Organization as a Phoenix: Reflection on life and death in community organizations (Case study: Jihad Sazandegi)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Professor, Public Administration, University of Tehran, Iran

2 PhD Candidate, Public Policy Making, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Iran

4 PhD Candiate, Science and Technology policy, University of Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Emphasizing on instrumental rationality and ignoring essential rationality, the organizations mainly focus on survival as their main goal. In this research, according to this problematic phenomenon (tend to survive), efforts have been pass purely empirical and inductive methods, while considering organizational death as an opportunity for better consumption and allocation of resources. The issue of planned death is highlighted as well. The metaphor of phoenix is used to provide a deep understanding of some organizational behaviors for confronting the issue of death and erosion. It is noteworthy to mention that by comparing this metaphor and some other fundamental metaphors, its functions and malfunctions are considered, and above all, its relative capability to explain and describe some aspects of organization has been evaluated. This issue has been taken into consideration by studying the story of Jihad-e-Sazandegi in Iran. In fact, Jihad had to die to survive, but it preferred to be merged in the Ministry of Agriculture to maintain its existence while annihilating its identity from the world.

Keywords

Main Subjects


Abedi Jafari, H., Taslimi, H., Taslimi M., Faghihi, A., Sheykhzade, M. (2011).
Purpose analysis and purposes themes: a simple and effective method for
determining the patterns in qualitative data. Strategic Management
Thoughts, 5(2): 151-198. (In Persian)
Adizes, I. (1979). Organizational passages: diagnosing & treating life cycle
problems in organizations. Organizational Dynamic, 8(1): 3-24.
Bennis, W. (1967). The Coming Death of Bureaucracy. Management Review,
56(3): 19-24.
Boje, D.M. (1995). Stories of the storytelling organization: a postmodern
analysis of Disney as Tamara-Land. Academy of Management Journal,
38(4): 997-1035.
Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology.
Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3 (2): 77-101.
Brumer, V. (1993). The Model of Love: A study in Philosophical Theology,
Great Britain, Cambridge.
Capra, F. (1988). The turning point: Science, Society, and the Rising Culture,
Bantam: Bantam Books.
Capra, F. (1999). Tao of Physics; an Exploration of the Parallels between
Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism, Boston: Shambhala Publication
co.
Clancy, J. (1989). The invisible powers: The language of business,
Massachusetts: Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company.
Cliff, O. & Montgomery, J. (1999). Images of an organization: the use of
metaphor in a multinational company. Journal of Organizational Change
Management, 12(6): 501-523.
Downs, A. (1967). The life cycle of bureaus, in Downs: Inside Bureaucracy,
Little, Brown & Co., San Francisco, CA.
Givens, J. L. & Mitchell, S.L. (2009). Concerns about End-of-Life Care and
Support for Euthanasia. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management,
38(2): 167-173.
Greiner, L. E. (1998). Evolution and revolution as organizations grow. Harvard
Business Review, 76(3): 55-68.
Hanks, S., Watson, C., Jansen, E. & Chandler, G. (1993). Tightening the life
cycle construct: a taxonomic study of growth stage configuration in hightechnology
organizations. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 2: 5-29.
Hatch, M. J. & Cunliffe, O.L. (2006). Organization Theory: Modern, Symbolic
and postmodern perspectives, Oxford Press.
Hatch, M.J. & Weick, K.E. (1998). Critical resistance to the jazz metaphor.
Organization Science, 9 (5): 600-604.
Hatch, M.J. (1998). Jazz as a Metaphor for Organizing in the 21st Century.
Organization science, 9 (5): 556-557.
Hejazi, B.S. (2009). Recreation the myth of Phoenix and Roc. Quarterly of
Spiritual Studies, 10 (1): 148-119 (In Persian).
Inns, D. (2002). Metaphor in the Literature of Organizational Analysis: A
Preliminary Taxonomy and a Glimpse at a Humanities-Based
Perspective. Organization, 9 (2): 305-330.
Keidel, R.W. (1987). Team sports models as a generic organizational
framework. Human Relations, 40 (9): 591–613.
Keizer, J.A. & Post, G. (1996). The metaphoric gap as a catalyst of change in
Organisation Development: Metaphorical Explorations, London: Pitman
Publishing.
Kimberly, J. & Miles, R. (1980), The Organizational Life Cycle, San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Lamberg, J.A. & Parvinen, P. (2003). The River Metaphor for Strategic
Management. European Management Journal, 21(5): 549-557.
Lemiengre, J., Dierckx de Casterlé, B., Verbeke, G., Guisson, C., Schotsmans,
P., Gastmans, C. (2007). Ethics policies on euthanasia in hospitals-A
survey in Flanders (Belgium). Health Policy, 84 (2-3): 170–180
Lester, D. L., Parnell, J.A., Carraher, SH. (2003). Organizational life cycle: A
five-stage empirical scale. International Journal of Organizational
Analysis, 11(4): 339-354.
Miles, R.E., Snow, C. (1978). Organizational strategy, structure and process,
New York: McGraw-Hill.
Mintzberg, H., Ahlstrand, B. & Lampel, J. (1998). Strategy safari: a guided tour
through the wilds of strategic management, New York: The Free Press.
Morgan, GH. (1997). Images of Organization, London: Sage Publication.
Morgan, GH. (2006). Images of Organization, London: Sage Publication.
Nahjolballagha of Imam Ali (Sermons, letters, and sayings of Imam Ali). Seyyed
Sharif Razi (Ed.). Persian translator: Ali Mohammad Ayati. Tehran:
Bonyade Nahjolballagha & Daftare Nashre Farhange Islami (In Persian).
O’Reilly, M. & Parker, N. (2013). Unsatisfactory Saturation: a critical
exploration of the notion of saturated sample sizes in qualitative research.
Qualitative Research, 13(2): 190-197.
Oliver, R.W. (1999). Strategy as sports! War! food? The Journal of Business
Strategy, 20 (5): 8–10.
Pearce, C.L & Osmond, C.P. (1996), Metaphors for change: the ALP model of
change management. Organizational Dynamics, 24, 23–36.
Pourezzat, A.A., Rouzbehani, KH. and Taheriattar, GH. (2015). A
revivolutionary look at the organization death: using phoenix as a
metaphor. Asian Journal of Research Business Economics and
Management, 5(1): 32-45.
Pourezzat, A.A. (2009). The Importance of Linguistic Justice for Continues
Revision of Good Governance. The Annals of the University of
Bucharest: Economic and Administrative Series, EAS-AUB.
Quinn, R. & Cameron, K. (1983). Organizational life cycles and shifting criteria
of effectiveness: some preliminary evidence. Management Science, 29(1):
33-41.
Robbins, S. P., Judge, T.A. (2009). Organizational behavior. (13th Edition).
New Jersey: Pearson- Prentice Hall.
Scott, W. R. & Davis, G.F. (2007). Organizations and Organizing, Rational,
Natural, and Open System, New Jersey: Pearson- Prentice Hall.
Shafritz, J. M., Hyde, A.C. & Parkes, S.J. (2004), Classics of Public
Administration, (5th Edition). Belmont: Thomson & Wadsworth.
Terry, L.D. (1997). Public administration and the theater metaphor: the public
administrator as villain, hero, and innocent victim. Public Administration
Review, 57 (1): 53–61.
Voultsos, P., Njau, S.N. & Vlachou, M. (2010). The issue of euthanasia in
Greece from a legal viewpoint. Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine,
17 (3): 131–136.
Walck, C. L. (1996). Organizations as places: a metaphor for change. Journal of
Organizational Change Management, 9(6): 26-40.
Weick, K. E. (1969). The social psychology of organizing, Boston: Addison-
Wesley.
Weick, K. E. (2006). Faith, Evidence, and Action: Better Guesses in an
Unknowable World. Organization Studies, 27(11): 1723-1736.
Wyld, D.C., Phillips, A.S., Phillips, C.R & Cappel, S.D. (1998). Using the
disease metaphor to view organizations: an alternative perspective.
International Journal of Management, 15(1): 113–122.