Assessment 3 Case Study: Toll Group and the Second Step

Question

Assessment 3 Case Study: Toll Group and the Second Step Program

Shyamal Bikash Chakma · Accepted Answer

Case study
Introduction
Organizational analysis is the process of understanding the work environment of the entity and that also involves growth and operations. Understanding the organizational analysis is beneficial to the management and also helps to understand the areas that need improvement. The organizational analysis as formulated by Burrell and Morgan's model (1979) has the functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist, radical structuralist, and radical humanist as the paradigms. Burrell and Morgan have formulated research paradigms in sociological paradigms and organizational analysis in the forms of axis in the system. The four paradigms that are formulated by them are radical change, objective, subjective, and regulation. The beneficial aspect of Burrell and Morgan’s paradigm is that it is useful in certain management-theory development. And further promotes emancipatory values and societal changes. The report will make an attempt to understand the four paradigms with respect to the case study of the Toll group and how to implement them in other organizations. 
"Second chance” employment programs: A theoretically informed rationale 
Burrell and Morgan have formulated four paradigms among which the method that is used by the Toll group is a radical structuralist and radical humanist. The radical humanist has a subjective view and the individual opinion is of the primary interest and they rely on thinking and consciousness. They prefer the values and attitudes of the dominant class. As the thinking is subjective, they want radical change in society. They are concerned with “overthrowing or transcending the limitations of existing social arrangements” (p.32). They want to question the status quo and the dominating methods in society. The motive is the emancipation of the oppressed and at the same time, it questions the power equation. They want to free us from our mind that is encapsulated in these ideas and goals. The Toll Group is opening new pathways for ex-prisoners to create opportunities. The firm is addressing the problems that they would face in the environment like making them be in the situation on a punctual time and dealing with the environment to reach on time. In this situation, the radical humanist is aiming to develop a system to question the existing repressive nature.   Radical structuralists want radical change like the humanists, they also want to free people from the status quo as they see that to be the dominating subordinate. They believe that these radicals as potentially solved by objectivity in the social structure.  They believe that changes can happen in law, political and economic policies. And others that are dealing with the major social education, governments, and corporations. They focus on concrete social institutions. Similarly, in the Toll group case, the aim is to bring the case into the system by following radical structuralist ideologies. By building an organization that has a creative inclusive environment and opportunities for all. If other organizations follow these methods, they can create a society that would be inclusive and provides opportunities for all. But Toll group has also had difficulty in convincing the other organization to give employment opportunities to the ex-prisoners. There are two rationales for other businesses to follow is that the ex-prisoners are trained and they also have a mentor to guide them in the process. The other reason is the idea of inclusivity which is the objective principle to break social domination and structure. 
Countering functionalist arguments
As most of the management system is fixed within the quadrant and they work on the existing social order. This could be in many forms like the hierarchy in the management system and the assumptions and prejudice of the society (learninglink.oup.com, n.d.). Functionalist theories look at the status quo and they study things the way they are.  “It seeks to provide essentially rational explanations for social affairs (p.26). As the functionalists see the world as an objective and concrete reality. The purpose is to reveal and understand a better view of it. They see the world to be stable and organized. In terms of human activities, they see the world to be orderly and cohesive. The idea of employing the ex-prisoners disrupts their idea of orderliness and cohesive behavior. This behavior makes them not employ the ex-prisoners or take any risks employing them. This has also brought in an idea of Six Sigma as DMAIC and can be written as define, measure, analyze, improve and control. Even this is used to understand personality trait (Asq.org, 2019). The reason for not employing them is the subjective view of the social reality and they also want a cohesive environment.  As companies that follow this paradigm also focus on human relations psychology and socio-technical system to analyze the organizational structure. They focus on the relationship, work environment, and work motivation. They fail to question the problems like inequality and discrimination in society and play within the structure of the organization as the radical structuralist and radical humanists do. The radical structuralist and radical humanists see the possibility to break social domination and bondage.  This makes it difficult for them to hire ex-prisoners and brings forth many questions on the skill set and relationship pattern with the co-workers. The functionalist can only adapt to the new environment of inclusiveness if they happen to have a mentor from the spectrum of radical humanists or radical structuralists as that gives them confidence. The argument is that functionalism provides “prejudice, social notions, and stereotypes in the society. It provides explanations and arguments on the status quo, social order, consensus, social integration, solidarity, needs satisfaction, and actuality.” (Callaghan, 2017). The counter-argument is that it has not considered the social change in society and it is biased and has also criticized the human instincts that want a change in society. 
Blending paradigms: possibilities and problems
The Toll group has blended two paradigms. The two paradigms are radical structuralism and radical humanism. The radical humanist makes an attempt to change from the subjective perspective. They aim at questioning the social system and further questioning the false consciousness and bringing about fulfilment in the human environment (Little, 2019). This focuses on the collective intelligence that happens with the increased connectivity among the group. The radical change happens after humanity reworks on the assumptions and perspectives in society. These values bring about the integration of humanist values and change societal functioning. The changes are brought in the organization and society and this brings about the transcendence of values. This further provides the rationale for existence and autonomy. This changes the superstructure and the economic relationships. The forms of oppression in a system are the form of power for knowledge and the emergence of the elite. On the other hand, from the radical structuralist perspective, all these changes are practiced in the form of policies, organizational structure, and other perspectives. In the case of the Toll group, both paradigms are at work. The subjective perspectives of questioning equality are on the individual level and the attempt to equip the ex-prisoners with a ‘First-step’ community is an attempt to create a collective consciousness in the society. The establishment of the ‘Second Step’ program is a change in the organization and that clearly depicts the radical structuralist approach. In this instance, the structuralist humanist approach is helping to implement the radical structuralist approach in society. The ‘Second step program is to create a supportive environment and to support each individual in a specific manner. It also has three stages in the program. The first stage is pre-employment at includes the preparation and screening. And they curate a specific program that addresses and teaches life skills to them. It also has an informal mentor in the job support and this specific change helps them to accommodate in society. This is the change in the organizational structure as that is one of the motives behind the radical structuralist. 
"Second chance" employment programs: Guiding principles 
Having been in the prison for years, they can be given a second chance. As they are deprived and vulnerable in the situation. The main motive is to have a change, emancipation, and deprivation from society. The patterns and regularities of the social order have to be understood to begin the investigation in that particular spectrum. Each organization or country needs a structural change or emancipation that needs to be addressed. The first step is to understand the structural conflict, domination, contradiction, and deprivation (faculty.babson.edu, n.d.). With the Second Step Program, they are addressing the domination of society by giving the opportunity to the deprived ex-prisoners. This promotes understanding the interrelationships in the social formation of that particular state and further promotes radical change in the system. This will further disrupt the status quo in society and brings about social formation it is just by addressing the deprived in society. The second notion is structure. In the organizational system like the Toll group, it has brought in the change in the structure to build and address the requirement they need. The major focus is on the configurations of social relationships and is called structures. They are concrete facilities and persistent and in the case of the Second-step program, it is the act of encouraging them to give the full details in the interview and the program structure of making them fit to work. The third notion is that of the social formations and contradictions in the relationship. This is the screening process to understand the relationship they have with the environment. The contradictions are also in the working in the employment opportunity. The fourth notion is the crises and which could be indicative of social inequality and oppression and in this case, it is addressing the crisis system of inequality. The rejection from the other community or organizations to not employ the ex-prisoners is the crises system and the way Toll group addresses the crises system is the fourth notion (www.sociostudies.org, n.d.).
The checklist or the important factor to consider is the understanding of the classes in society. The knowledge of society gives to the nature of knowledge. The knowledge also promotes the specific class issue. The knowledge is crucial to determine and understanding the relationship in the reality. The knowledge about domination and its degree of it has to be understood as well. This will help to solve the class problem in the system. The study has to be like the radical structuralist analysis and the truth has to be understood in totality. Further, the study can be done using these parameters the notion of totality, the notion of structure, contradiction, and the notion of crises. The notion of totality is that addresses the total social formation. The notion of structure is the understanding of social relationships. 
Reflections on the value of the course theory 
The theory has two dimensions and four poles. The vertical axis has conflict and radical change. The vertical axis has the top left of the axis the radical humanist, they have a subjective view of reality like the interpretative. The vertical axis measures the centralized nature of power and the horizontal one talks about the variation toward change. The primary axis the vague end of the spectrum talks about the subjective view and that could be a hindrance to the change. The axes are designed to map the positions in social theory (Mehboob, 2018). It works on the principle of objectivity vs subjectivity.  These four paradigms are very basic meta-theretical and can be used as a frame of reference for theorising social theorists. It talks about the external and internal entity that determines the action of an individual (Burrell and Morgan, 1979). It has a relationship with the people in a worldwide manner (HAMMER, 1990). The functionalist paradigm can be called as objective-regulation. Interpretive paradigm can be defined as subjective regulation. The radical humanist paradigm can be defined as subjective-radical change. The radical structuralist paradigm can be defined as objective-radical change (faculty.babson.edu, n.d.). They relate to the sociology of regulation and the status quo. The two conflict paradigms have helped me understand organizational behavior. The structure within the organizational behavior and outside the organizational behavior is crucial and how to impact others in the process. I have also learned that organizations and society need change and the process that can be used to initiate the change. The reading is aimed at giving alternative perspectives to the business models and promoting inclusivity in the environment. It has also further helped to compare Marx’s idea of the superstructure. As the base and the superstructure are closely connected. In the base modal, if there is a change in organizational structure it further changes the approach in the society in the superstructure modal. I understand that Burrell and Morgan have not only helped the organizational analysis and the ability to question social domination and inequality. In terms of conflict theory, the idea of inequities and inequalities contribute to social, political, and power differences in society. This theoretical approach can be used from a sociological perspective as well. The dynamics of the society can be used as it has a sociological lens and the organizational approach can be used to give a solution to it. The four paradigms build meta-theoretical assumptions and build the frame of reference, mode of theorizing, and modus operandi of how these social theorists operate within the system. 
Conclusion 
As stated in “Four paradigms of Information Systems Development” by Rudy Hirschheim and Heinz K. Klein, the mixing of paradigmatic influences provides creative solutions. In functionalism the reality is same for everyone and the tools of management has an end that coincide with the organisational goals.  The technical process is designed by the system thinking and the responsibility lies with the managers.  The management dictates till the end process and the organisation is looking for profit maximisation. This approach can be taken into consideration. The organisations that are thinking twice to employ the ex-prisoners come under this category. In terms of social relativism, it believes that there is no single reality and the knowledge comes from different parts. The actions are totally experienced by the choice of action and by the circumstances. They believe that the reality is socially constructed and it is the process of continual social interaction. New systems can emerge from more social interaction. Social interaction is crucial and that provides acceptance and validity. Radical structuralism, in this the system is constructed in favour of the workers and to help their interests. The second—step program is one of the kind that is in favour of the clients and the ultimate motive is to develop their skills and provide job opportunities. Neohumanism is the one that seeks radical change and emancipation and gives ideology and psychological compulsions and social constraints.   It gives space to combine technology, information flow, and different methods to access information (Hirschheim and K. Klein, n.d.). To sum up, the company is more towards the radical change of the spectrum as they believe that the world should change for the betterment of the people. The idea is to move from the dominant organization to more participant-driven models. They want to change the ways companies are structured. As the issues that are addressed in this case are the notion of discrimination and the need for equality and inclusiveness. The recommendation to resolve the case is the promoting radical structuralist view which is to change the law and policies to accommodate the ex-prisoners in society. Moreover, conflict paradigms are important as that help the organization and society to develop and come out of discrimination and inequality.

Reference list
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Callaghan, C.W. (2017). Critical theory and contemporary paradigm differentiation. Acta Commercii, 16(2). doi:10.4102/ac.v16i2.421. 
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Hirschheim, R. and K. Klein, H. (n.d.). Four Paradigms of Information Systems Development. [online] citeseerx.ist.psu.edu. Available at: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1.2177&rep=rep1&type=pdf. 
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learninglink.oup.com. (n.d.). What is structural functionalism? [online] Available at: https://learninglink.oup.com/static/5d4940798dc66e0010f815da/page_02.htm [Accessed 11 Oct. 2022].
Little, D. (2019). False consciousness. [online] Umich.edu. Available at: http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~delittle/iess%20false%20consciousness%20V2.htm. 
Mehboob (2018). Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis. [online] Heterodox Academy. Available at: https://heterodoxacademy.org/blog/sociological-paradigms-and-organizational-analysis-2/. 
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Assessment 3 Case Study: Toll Group and the Second Step Program

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