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What Is an Organisation

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Submitted By sonciksr
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Providing an answer to the question “What is an organisation?” could appear like a very demanding task. In fact, not only might different people have different views on what the term suggests, but, also, the concept is in itself quite broad.
The evolution of this phenomenon is quite complex. An “organization”, meant as a union between different individuals who join their strengths in order to achieve a common goal, is a concept, which has been present since the beginning of time.
Nevertheless, the way in which we interpret this term has undergone a big evolution in recent times. If we ask a researcher, he would most certainly tell us that organizations are a very specific subject and are defined in a very unique way.
So, exactly, what is an organization? If we look it up in the dictionary the answer we will more or less find is the following: “a group of people that work together in a structured way for a shared purpose.” (Cambridge Dictionary, online). And this is also what the common belief seems to think. Nevertheless, researchers have analyzed the subject with more in depth observations and have situated this phenomenon in specific historical times. One historical background in particular has been taken into consideration while studying these structures: Capitalism. Capitalist organizations were at the base of the 19th and 20th centuries and researchers from the Frankfurt School, also know as the Institute for Social Research, took time in analyzing them. The major influence at that time was Marxism and the mind of Max Weber.
Marxism situates power in the struggle between the workers and the capitalists, and sees organizations as “ those entities that bring together the powerless working class and the powerful capitalists” (Amiridis, 2012). Moreover, the organization is seen as “the stage where this struggle takes place, where capitalists, management

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