Understanding Good Organizations

One of the first things that you must do on joining a new organization, is to get to know the various aspects of the organization. In fact, it is advisable to find out details about an organization before you join, or even before you attend the interview.

Understanding an organization would you an idea of the various operations and services and help you picture yourself as part of it. Moreover, you will be able to present your view comfortably, during discussions and conversations with peers and others. One of the most important advantages is that it would give you information about the work culture and practices followed.

>>> Information about and organization can be obtained from the following sources:

- Newspapers and magazines
- Persons working with the organization
- Other organizations within the industry
- Friends, relatives and others
- Internet

>>> The following are some of the detail that you must gather, pertaining to an organization:

- Legal status of the organization, whether it is a Private Limited, Public Limited, Registered Society, Partnership Firm, Etc.
- Profit or non-profit making voluntary organization
- Central Government, State Government, Public, Private, or joint sector
- Manufacturing or service sector, whether it involves consumer goods, capital equipment, or is knowledge intensive
- Field of activity, like banking, electronics, education. etc.
- Type of activity like production, maintenance, design and development, consultancy, training, software development, operation, end-user support, etc.
- Size of the organization, whether it is large, medium, or small scale
- Whether the organization is capital-intensive, labor-intensive, energy-intensive, technology-intensive or information-intensive
- Collaborations
- Vision of the organization
- Organizational structure
- Staff strength and composition
- Products and services range
- Marketing characteristics
- Hardware and software platforms used
- Quality orientation
- Business history