ABSTRACT
‘Organization' has a long history as a term, taking the user back to Romano-Greek times where ‘organon' meant a musical instrument, a weapon, or a tool of some kind. Its meaning transmogrifies over the centuries within Europe. The organization in its bureaucratic form was seen as a block to the development of advanced consumer capitalism. The tensions in the UK between an attenuated state bureaucracy, reduced in size and scope since 1980, and the entrepreneurial zeal sought after by those committed to the market mechanism have created numerous problems over 2020–2021, not least of which are the number of dead citizens who were frail, or from minorities, or from deprived areas. The answer to why there has been a noticeable move from studying ‘organizations' to studying ‘organizing' in non-organizational forms is a complex one.
