Modern Organizations [antikvár]

rationality and happiness: the organizational dilemma one Our society is an organizational society.^ We are born in organizations, educated by organizations, and most of us spend much of our lives working for organizations. We spend much of our leisure time paying, playing, and praying in organizations. Most of us will die in an organization, and when the time comes for burial, the largest organization of all—the state—must grant official permission. In contrast to earlier societies, modern society has placed a high moral value on rationality, effectiveness, and efficiency. Modern civilization depends largely on organizations as the most rational and efficient form of social grouping known. By coordinating a large number of human actions, the organization creates a powerful social tool. It combines its personnel with its resources, weaving together leaders, experts, workers, machines, and raw materials. At the same time it continually evaluates how well it is performing and tries to adjust itself accordingly in order to achieve its goals. As we shall see, all this allows organizations to serve the various needs of society and its citizens more efficiently than smaller and more natural human groupings, such as families, friendship groups, and communities. Organizations are not a modern invention. The Pharaohs used organizations to build the pyramids. The emperors of China used organizations a thousand years ago to construct great irrigation systems. And the first Popes created a universal church to serve a world religion. Modern society, how- 1 Robert Presthus, The Organizational Society (New York: Knopf, 1962).