After reading Ch.1 in Tolbert and Hall, think carefully about the formal organizations (any organization with governing by-laws) that you are involved with: your place of work, religious organization, condo association, educational institution, professional or service organization.

Select two organizations (World Bank and The Federal Reserve) with which you are very familiar; you will be working on these organizations for the entire course, so give it some thought. (In the coming weeks, we will be applying sociological concepts to examine various facets of your two organizations. You may also use library databases for related, in-depth research. For example, you could search library sources to find out about your particular organization (e.g., if your employer is The MacArthur Foundation or the Dept. of Human Services) or a similar type of organization (e.g., if you chose your condo association).

This paper should be 4 pages in length. The memo should have the following structure:

 

• Intro: why have you chosen these orgs and how do you know about them?

• Section 1: Describe the two organizations you have selected.

• Section 2: How does each of these two organizations influence their members?

• Section 3: What outcomes do they produce? How are the outcomes for Org 1 and Org 2 similar and/or different?

• Conclusion: how do you view the current condition of each org? (e.g., teetering on the brink of bankruptcy? or vibrant and growing?)

You must cite from the following sources, no outside sources are allowed:

1. Tolbert, Pamela S. and Richard H. Hall. 2009. 10/e. Organizations: Structures, Processes, and Outcomes. New York: Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0132448408. Pg. 1 – 67

2. Kettl, Donald, 2009. The next government of the United States: Why our institutions fail us and how to fix them. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN: 9780393051124. Ch. 1

3. Perrow. C. 1986 [1972]. “Why bureaucracy?” Pg. 1 – 48 in Complex Organizations. New York: Random House.