What is Structural Functionalism? How are organizations affected? Is it still applicable in the 20th century? What is the relation between the cover image and the article? These questions are asked by individuals when reading about Structural Functionalism trying to understand the theory and reading this article. After reading and researching about the Structural Functionalism and relating information from research and personal experience the article comes to a hypothesis that any organization is based on the structural functionalism theory and every individual in the organization share equal roles in building or destroying the latter.
Structural functionalism, or structural-functional theory, perceives the composition of the society as interrelated components or elements that work to a certain mission and vision. The rising of Functionalism according to some references came with the English philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820–1903). Whereas others trace back the origin of the references to the French social scientist Émile Durkheim. Talcott Parsons (1951) was a pioneer of the sociological theory of structural functionalism. He describes in several writing the society as the human body where he creates a clear comparison. The table below shows how an organization is like the human body:
By definition, an organization is an organized group of people with a particular purpose, such as a business or a government department. The following diagram shows a basic concept of management levels.
According to all the previous information we are able to draw the following analogy:
The human body is the organization. The top management are the organs that the human body has one of each such as the brain and heart. The middle managment are the organs that the human body has two of each; for example the kidneys and hands. The lower management are the funtional organs or parts that take risk but are vital and cannot be cutoff easily such as the fingers. Whereas the workforce can be described as the nails. Finally, the blood which circulates in whole body to distribute the needs symbolizes the flow of data and cash.
Based on this analogy, we can ask the following questions: What happens if my nail broke? How long will it take to grow? How is the pain affecting other parts? If I hit my finger with the chair what is the effect? What happens if my heart has a malfunction or stops?
These critical health questions are to be asked to the organization but in a different manner. What happens if a workforce employee leaves? How long will it take to hire a new employee? What will happen to the department? What will happen if a supervisor is sick? What will happen if a branch is not performing well or is going to bankruptcy?
Today, in 2023, all the mentioned questions and information are seen not only in small local organizations but in immense worldwide organizations. When mentioning organizations, I do not mean in business only but rather as a society, since each business is a society for the individuals that are part of this institution which is then part of a larger society.
Organization are affected by every single element. Any disruption or change affects the society. Some critics, mention that structural-functional theory can’t adequately explain social change. However, it can be explained by understanding the meaning of every element. Each individual affects the society he lives, works or has contact with. External factors happen suddenly but surely they have a clear explanation. The explanation of such situations require analysis of previous data or even require retesting of the situation. Changes happen daily in organizations; an electrical cut causes an employee to redo the work which will affect others waiting for the work to be done so that they can proceed in their to-do list.
However, what is more important to look at is the process and duration of the changes. You can hit your hand and feel a small pain that is healed in seconds or you can break your hand and wait a month or more to heal. In an organization, the resignation of an employee can be seen as change in addition to a critical alert. The employee that has been in an organization for a long period of time in a position where he/she has access to critical data means that either other organs (departments) are not supplying the required material or the flow (cash) is being affected. Hiring a new person for the same position is the same process as having an implementation surgery. It requires time, training, and efforts for the new employee to understand the body composition and work with otherwise he/she will fail and leave. This back and forth, if it doesn't work from the first time, will cause a self-destruction in an organ and this might destroy the organization. A quick question, when you are sick what is the first thing you do? What will happen if you apply it to your organization?
Major events are happening in the world. Allow me to mention some applications that have caused major issues in 2022 and 2023: Twitter, TikTok, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. I have mentioned some of the most known applications and they are Social Media platforms. Yes, the world is a structure-functional theory. Companies rely on the users to have income, if a server of a company is down the people using the applications are no longer able to work thus two parts of the society are affected: the user and the company; the user can be another company and thus the interrelation is quite proven.
Furthermore, some people mention that "repetitive behavior patterns are assumed to have a function, yet we profess to know that they have a function only because they are repeated". This issue is to true to a certain point. Repetitive patterns allow the process of solutions to repetitive problems. In the evolution process repetition has been made to reach to normal life we have. Repetitive tests resulted in data that are used to improve diagnosis. Any behavior or event is a function has an effect on a society even if it is repetitive, try to stop this event and see the result.
Last but not least, the cover image is a volcano as it shows the true shape of an organization. It is a mountain that is built from the inside and rises. It causes a change in the surrounding society however it continues to grow. Today, we see volcanoes that are active, inactive, hybernating, and destroyed. Any society can be this, every individual affect the whole organization, either by making it grow or by destroying it. Look at the volcano from where it started and where it is. See yourself as the magma flowing in the volcano, causing the change to the better and looking to the best of the society. We are all interconneted to every element in the world, if each one looks to the needs of the other and help supplying them we will have a better organization.