An organisation is a social unit deliberately constructed to pursue specific goals, in which each person has a formal status and role. A formal organisation has written rules, a hierarchy and a division of labour, as in a government department, an army or a trade union. An informal organisation is the network of personal relationships that arises spontaneously among the people who work within it. The two always exist together.
This note covers the meaning, types and characteristics of formal and informal organisations for the UPSC Anthropology Optional. It belongs with social groups under Paper I, topic 2.2 of the Anthropology Optional syllabus, and it overlaps with the Sociology Optional.
Meaning of organisation
Associations are groups organised for a purpose. Organisations are associations in a more developed form: systematically arranged units of individuals, in which each person has a formal status and role, and through which value-oriented interests are satisfied (Anderson and Parker, 1966).
- Goal-directed. Organisations are formed to attain certain goals.
- Explicit procedures. They emerge when explicit procedures are set up to coordinate the activities of a group towards specific objectives.
- Two routes to formation. Collective effort becomes formally organised either because all members share a common interest, or because one sub-group offers inducements to the rest to work for its interests.
| Scholar | Definition |
|---|---|
| Anderson and Parker (1966) | Systematically arranged units of individuals in which each person has a formal status and role. |
| Talcott Parsons (1960) | Social units that are deliberately constructed and reconstructed to pursue specific goals. |
| Amitai Etzioni (1961) | Complex organisations are among the most important elements in the social web of modern societies. |
Trade unions, government bureaus, armies, universities, sports bodies and clubs are all organisations.
How organisations differ from other social groups
Modern organisations differ from ordinary social groups in three ways:
- Division of labour. Tasks, power and communication are deliberately divided to serve the goal.
- Power centres. One or more centres of authority direct the effort and review performance.
- Substitution of personnel. Members can be removed, transferred or replaced without the organisation ceasing to exist.
Formal organisation
A mere collection of people is not a formal organisation. The defining criterion is the existence of procedures for mobilising and coordinating the efforts of various, usually specialised, sub-groups in pursuit of joint objectives. A formal organisation has a fixed set of rules and structures, set out in writing, leaving little room for interpretation. In practice such rules may be strictly followed in some organisations and remain a formality in others.
Weber's bureaucracy: the model of formal organisation
Max Weber described bureaucracy as the most rational form of formal organisation. Its features are:
- a clear hierarchy of authority;
- division of labour and specialisation;
- written rules and records;
- impersonality: the office is separate from the person who holds it;
- recruitment and promotion by technical qualification;
- a career with a fixed salary.
Four types of formal organisation
Blau and Scott classified formal organisations by asking who benefits.
| Type | Prime beneficiary | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Mutual benefit organisation | The members | Trade union, cooperative society |
| Business concern | The owners | Company, bank |
| Service organisation | The clients | Hospital, school |
| Commonweal organisation | The public at large | Police, army, revenue department |
Etzioni's classification by compliance
| Type | How members are controlled | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Coercive | Force | Prison |
| Utilitarian | Material reward | Factory, office |
| Normative | Shared values and commitment | Religious body, voluntary organisation |
Informal organisation
Informal organisations are formed by the participants themselves, and complement the formal structure set up by management. The informal organisation is the interlocking social structure that governs how people actually work together.
- It is the aggregate of behaviours, interactions, norms and personal and professional connections through which work gets done.
- It consists of personal relationships, social networks, communities of common interest and emotional sources of motivation.
- It evolves spontaneously in response to changes in the work environment.
The importance of informal organisation was established by the Hawthorne studies at the Western Electric Company in the United States (1920s and 1930s), associated with Elton Mayo. They showed that output depended less on physical conditions than on the informal norms of work groups. The anthropologist W. Lloyd Warner helped design the observation of one such group, which makes these studies an early case of anthropology applied to industry.
Formal and informal organisation compared
| Basis | Formal organisation | Informal organisation |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Deliberately created | Emerges spontaneously |
| Duration | Enduring unless deliberately altered | Changes with its members |
| Character | Relatively static | Dynamic and responsive |
| Rules | Specified and written | Unwritten norms |
| View of the person | Equates the person with the role | Treats people as individuals |
| Structure | Hierarchical | No fixed hierarchy; based on personal influence |
| Bond | Formal rules and procedures | Friendship, trust and shared interest |
| Communication | Through official channels | Through the "grapevine" |
Membership, initiation and secrecy
Membership of an organisation brings privileges and also duties. It is like acquiring a new status. To make the member aware of this, many organisations hold an initiation ceremony with the taking of an oath.
Some organisations maintain secrecy, which builds social distance between members and outsiders. The Mau Mau movement of Kenya, which bound its members by oath, is a well-known example.
Complex organisations
Within a large organisation there are many smaller ones, themselves formal organisations, working as sub-units. The whole network is called a complex organisation.
Etzioni (1961) pointed out how far modern life is lived inside such bodies. Most people are born in a hospital, educated in a school and work in one organisation or another; even their religious and political activity usually takes place within one. Members of modern societies obtain much of their material, social and cultural satisfaction from large-scale organisations.
Problems of large formal organisations
- Ritualism (R. K. Merton). Following the rules becomes an end in itself, and the original goal is lost.
- Oligarchy (Robert Michels). Control tends to pass into the hands of a few leaders.
- Impersonality. Treating people as cases can leave members and clients alienated.
Anthropology and the study of organisations
- Simple societies have few specialised organisations. Kinship, age and locality carry out most functions.
- Complex societies depend on specialised formal organisations.
- Organisational anthropology applies fieldwork methods such as participant observation to factories, offices, hospitals and development agencies, and is especially good at revealing the informal organisation.
The topic is treated at greater length in the Sociology Optional, mainly through Weber. For how the two subjects compare, see Anthropology and Sociology as UPSC optionals.
Using this topic in a UPSC answer
- Define organisation with Parsons or with Anderson and Parker.
- Give the three features that set organisations apart from groups.
- Compare formal and informal organisation in a table of five or six rows.
- Mention Weber for the formal side and the Hawthorne studies for the informal side.
- Use an Indian illustration, such as a district administration (formal) and the personal networks through which work actually moves (informal).
For presentation, see our guide to anthropology answer writing with diagrams, thinkers and case studies.
Frequently asked questions
What is an organisation in sociology and anthropology?
An organisation is a social unit deliberately constructed to pursue specific goals, in which each member has a formal status and role and activities are coordinated by explicit procedures.
What is a formal organisation?
A formal organisation is one with written rules, a hierarchy of authority and a division of labour, created deliberately to achieve stated objectives. Government departments, armies and companies are examples.
What is an informal organisation?
An informal organisation is the network of personal relationships, norms and friendships that arises spontaneously among the members of a formal organisation and shapes how work is actually done.
What is the difference between formal and informal organisation?
A formal organisation is deliberately created, hierarchical and governed by written rules. An informal organisation emerges spontaneously, has no fixed hierarchy and rests on personal relationships and unwritten norms.
What are the four types of formal organisation?
Classified by who benefits, the four types are mutual benefit organisations, business concerns, service organisations and commonweal organisations.
What is a complex organisation?
A complex organisation is a large organisation made up of many smaller formal organisations working as its sub-units, such as a government, a university or a large corporation.
How is an organisation different from an association?
An association is any group organised for a common purpose. An organisation is a more developed form, with formally defined statuses and roles, explicit procedures, a division of labour and centres of authority.