Click on the following links. Please note these will open in a new window.

6.1 Describe the features of formal and informal organizations and bureaucracies.

Video Link: Max Weber – Ideal Types

Description: The video explains Max Weber’s theory on the five characteristics of an ideal bureaucracy and how the concept of an “Ideal Type” is reflected in formal organizations.

Audio Link: Hoping To Slim POW-MIA Bureaucracy, Hagel Makes One Out Of Two

Description: The audio discusses the efforts that are being made to create a new defense agency in the United States. The agency will be charged with merging multiple divisions currently responsible for identifying and finding military members missing from past conflicts.

Web Resource: Inside the Informal Organization

Description: The website describes the features of the informal organizations that form within a formal organization.

 

6.2 Discuss issues that arise in contemporary organizations, including gendered and network organizations.

Video Link: How Does Gender Affect the Workplace?

Description: This video explores gender inequality in the workplace by examining statistics of how many women make up the workforce and fill managerial roles, gender wage gap between men and women of various races, women with children and women without, correlation between education and salary, and more.

Audio Link: How We Talk About Our Teachers

Description: The audio discusses a research study conducted on the “Rate My Professor” website. This informal network offers advice to students about which faculty members to seek out if they’re looking for an easy course or a professor who grades exams leniently. It demonstrates the concept of the glass ceiling.

Web Resource: Orgnet.com

Description: Orgnet.com is a company that consults businesses and communities on their social network presence. Their website provides a detailed description of all of the social networks available and provides a number of informative examples on how people primarily interact on these networks.

Web Resource: Addressing the Digital Divide

Description: This blog addresses the digital divide in the education system. In many impoverished countries and in major cities in the U.S., even though there are open networks available to students, not all of them have the access or knowledge of how to use them.

 

6.3 Contrast gemeinschaft and gesellschaft societies.

Video Link: Ferdinand Tonnies and Talcott Parsons

Description: An explanation of the gemeinschaft (translated as community) and gesellschaft (translated as society) theories are and the influence on Talcott Parsons on these concepts. The video provides a detailed description of how gemeinschaft and gesellschaft societies function.

Audio Link: Inside The 'Bossless' Office, Where The Team Takes Charge

Description: The podcast discusses a new concept taking place in some organizations, a “bossless office” where promotions, raises and budgets are all decided by the team and team members prefer to communicate face-to-face rather than through digital communications.

Web Resource: Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft

Description: The website compares and contrasts gemeinschaft and gesellschaft societies though numerous examples.

 

6.4 Describe global societies in terms of nations, states, and nation-states.

Video Link: Vlog #29 - Nations, States, & Nation States

Description: The video defines geopolitical and social realities of being defined as a nation-state.

Audio Link: Bringing Internet To The Far Corners Of The Earth

Description: Google is building hot air balloons that float in the sky. However, instead of carrying people, they carry wireless routers. Google’s goal is to expand the Internet globally and to make it available to communities that do not even have access to electricity or running water.

Web Resource: US Agency for International Development (USAID)

Description: The USAID website shows how the U.S. government interacts with other governments and agencies around the globe.