ааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааа Victor I. Franchuk
аааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааа Reader,Ph.D.,Assistant dean,
аааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааа Faculty of social management
аааааааааааааааааааа ааааааааааааааааааааааааааааof Sociology institute,
аааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааа Moscow State Social University
ааааааааааааааааа 4th European conference of sociology
аааааааааааааааа Stream III.I :╗Thinking Europe:Social Theory╗

аааааааааааааааа The bases of general social organization theory

ааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааа Introduction

аааааааааааааа The General Social Organization Theory (GSOT) - is the new scientific stream, that appeared as an attempt to leave the borders of the traditional organization theory, that mostly studies the formal organizations (enterprises, business organizations), and does not almost includes the informal ones. GSOT studies as the formal (artificial), as the informal (natural,non-ivtentional) and combined (natural-artificial) organizations, including societies, nations, civilizations.

ааааааа Inspite of the diversity of the types of the social organizations, they are united by some common features (wholeness and stability, existence of the organizational culture, the definedа behavior of itТs members, the ability to adequately respond the challenges), that lets talking about their common origin and common laws of functioning and development.

ааааааа The basic task of GSOT is creation of more effective and more vitally able
organizations, and also the improvement of actual mechanisms of administration.

ааааааа The new conceptual model (the problem model) isа proposed on the base of the analysis of the artificial,natural and combined organizations. It represents the synthesis ofа rational and organismic models.

ааааааа From the problem model it follows, that the social administration must be observed more widely, that means not only like a remedy for achievement of organizationТs goals, but also as a medium for itТs survival. The composition of the tasks of social administrator mustа be strongly extended from functions of the classic management (planning, organizational planning, organization, management, coordination, control) by adding the functions of the management of the problems (prognosis and revealing of the problems, the sorting and the analysis of the problems, the preparing of the decisions, the control and the analysis of the results of decisions) and functions of the management of development (loyal regulation, structural regulation, the management of innovations, the management of the organizational culture). Many of these functions are latent (hidden), this makes the management more difficult. This is why one of the most important tasks of the modern social theory is the institutionalization (revealing) of the latent functions of the social administration and the developing of the methods of their improvement.

ааааааа It is recommended to use the functional-diagnostic methodа for the development of existing organizations, and also the method of reengineering, connected with the creation in the organizations the so called лbrain centers╗, that have the provision of stabile development of the organization as their general task.

аааааааа ааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааааMain part

аThe classic organization theory generally studies the formal organizations that have the artificial genesis and does not almost touch upon the organizations of the natural (non-intentional) and combined (natural-artificial) origin, including families, tribes, historically appeared
аcities, settlements, nationalities, nations, societies, civilizations.

The ignorance of the natural and natural-artificial organizations by the traditional organization theory strongly limits its research object and reduces its abilities. That is why there appears the necessity of the extended reading of the social organization and creation of the general social organization theory (GSOT), spreading all over the artificial,natural and combined organizations.

We understand the social organization as the relatively stabile social wholeness, that shows the reasonable behavior like the live organism.

In this definition the social wholeness means that the organization is understood by its members as some stabile social formation with the defined enough boundaries. The stability reads, that inspite of the interior and the exteriorа challenges, the organization keeps safe its boundaries, its general vital cultural values and social standards. The reasonable behavior means something usually associated with the collective intelligence or the social conscience, appearing in an ability, like the live organism, to reveal and to solve its problems. This ability lets the organization guard its wholeness and vitality during the long period of time.

Every human is born, lives, works and dies in social organizations (family, kinder-garden , school, college, working collective, city, country etc.), that make him obey their laws and the quality of humanТs life depends on the humanism of these laws. Taking into account that the existing social organizations are far from perfection, the general possibility of improving the quality of the human life is in improving the existing organizations Ц artificial,natural,combined and also in creation of the new more developed organizations. This task turns difficult because the man can belong to the multiple organizations, some can be artificial, some can be natural,some can be combined.

The GSOT must include all the questions, connected with the building ofа the new and improving the existing organizations, regardless of their nature, and also the questions of the geneses and development of the social organizations.

The general goals of the GSOT are:

-                            receiving аthe new knowledge about the nature of the social organizations, their features, mechanisms of functioning and development;

-                            creation of more efficient and more humane organizations (business, territorial, economical, political etc.)

-                            improvingа the mechanisms of administration in existing organizations of artificial,natural and combined origin;

For achievement of these goals it is necessary first of all to understand the nature of the social organizations and the principles of their functioning.

The traditional theory of the organizations and the management have studied good enough the nature and the principles of the functioning of the artificial organizations, especially business ones (enterprises, firms, associations). What about the natural and natural-artifical organizations, the questions of their origin, functioning and development are explored relatively slightly.

From the position of the GSOT the natural organizations are considered as the more or less stabile social structures, appearing during the process of the social evolution that began 40-50 thousand years ago after the completion, in general, of the biological evolution of the human. The most unstable social organization is the family, the most stable one is the society. There is a great variety of the forms of the social organizations between these poles. These organizations are considered as the top of the лadaptation landscape╗, but not as a stage on the way to the next form.

The social evolution has the progressive and directed character. It is accompanied with the integration of the organizations, the rise of their stability and the complication of the mechanism of administration of the social organization. At the same time the evolution has the manageable character. The man is not only able to accelerate and decelerate the evolutionary process, but also can change it direction in the defined borders.

The GSOT does not leave without attention the artificial organizations, considering them as the result of the creative activity of the men who receive the inspiration from the natural models.

It is obviously impossible to create the integrated (universal) model of the social organization because of itТs great diversity. For example, a family, an enterprise, the society can not be described by a single model. That is why there appears the necessity of the development of numerous models that depend on the form of social organization. First of all it is necessary to develop the model of the functioningа and development of the society as the biggest social organization, that influence the fates of many people.

During many years in russian sociology and many other social sciences (beginning from theа 20-th years) dominated the imposed by the power marxist conception of the social development, based on the consecutive changing of the socially-economical formations, aroused by the class struggle. The history of the society was considered, stick to the facts,а the history of the class struggle. However, over the last years the marxist model has been replaced by the culturally-typological models, based on the scientific works of N.Y. Danilevsky, P.A. Sorokin, O. Spengler, A. Toynbee, L.N. Gumilev. The so called problem model of the social organization, developed by us in the limits of the GSOT is close to these models. The problem model is integral, it unifies the elements of the organismic and rationalistic models.

The gist of the problem model is in following:

1.                        The organizationа is the social organism, that has the ability to reveal and to satisfy its needs, or, in another words, reveal and solve its problems, considered as the deviation from the accepted in the organization social standards, that are the relatively stabile elements of the organizational culture.

2.                        The revealing and solving problems are the general functions of the organization, meanwhile the goal-defining and the goal-achievementа play the auxiliary role.

3.                        The solving of the problems of the organization is in the realization of the measures, directed on the removing of the deviations from the accepted social standards. Besides this the ways of solving these problems depend on their specific features and the problem knowledge, used by the organization to create the patterns of the organizational culture (POC) that are the general media of solving of the problems. The examples of the POC are the social standards, institutes, artificial organizations (organizational systems), innovations, ideas, technologies etc. The repetitious (ordinary) problems are solved by the already existing in the organization POC and do not demand to create the new POC. What about the unordinary problems, toа solve them the organization creates its own POC or uses the POC that belong toа other organizations. Besides creating its own and borrowingа the others organizations POC the unordinary problems can be solved by the consolidation of the naturally formed in the organization POC.

4.                        During the solving of these problems the old POCs are replaced by the new ones, this causes the development of the social organization, that can be manageable or spontaneous. In the first case the processes of the POC renewing are executed by the specially created organs of administration, in the second they are spontaneous.

5.                        Inspite of the diversity of the ways of solving the problems of the organization, whether the organization creates its own or borrows the POC, this process is based on the problem knowledge, that means on the information, demandedа to solve the problem. Unlike the POC the problem knowledge has the relatively persistent and universal character. It can be accumulated and form the base for the new knowledge. Thus the knowledge is the foundation of the development of the organizations.

The series of very important conclusions follow from the problem model.

Firstly, the functions of the public administration are much more diverse in contents than the functions of the classic management (planning, organizing, leadership, coordination, control). Some of them have the latent character. This is particularly applied to the functions of problem management (previewing and revealing the problems, analysis and studyingа the problems, ranging and sortingа the problems, problem control, planning the resources for the problems, development of the programs of actions, directed on solving the problems, control over the execution of the programs, the analysis of the results of the programs). The institutionalization of these functions and the use of the scientific methods of their realization will help to increase the manageability and the vitality of the organization. This is also related to some functions of the organization development (structure management, organizational culture management).

Secondly, the development of the social organizations can be considered as the process of replacement of the old POC by the new ones, applied to the solving of the new (unordinary) problems. Their absence arouses the stagnation of the social organizations. The organization development can have the progressive and regressive character, depending on how much the new POCs are better than old ones.

Thirdly, the structure of the social organizations and the contents of the POC (created by the organization or borrowed) are determined by the character of the problems solved. This appears especially strongly in the natural organizations like the society of the country, where the contents of government and legislation is strongly defined by the problems of the country. In the artificial organizations like enterprises, the structure of the organization and its institutes are initially firmly directed on the defined social need (manufacturing of the defined goods or rendering the defined services).

Fourthly, the mechanism ofа the functioning of the modern social organization is much more complicated than it seemedа before, and consists of two connected mechanisms:

-                            the executive mechanism, corresponding to the rational (goal) model of the organization and taking part in solving the ordinary problems using the classic functions of the management

-                            the mechanism of development, corresponding to the organismic model and taking place in solvingа the unordinary problems using the functions ofа the problem management of the organization and functions of the development.

In the relatively stable conditions, when the organization generally solves the ordinary problems the mechanism of development does not mean a lot and its functions are executed by the leaders of the organization, without creating the specialized divisions like the department of the marketing and the economical safety. In the conditions of the instability the role of the mechanism of the development becomesа appreciable and it becomes necessary as the persistently active structural division of the organization.

The general task of this mechanism is in providingа the stable development of the organization by revealing and solving its problems. The better the organization can reveal and solve its problems, the higher is the level of the well-being of its members and the more stable is its development.

For executing its general task the mechanism of development should include the specialized divisions, executing on the professional base the functions of the problem management of the organization and functions of the development.

аааа The centers of development (or the ╗brain centers╗) should unite on the professional base the lawyers, sociologists, economists, psychologists, politologists and other specialists for solving the complicated social problems, that constantly appear before the society and other social organizations on different levels of the management and spheres of activity. Only the massive busyness and territorial organizations are able to create this kind of centers. First of all these are organizations that already have in their structure the informational-analytical centers because they are easily transformed into the лbrain centers╗.


 

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