ABSTRACT
When we focus upon the structure and development of whole societies, organisations may be regarded as parts of a more inclusive system, and their aggregate effects upon this larger system explored. Or, as we have seen, it is possible to focus upon the organisation as the unit of analysis, and the way in which the characteristics of the organisation as such vary with the character of the environment and influence the organisation's effectiveness. A third perspective is that which focuses on the parts of the organisation, and the relationships of dynamic interdependence among them whereby the organisation as a whole can be maintained, and some at least of its purposes attained. The first, macro-sociological perspective, and to a lesser extent the second, necessarily ignore much of the finer texture of the social life within organisations in concentrating upon the more general global properties and the mutual influences of organisations and the social structure. It is this finer detail concerning the ways in which individuals have to co-operate, form groups, distribute and accomplish tasks, and so forth, that now has to be considered. The subject matter is organisational process—the dynamics of cooperative relations among aggregates of people to get particular tasks done.
