What is an Organization?

The previous post discussed the ethics of organizations without considering an essential definition: what is an organization? In common parlance, there is the notion of an organization as an entity: it is often said that decisions are made an actions undertaken by an organization - but my sense is that this is an abstraction that leads to inaccuracy.

As a working definition:

An organization is a collection of people, which makes decisions and undertake actions to achieve a specific purpose.

I've decided to define an organization in terms of the people it comprises rather than any physical artifacts: objects or structures. My sense is that it is a commonly accepted notion: a "church" is not so much the building but the congregation, a "nation" is not so much the geographic area as the persons who identify themselves as a member of that nation.

It is possible for an organization to exist without physical artifacts. Taking the examples above, a "church" is organized among devotees before a building is constructed, and a "nation" is organized among citizens who remain members of that nation when they travel abroad (and immigrants are not necessarily members of the organization simply by stepping into a geographic area).

In this sense, the artifacts are incidental. They may be obtained by the organization for a given purpose, related to the purpose of the organization. The physical artifacts may even be disposed of without dissolving the organization.

However, the people are not disposable to an organization. If the people disband, or abandon the purpose of an organization, the organization itself ceases to exist. With that in mind, I do not think it is inaccurate to suggest that an organization is, by definition, a group of people.

The addition of "to achieve a specific purpose" also seems essential to the notion of organization. The difference between an "organization" and a random group of people is that there is a commonality of purpose among the individuals who compose the organization. This bears further consideration.