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Organization Theories Of Public Adminstration Programs

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Organizations are a group of people working to achieve common goals and objectives through a division of labor. A well designed and functioning organization gauges individual strengths and assigns tasks with aptitude and ability in mind, allowing the group to achieve more as a whole rather than by individual effort. The definition is simple but implementation of that definition is complicated as organizations are subject to a multitude of factors that can both enhance or constrain their performance. Understanding and managing these factors to ensure success is the mark of a good administrator and reason for study of organization theories in public adminstration programs. While general principles of organizational theory provide a baseline approach to either the public or private organizations, there are attributes of each that requires adjustments for success in each. As often in public administration, context matters. Much like public administration, organizational theory is a product of multiple fields including business, economics, sociology, psychology, and others (Menzel and White, 2011). Dr. Jeffrey Pfeffer summarized in New Directions for Organization Theory, organizational theory studies provide: “an interdisciplinary focus on a) the effect of social organizations on the behavior and attitudes of individuals within them, b) the effects of individual characteristics and action on organization, c) the performance, success, and survival of organizations, d) the

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