ABSTRACT
This chapter presents various definitions of an organization, and examines two different perspectives of managing an organization: a mechanistic view and an organic view. It proceeds to compare private and public organizations and mentions both the differences and similarities of the two types of management perspectives. The chapter refers government competitiveness to explain its applicability in the comparison between the Western and Asian public organizations. A formal organization is an organization endowed with a legitimate status, often legal, which explicitly states the raison detre of the institution. In every organization, leaders and followers coordinate each other to achieve their goals. Depending on the leadership and structure of the organization, an institution may run differently and, depending on individual members' abilities, the organizational performance may differ. Finally, the chapter presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book.
