Organization facts for kids

The structure of the United Nations organization

An organization is a group of people who work together for a special purpose. It can be a company, a school, a government, or a charity. The word "organization" comes from the Greek word organon, which means "tool" or "instrument."

Types of Organizations

There are many different kinds of organizations. They can be set up in various legal ways.

Common Types

Some common types include:

• Companies (like businesses that make products or offer services).
• Governments (like your local city council or national government).
• Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (groups that work on important issues but are not part of the government).
• Charities (groups that help people or causes, often without making a profit).
• Schools and colleges (educational institutions).
• Partnerships (where two or more people own a business together).
• Cooperatives (where members own and control the organization).

Special Types

• A hybrid organization works in both the public and private sectors. This means it does public service work while also running like a business.
• A voluntary association is a group made up of volunteers. These groups might be informal clubs or larger bodies working towards a shared goal. They often have a mission statement explaining what they want to achieve.

Organizations can become officially recognized by governments. This often happens when they fill out special paperwork to become a legal entity. Sometimes, public pressure or being a spokesperson for a group can also lead to recognition.

How Organizations are Structured

A diagram showing the structure of the U.S. Federal Government in 1862

The way an organization is set up is called its organizational structure. Experts who study how businesses work often say that most human organizations fit into four main types:

Committees or Juries

These are groups of people who make decisions together. They might vote on things.

• A jury makes a decision, like in a court case, but its members usually don't do anything else after the decision.
• A committee makes a decision, and its members are often responsible for carrying out or leading actions based on that decision.

Committees can be a good way to make decisions. If the people in the group are generally good at making choices, adding more members can lead to better decisions. Rules like Robert's Rules of Order help committees have organized discussions and reach conclusions.

Ecologies (Competitive Structures)

This type of structure encourages competition within the organization. Parts of the organization that work well get more resources, while those that don't perform well might struggle. Everyone is paid for what they achieve, almost like they are running their own small business within the larger organization.

This idea comes from how natural ecosystems work, where different parts compete for resources. For example, some large companies, like the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, have used this type of structure.

Matrix Organizations

In a matrix organization, each worker has two bosses.

• One boss is in charge of their skill area (like engineering or quality control). This boss makes sure the worker is well-trained in their field.
• The other boss is in charge of a project (like a specific product or customer type). This boss makes sure the project gets finished.

So, someone working on quality control for a specific product would report to both the quality control manager and the product manager. This structure was first used in the United States aerospace industry in the 1960s.

Pyramids or Hierarchies

A hierarchy is a common structure where there's a leader at the top, and then different levels of people below them. It looks like a pyramid, with fewer people at the top and more at the bottom.

• The leader guides the people below them.
• Each level supports the levels above it.

This structure works best when the leader has the support of their team. If the people below don't support the leader, the whole structure can fall apart. A famous book called The Peter Principle (1969) joked about hierarchies, saying that people in a hierarchy tend to get promoted until they reach a job they aren't good at.

Understanding Organizations

Many different school subjects study organizations, such as sociology (the study of society), economics (the study of money and resources), and psychology (the study of the mind). They look at how organizations work and how people behave within them.

Organizations help people work together to achieve goals that they couldn't reach alone. For example, building a skyscraper or sending a rocket to space requires many people working in a coordinated way. When people join an organization, they often give up some personal freedom to work as part of the team.

Organizations can offer advantages like:

• Doing more of the same thing (like making many cars).
• Combining different skills (like engineers and designers working on a new product).
• Reaching further or having a bigger impact.

However, organizations can sometimes be slow to change because of all the coordination needed.

Leadership in Organizations

In a formal organization, a leader is someone who is given a management job. They have the right to tell people what to do because of their position. But a good leader also needs personal skills to guide their team effectively. If a manager doesn't have strong personal skills, another person in the group might naturally become a leader and challenge their role.

Formal Organizations

A formal organization is set up with clear rules and goals. It has a specific design that shows how tasks are divided among different departments, sections, and jobs.

• People are expected to act professionally and follow the rules.
• Employees are usually hired and promoted based on their skills or how long they've worked there.
• They receive a salary and have job security.
• The higher someone is in the organization, the more expertise they are expected to have in solving problems. This structure helps appoint managers and gives them authority.

Informal Organizations

An informal organization is different. It's the natural social groups that form within the formal structure. These groups are based on personal relationships and shared interests.

• Their goals might be different from the official goals of the formal organization.
• Leaders in informal organizations aren't appointed; they emerge naturally. People follow them because of their personal qualities, their influence, or their ability to persuade others.
• This is how people find a sense of belonging and security within a larger group, just like people have always formed communities throughout history.

How Formal and Informal Organizations Work Together

Most organizations use a mix of formal rules and informal interactions.

• Sometimes, formal rules can make informal relationships less important. For example, if people trust each other a lot, they might not need a strict written contract.
• Other times, formal rules can help informal relationships grow. For instance, clear rules about how things should be done can help people build trust and work together better.

See also

In Spanish: Organización para niños