Definition and Characteristics of Organization

The modern civilized society is characterized by a large number of organizations. Our society in a way is an organizational society. Social organization arises whenever people interact on a continuous basis in pursuit of common goals. It consists of the behavior expectation that the people have toward one another as group members.

It consists of records of observing the behavior of individuals in groups. The term organization is used in different ways to mean different things. The term is generally used to mean “an association” and “an associational group”.

Definition:

There are many definition of organization. Some are given bellow:

According to Duncan Mitchell, A dictionary of sociology,

“The interdependence of parts which is an essential characteristics of all enduring collective entities groups, communities and societies”.

According to H.M Johnson, sociology, A systematic interaction, “Organization refers to an aspect of interaction system.”

According to Collins Dictionary of Sociology

“A type of collectivity established for the pursuit of specific aims or goals characterized by a formal structure of rules, authority relations, a division of labor and limited membership or admission”

According to this definition we can get some characteristics. Those are

1.  An organization is always a type of collectivity. 
2.  Each organization has some specific aims or goals. 
3. It has a formal structure of rules. 
4. There are authority relations among the member of an organization. 
5. Modern organizations have a division of labor.
6.  The membership or admission of a organization will be limited.

So, it can be said that

Other characteristics of organization

1. A definite purpose: an organization has its own definite purposes. Without any purpose or goal individuals come together. So to be an organization it must have a specific purpose or definite role to achieve the definite goals. 
2. Consensus among the members: the smooth running of an organization depends much on the mutual understanding, cooperation and consensus about per and post individual in an organization is a must. 
3. Harmony between statuses and Roles: an organization is understood as a mechanism that bring different people together into a network of interaction of perform different function. Difference of work having the different status and roles: in an organization different people have to perform different role according to their status or position. There must be harmony between their statuses and roles. 
4. Control of the organization: organization maintains its control over the behavior of its members and regulates their activities. It makes use of various formal as well as informal means of social control for this purpose. Supreme authority controls the organization through norms and regulation on institution. 
5. Norms: in an organization there must have norms and values to achieve the goal of the organization. An organization has its own norms or rules. 
6. Specific function: in an organization different people have different type of works. According to their ranks, everybody has specific work in the organization. 
7. Status and division of labor: by the division of labor the assignment to each unit or group are specialized in an organization among the workers. Members of an organization have different status. 
8. Authority: authority is the power of convincing, influencing or dominating others behavior. So it is very much important in an organization. Where there is no authority there is no organization. 
9. Bureaucracy: bureaucracy refers to the administrative aspect of the organization. It also refers to the arrangement of the organization designed to carry out its day to day business. It is represented by a hierarchy of officials who are assigned for performing different responsibilities and provided with different statuses and roles. 
10. Rationality: it is very important in an organization. Here comes responsibility, systematic reliance on knowledge in the operation of organization. 
11. Relative performance: to be an organization it should ensure the specific age of working, pension, bonus, job security. 
12. Substitution: the unsatisfactory persons of the organization can be removed and others should be assigned to their tasks or post. 
13. A name or other identifying symbol: we establish organization have their own names and also symbols. The symbols of identification may be mottoes, slogans, songs, logos etc.