Analysis of Images of Organization by Gareth Morgan Essay - 1

Analysis of Images of Organization by Gareth Morgan - Essay Example I) He explains that ‘Metaphor is inherently paradoxical in nature and has far-reaching consequences. One major problem that faces modern management today is our mechanical way of thinking about organizations, that is so deeply rooted in us, that we find it find it very difficult to organize things in any other way. In Chapter 2, (Morgan, 2006, pg. 11) enlightens us on how labor became revolutionized and how machines took command in the workplace. In ancient times work was carried out in a very laborious way, making use of only manual labor. As time passed and people became more civilized they began making tools to assist them in their work. Nowadays, Mechanization has taken over every area of work making it much more easy for us than it was in ancient times. Productivity has increased a thousand fold because of the great transition from being a craft to factory production. (Morgan, 2006, pg. 11) However, in the course of this revolutionization in work culture, we have to bear the assault made on the human spirit. We have adapted ourselves to the machine age and have come to use machines as a metaphor for ourselves and the society at large because we have to mold ourselves according to mechanical principles that have become part and parcel of our lives. Gareth Morgan, in chapter 3 of Organization as Flux and Transformation explains the importance of an ‘Open System’ that involves a continuous cycle of transformation, input, output and constructive feedback. In order to achieve such a harmonious working atmosphere, it is imperative to maintain healthy relationships between the environment and the internal functioning of the organization. Referring to Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, Morgan argues that their opinions on the ‘Open system’ differ as they feel that ‘all living systems are organizationally closed, autonomous systems of interaction that make reference only to themselves.†