A study of the process of evaluation of the internal environment of a nascent organization

Abstract

This is an exploratory study of the process of evolution of the internal environment of a nascent organization. This study was conducted over a period of seven months while the organization was in the process of undergoing transformation from a small project office into a functioning hospital, using participant observation as the method of data collection. This study attempted to understand the effect of the wider socio cultural environment on the evolutionary process of the internal environment of a nascent organization. Major findings of this study are: Organizational members from their primary socialization the family system interject a metaphor of organization, organized around a model of the family system and the associated situational definitions (labeled here as the primary metaphor). From their socialization in secondary system like work organization, they also internalize collages of situational definitions that are applicable in different type of organizations (labeled here as secondary metaphors of organization). They toned to transfer both these primary and secondary metaphors to situations in an organization into which they enter. The small size, low task differentiation and under structuring of a nascent organization create condition that are conductive for the transference of the primary metaphor ‘the family’. As a consequence the primary metaphor, ‘the family’ gets evoked in the minds of the initial group of organizational members and these members create a family – like internal environment. As the organization size increases and the greater task differentiation, secondary metaphors of organization get triggered in the minds of organizational member. The simultaneous entry of professionals with experience in other work organization increases the dominance of the secondary metaphors in the organization. As a consequence, rules, procedures, structures, systems, etc., get introduced. The choices regarding their introduction often tend to be determined by the automatic transposition of the evoked secondary metaphors rather than through a process of deliberation and evaluation of their consequences and appropriateness in the context of a given organization. While these introduced features trend to be in keeping with the evoked secondary metaphors of organizations, their actual functioning tends to be mediated by the primary metaphor ‘the family’ which continues to operate at the emotive level of the nonprofessional organizational members. This blocks the process of professionalization of the nascent organization. As a consequence the nascent organization in the process of transforming from a family like organization into a professional organization only acquires the appearance of a professional organization but in its functioning continues to operate like an extended family. In this situation only structures of work emerge and the institutional quality that integrates the tasks and people fails to emerge. The organizational members tend to modify their behavior in line with emergent structure of task. But their feelings, expectations, and responses continue to be anchored in the primary metaphor ‘the family; and this lack of resolution at the sentient and emotional levels create feeling structures in members that carry seeds of organizational dysfunctionalities.