What Is An Organization?

An organization is a group of people that together have a social arrangement to dispense tasks for a goal they all want to achieve.

The original word 'organization' comes from the Greek word Organon which itself is derived from the word Ergon which literally translates to 'organ' which is a compartment for a particular job. 

There are a wide range of different organizations within our social structure that allow our society to function and fulfil their public duties; co-operatives, charities, non profit corporations, governments, corporations, Universities, companies, non government organizations, international organizations, armed forces and any other types that are similar that cover the public sector and the private sector. There are also what is known as hybrid organizations which are a combination of two of the above such as a combination of a corporate organization and the government.

If we look at organizations from a social sciences perspective then we need to understand that it is a subject for analysis using a number of disciplines which include; sociology, political sciences, psychology, economics, management and organizational communications. When people say they are studying organizations they may say that they are studying; organizational studies, organizational structure, organizational analysis and organizational behaviour.  All of these names mean the exact same thing but are the names that are given by different institutes to their courses.

When studying organization, you will learn three different perspectives to look at it; Process related perspective, Functional perspective and Institutional perspective.  Process related perspective looks at how an organization is viewed as an entity, that it is in effect being re-organized so that the focus shifts on the organization to become a set of precise actions or tasks. Functional perspective is different as it focuses on how it is similar to a business and how they are being used. Finally, an institutional perspective is where they look at an organization's structure and whether it is useful within the correct social context.

An organization is an entity where two or more persons work together to achieve a goal or a common purpose.  There are so many organizations around us. Daily we visit and see many organizations like hospitals, colleges, factories, farms and government offices. Mosque/church is also an example of an organization. People go there and say prayers and activities of praying are to achieve a certain goal. Similarly, any unit in which two or more persons are working together for some purpose is called an organization.  If there is an organization, then there must be some people who work as a whole for a common purpose, so there must be a defined purpose. If an organization does not have any purpose, it will not survive in the long run. To achieve the purposes by using people, the processes are needed. Without any process, you cannot achieve any type of purpose or goal. If we see in our daily life, we have some goals. For achieving these goals, we use some processes. So that process is also obvious and important for an organization.  The last important thing for any organization is that it requires main pillars of management i.e. POLCA:  1. Planning  2. Organizing  3. Leading  4. Controlling  A manager must perform all theses management functions with assurance.

The meaning of the word organization is generally divided into two parts; one is human organization and second is material organization. While business is the human economic activity. It involves continuous and regular production and distribution of goods and services with a view to earn profit. Money flowing in and earning of profit through the satisfaction of the customers are the two measuring rods of the success of business.
Business organization is a process or an art of establish effective cooperation between the factors of production (land, material, capital equipment, personnel) for producing or acquiring wealth with a view to earn profit in an enterprise.
The scope of business organization has considerably expanded after the industrial revolution. The process of production is now quite complicated. An organization is needed to determine what each person will do and how much authority each will have. We generally divided the organization into three forms on behave on business ownership; these forms are sole proprietorship, partnership and company.
Organization helps in the efficient use of factors of production and thus reduces cost of production of goods. This helps to attain the goals and objectives of the business at the minimum cost. A good organization provides for the optimum use of technological improvement to create goodwill. All the marketing functions of goods such as buying, selling, transportation, storage, financing, risk taking product standardization and grading, etc are solved by the organization by fixing of responsibilities to every one.

Organization is a group of people working together for achieving a common objective which is already defined by the organization. To run organizations properly without any haphazardness and wastage of resources a proper structure and hierarchy is to be properly defined in an organization.

vOrganizational structure is the way in which the different groups of people, working in the organization, are constructed the objective of creating these groups are created to ensure proper coordination, less wastage of resources and quick achievement of objectives. These structures than take different forms like bureaucratic, functional structure, matrix structure, and divisional structures etc each structure has its own advantages. The shape adopted by a structure depends upon factors like the size of the organization, variety of operations being performed by the organization, number of branches and their location, education level of manpower, available resources.

While working in an organization one of the most imperative things is the role of the leader. To strengthen the role of the leader hierarchies are made. Hierarchy as explained is the pattern in which people or group of people working in an organization are arranged to ensure that the decisions are being done properly on time and to avoid any kind of possible conflicts which could appear and could affect the performance of the organization.