ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors examine the nature of organizations, the dynamics of which seem to form a pattern whether they are discussing Dar es Salaam, Delhi, or Washington, D.C. and whether they are considering 1960 or 1980. Understanding how organizations function has implications beyond the formal bureaucracy. Max Weber was one of the first to stress that coordination is commonly done through hierarchical decision making and that hierarchical patterns are natural in large organizations. In addition to decision-making patterns, the formal structure of an organization includes patterns of individual behavior. Organizational analysis has increasingly come to stress the effect of the environment on the ways in which organizations function and on the kinds of policies that develop. Scarcity, or poverty, in third world countries is so pervasive that it has a special influence on organizational dynamics. A much discussed aspect of organizational environments in third world nations is the widespread evidence of corruption.
