and learn along with much younger college students.

Goal multiplication takes place when an organi­zation expands its purposes. Generally, this is the result of changing social or economic conditions which threaten the organization's survival. The YMCA has practiced such goal multiplication. Reflecting its name, the Young Men's Christian Association had a strong evangelistic focus dur­ing its beginnings in the United States in the 1850s. Bible study and tent revival meetings were provided by the early YMCAs. However, in the early 1900s, the YMCA began to diversify its ap­peal. It attempted to interest members by offer­ing gymnasium facilities and residence quarters. Gradually, Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Jews, and the "unchurched" were accepted and even recruited as members.

The most recent phase of goal multiplication at the YMCA began in the 1960s. In larger ur­ban areas, the organization became involved in assisting employment training and juvenile de­linquency programs. As a result, the YMCA received substantial funding from the fed­eral government. This was a dramatic change for an organization whose income had previously come solely from membership fees and charitable contributions.

In the 1980s, the YMCA continued to serve the poor, as evidenced by the building of a new facil­ity in 1984 in the Watts section of Los Angeles— the first major private construction in the area since the riots of 1965. Yet the organization also maintains a lucrative branch in Beverly Hills and has expanded rapidly to serve middle-class residents of cities and suburbs. The YMCA's impressive range of activities currently includes social [service programs for the disabled, day care cen­ters. fitness classes for office workers, residence dormitories for college students and single adults, "learning for living" classes for adults, and senior citizens' facilities (Tomasson, 1984).

These transitions in the YMCA were not always smooth. At times, major contributors and board members withdrew support because of opposi­tion to organizational changes; they preferred the YMCA to remain as it had been. However, the YMCA has survived and grown by expanding its goals from evangelism to general community service (Etzioni, 1964:13; Zald, 1970).

More recently, the Women's Christian Temper­ance Union (WCTU) has also experienced goal multiplication. Founded in 1874, the WCTU has long advocated the outlawing of liquor consump­tion and was a leading force in passage of the Eighteenth Amendment (prohibition). However, it has had difficulty in winning support for absti­nence from alcoholic beverages. Consequently, at its 1981 convention, the WCTU included drug abuse, especially by teenagers, as an additional target. The organization hoped that this ex­panded agenda would help to increase its mem­bership and to bring about desired social changes. In 1984, the WCTU began to emphasize the dangers of "drunk driving" in a clear effort о align itself with other groups working to raise the drinking age (Elson, 1981; New York Times, 1984c).

Goal Succession Unlike goal multiplication, goal succession occurs when a group or organization has either realized or been denied its goal. It must then identify an entirely new objective that can justify its existence. Cases of goal succession are rare because most organizations never fully achieve their goals. If they do, as in the case of a committee supporting a victorious candidate for public office, they usually dissolve.

Sociologist Peter Blau (1964:241-246), who coined the term succession of goals, noted that or­ganizations do not necessarily behave in a rigid manner when their goals are achieved or become irrelevant. Rather, they may shift toward new ob­jectives. A case in point is the Foundation for In­fantile Paralysis, popularly known for its annual March of Dimes campaign. For some time, the foundation's major goals were to support medical research on polio and to provide assistance for victims of the disease. However, in 1955 the Salk vaccine was found to be an effective protection against paralytic polio. This left the foundation, so to speak, "unemployed." A vast network of committed staff members and volunteers was suddenly left without a rationale for existence. The group might have disbanded, but instead it selected a new goal—combating arthritis and birth defects—and took on a new name. Like many bureaucracies, it simply refused to die (Et­zioni, 1964:13; Sills, 1957:253-271).

♦ SUMMARY

Interaction among human beings is necessary to the transmission of culture and the survival of every soci­ety. This chapter examines the impact of small groups and of large, formal organizations on social behavior.

1 When we find ourselves identifying closely with a group, it is probably a primary group.

2 Americans tend to see the world in terms of in-groups and out-groups, a perception often fostered by the very groups to which we belong.

3 Reference groups set and enforce standards of con­duct and perform a comparison function for people's evaluations of themselves and others.

4 Interactionist researchers have revealed that there are distinct and predictable processes at work in the functioning of small groups.

5 Unlike any other group, a dyad can be destroyed by the loss of a single member.

6 One poignant and recurring message of recent decades has been the power and pervasiveness of large organizations.

7 Bureaucracy has become a dirty word within our culture and an easy target in political campaigns.

8 Max Weber argued that, in its ideal form, every bureaucracy will share these five basic characteristics: division of labor, hierarchical authority, written rules and regulations, impersonality, and security.

9 bureaucracy can be understood as a process and as a matter of degree; thus, an organization is more or less bureaucratic than other organizations.

10 The informal structure of an organization can undermine and redefine official bureaucratic policies.

11 Americans belong to voluntary associations for a variety of purposes—for example, to share in joint ac­tivities or to get help with personal problems.

12 Change is an important element in organizational life. An organization may need to change its goals if its original objectives are fully realized or are no longer adequate.

10 In recent years, there has been growing regulation of smoking by the federal government, by state and local governments, and within the private sector.

♦ KEY TERMS

Bureaucracy A component of formal organization in which rules and hierarchical ranking are used to achieve efficiency, (page 153)

Bureaucratization The process by which a group, or­ganization, or social movement becomes increasingly bureaucratic. (157)

Classical theory An approach to the study of formal organizations which views workers as, being moti­vated almost entirely by economic rewards. (160)

group Any number of people with similar norms, val­ues, and expectations who regularly and consciously interact. (145)

human relations approach An approach to the study of formal organizations which emphasizes the role of people, communication, and participation within a bureaucracy and tends to focus on the informal structure of the organization. (160) -group Any group or category to which people feel they belong. (146)

Interaction process analysis (IPA) A technique devel­oped by Robert F. Bales for analyzing a group's structure and processes. (149)

Her principle A principle of organizational life, orig­inated by Laurence J. Peter, according to which each individual within a hierarchy tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence. (157)

p rimary group A small group characterized by inti­mate, face-to-face association and cooperation. (146)

r eference group A term used by Herbert Hyman when speaking of any group that individuals use as a standard in evaluating themselves and their own behavior. (147)

scientific management approach Another name for the classical theory of formal organizations. (160)

secondary group A formal, impersonal group where there is little social intimacy or mutual understand­ing. (146)

Small group A group small enough for all members to interact simultaneously, that is, to talk with each other or at least be acquainted with each other. (148)

Sociogram A depiction of preferred associations among group members. (149)

Trained incapacity The tendency of workers in a bu­reaucracy to become so specialized that they develop blind spots and cannot notice obvious problems. (154)

Triad A three-member group. (150)

Voluntary associations Organizations established on the basis of mutual interest whose members volun­teer or even pay to participate. (161)

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