Environments of organization - Essay Example

To create the fruit of this cooperative enterprise, LEJ employs about eleven full time staff and employs approximately fifty paid youth interns each year. Pfeffer & Salancik argue that Organizations are inescapably bound up with the conditions of their environment & they engage in activities which lead them to quicker adjustment in their environment (Pfeffer p.233). The Resource Dependency Theory (RDT) developed by Pfeffer & Salancik highlights that most important task of an organization is to survive & the most influencing factor on the shape of an organization is not how it consumes resources but how it acquires it (Pfeffer p.234). Therefore according to Pfeffer & Salancik, the effective organization is the one which satisfies the demand of those in the environment from whom it requires support for its continued existence (Pfeffer p.242) DiMaggio & Powell similarly argue in their seminal article on institutional isomorphism & collective rationality that organizations tend to look more and more similar the more an organizational field develops (DiMaggio & Powell, P.147). This process which they name Isomorphism in organization not necessarily drives it towards more efficiency but more acceptability.

They argue that the major factor which organizations must take into account is other organizations as they not only compete for resources and customers but also political power & institutional legitimacy (DiMaggio & Powell, P.150). They suggest three mechanisms for this change which they term as coercive, mimetic & normative isomorphism. The biggest survival issue for any non-profit organization like LEJ is the constant supply of funding to various projects. With propping up of new non-profit organization with the same domain of work & the temporary down turn in economy post 9/11 caused LEJ to reconsider its funding issues.

The leadership decided to stick to its mission principle and reject any funding & project proposals which are outside its scope to create an image of a principled organization which appeals to donors having environment related donations. This required restructuring, introducing processes within the organization which makes channelizing of ideas easily into grants proposals and actively pursuing potential donors for grants and ideas which can quickly be converted to grant proposals. This resulted into creation of a slot for full time grant writer, who can convert ideas into grant proposals.

This was a classical attempt to improve their chances of securing their resources which in case of non-profits is extremely important. As Pfeffer & Salancik have argues that organizations always attempt to secure their resources without owning it (Pfeffer & Salancik, p. 236) in the environments once continuous availability of a resource is a problematic issue. Coercive Isomorphism always comes into play while dealing with Government & Donors (in case of non-profits). The constant change of government's procedures to ensure check and balances in non-profit organizations, LEJ has to constantly transform how it works through employee orientation and training for the departments which deal with government like taxations and audits etc.

Moreover funding by donors also comes with certain compulsions in denial of donations to certain projects and emphasis on certain others, LEJ has to ensure that they constantly satisfy their