Question

Provide an example of a theory of organisations that has a normative and a positive dimension. What are the relationships between these two dimensions, how are they different and how do they complement one another?

Answer 1

Answer) Before stating and explaining the example,it is important to understand what is theory of organization,positive and normative dimension,so when we talk about theory of organizations,we essientielly are talking about how organization is structured,how its goals and objectives are met,what are the ways in which employees can be organized,work can be divided,in other words we look at an organization and see how it functions with help of different theories,majorly there are 4 theories;bureaucracy,rational system,division of labour and modern theory,we will take example of bureaucracy theory of organization but before that let us understand what is positive and normative dimensions,when we talk about positive dimensions we look at cause and effect,we look at scientific approach to why something happened and when we talk about normative dimension we talk about what ought to be and look at non scientific approach.

Now coming to the example,we have selected bureaucracy theory of organization where rules are formed,pre-defined hierarchy is there,onus is on fixed responsibility and system is mechanical and is less fluid,it is consistent,risk averse and monotonous.When we look for positive dimension in it,we see that rules provide perfect platform for cause and effect,it is like if something went wrong,it was because a rule or procedure wasn't followed,so organization in such theory is able to identify the flaw and rectify it quickly,when we look at normative dimension,we look at hierarchy where everyone is placed on basis of normative reasoning that is a more experienced person will replace person retiring as that ought to be the rule of hierarchy,when we talk about the relationship between these 2 dimensions,we see they both are important in one form or another in such theory,they are different in the sense that as we look at flaw,we look at logic while when we look at hierarchy we may end up ignoring logic as person suited may not get the role because of what ought to be,however they complement each other too in the sense that they balance each other out,alot of organizations even the modern ones have mix of different generations where these two dimensions play out,the newer generation tend to do away with randomized processes and want to perfect why something is happening while older generatiion look at maintaining the structure and and ensuring they keep company away from troubles using their experience.

Answer is complete.Thank you!