FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS OR INDUSTRIAL SOCIOLOGY - TOWARDS A SOCIAL ACTION ANALYSIS OF ORGANIZATIONS

The emergence, in the past two decades, of a separate discipline of ‘Formal Organizations’ has been associated with the general acceptance of a Durkheimian view of organizations as ‘natural systems’ integrated by a value consensus and a de-emphasis on the processes through which they are related to the social structure. The similarities, in these respects, between Human Relations and Structural-Functionalism are suggested and an alternative Social Action model is outlined. It is suggested that this latter perspective on organizational behaviour fits most easily into the older discipline of ‘Industrial Sociology’. © 1968, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.