Published on December 1, 2011 | http://doi.org/10.5867/medwave.2011.12.5267
Social organization: function and features
La organización social: función y características
Abstract
Social organizations are systems inserted within broader systems, i.e., a society, with which they interact – both exert influence over each other. An organization is comprised by a group of individuals that join their actions for a common purpose. The main characteristic of an organization is that each one of its members must perform a function or a particular role in order to achieve the overall objectives, which are different from the roles and functions performed by others. A social organization is a network of interdependent relations among its components each one fulfilling a specific function; this is called the Synergic Pattern. Contracts are the means by which the parts of an organization establish and delimit relationships of interdependency as a result from the division of labor. To the extent that an organization has a broader range of contract types and more transactions, its complexity will be greater. Health care management occurs within organizations of great complexity. These are open systems that tend towards variability and management is used to keep them under control. This article mentions the function and characteristics of a health care social organization.