Organizational Pathologies, Essay Example

An organization is capable of creating problems, and at the same time, it is capable of creating opportunities for participants. The difference in obtaining an opportunity or encountering a problem comes in because of the misuse of power. In this case, inequalities occur upon exploitation of participants through internal problems, through their participation in their daily activities. The participants affected either externally, or upon their reliance on certain organizations for goods and services. Such organizations take advantage of the situation and become unresponsive to the needs of the dependants.   This paper divides the problems into two: problems of participants, and problems for publics.

Problems for participants

Alienation

It happens where workers, especially in capitalist societies, often alienated from the fruits of their hard toiled labor. They end up in manual jobs that do not help in improving their abilities. The capitalists abuse power of ownership, and alienate laborers from their work because of their powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, and self-estrangement, social isolation, and cultural estrangements.

Inequality

While formal organizations should be fair in the way they treat their workers, this does not happen. There are reported cases of inequalities in pay and advancements occurring between races and gender.  Throughout the 20th century was a substantial disparity between advancements and earnings for men compared to women, and the whites as compare to the nonwhites.

Insecurity

Currently, there are increasing numbers of workers who cannot count on their long-term employment. There are occurrences of many levels of changes, all working towards reducing the economic security of employees. There is the issue of downsizing, where there is the elimination of permanents jobs from organizations. While some workers enjoy this, others oppressed out of the lack of opportunity for self-realization, thus keep on moving across organizations.

Over conformity

This includes goal displacement, where the same element meant to give efficiency goes ahead and produces inefficiency when subjected to certain conditions or specific instances. This comes in because of displacement of priorities, or rather, the continued pursuit of approaches and means that are old either fashioned or have already disconnected in times of change. There is the lack of flexibility, fostering rigidity, and pathology conformity.

Problems for public

Crime and corruption

While one would regard crime as smuggling or stealing with the violence, there are also silent occupational and corporate crimes. Individual employees commit occupational crimes against the employer for their own gain. On the other hand, individual employees acting on behalf of the corporate commit corporate crimes.

Upon the realization of the occupational and individual crimes, corruption comes in. At this point, bribery occurs, more especially in the developing countries.

Unresponsiveness

Public service organizations act unresponsively towards their customer needs. Any organization should provide benefits to their employees as well as their customers. However, it occurs that there is the shift of power from the majority to the elite minority. This induces the increased conservatively with time.

Restlessness

Restlessness occurs where new leaders are more concerned with maintaining their positions. They only give concern to the organizational survival ship with less concern of the other employees. Agencies affected by such decisions include client agencies, entrepreneurial agencies, interest group agencies, and managerial agencies.

In conclusion, organizational pathologies afflicts affect not only the individual participants, but also the external public. The whole issue is the misuse and abuse of power. The higher authorities take advantage of their employees, and out of their powerlessness and self- estrangement, they dictate them bringing in the issue of organizational pathologies.