When you stop and think about it, organisations are curious creatures:-
- sometimes we care so much about them (countries and churches) that we would die for them
- they are our chosen way of organising ourselves to trade necessary supplies (companies) and provide necessary services (hospitals, social services)
- some build their lives around them, others use them to provide for their needs, others use them as tools (or even toys ?)
- they can be constituted as charities, businesses, partnerships, clubs, societies, co-operatives, etc.
- they can be led by entrepreneurs, bureaucrats, directors, trustees, managers, committees, and so on.
- every organisation has its foundation myth, where new recruits are told how and why the organisation began
- every organisation creates policies, and systems to implement them
- some organisations have charters, rules, covenants etc. which bind their operations
- it will use money and effort to achieve its goals
- and, we always complain about them
- are they entities ? do they have their own existence ?
- each organization has multiple stages birth, growth, development, maturity, challenges, combinations (mating and cross-fertilisation), crystallization, decay, and then possibly transformation, otherwise death
This is a sort of check list to study and evaluate organisations we come in contact with.