The history of organizations describes the general history of the rise of the organization.
Early history
Since earliest times humanity has endeavoured to develop the most appropriate systems of organization to meet the challenges of a particular era. Inevitably the systems of organization that developed were reflections of the wider values, tradition and general organization of society at that time, moulded by the necessity of withstanding threat and seeking to innovate whilst maximising benefits from existing resources. Human development has continually necessitated a corollary of human and organizational development designed to maximize effectiveness. This progression is indicative of a civilizing process that has continually asked humanity to reassess its relationship with itself and to increasingly value the welfare of both the individual and wider society as a whole. The symbiotic relationship between strategic leadership and organizational structure necessary to success can be traced back to the beginnings of western civilization. Indeed, the very term strategic owes its etymology to the ancient Greek words for 'army' or a 'large body' and a 'leader'. In ancient Greece the 'Strategikos' was the leader of the army.
Industrial Revolutions
In 1776 the political economist Adam Smith wrote on how specialization can boost human productivity enormously. By specializing, people can use their talents, or acquire skill. And they can employ labour-saving machinery to boost production. Smith's view was borne out by the effects of mass industrialization in the late 18th century which caused great change in how people worked and how work was organized. On this topic Lynda Gratton, the organizational theorist, describes the "fundamental and irreversible shift which changed the experiences of every worker." She states that prior to the Industrial Revolution, work was an "artisan activity engaged largely in the home, using long held and meticulously developed craft skills." According to Gratton these skills "began to be transformed as the manufacturing sector was developed and began to transcend the limits of artisanal production".
The late 18th and early 19th century was a period where the artisan and the agricultural worker gave way to the burgeoning factory units that were beginning to emerge. The enclosure of vast tracts of commonage in the countryside facilitated a move from pastoral farming to grazing – forcing many from the land, often in dire circumstances. This growing trend of migration from the rural to the urban witnessed the growth of the metropolis, and the industrialized city. The growth of a mass society meant that the relationship with work was altered, it now became much more time centred and precise – a standardized approach was in the process of being developed.
Alongside the migration of workers to the new factories largely situated around energy sources and communication networks – coal deposits and canals etc. this period witnessed the emergence of global corporations situated in key centres such as London and Paris, as trade followed the flag in a wave of colonization. The shift from coal to oil as the primary energy source for industry coupled with the decolonization of empires in the 20th century would witness shifting paradigms in the power relationships between major states. The issue of empire is important in the sense that economic advantages accrued through imperialism were a cornerstone in the advent of modernity, and the enforced homogeneity achieved through Empire coupled with the technological improvements in transport and technology that it funded made the world a lot smaller and lot more similar.
Whilst recognising the significant impacts that the Industrial Revolution had, Gratton states that the "real revolution" in people's working lives began in the mid-to-late-19th century when British scientists drove a culture of innovation with the ideas of organisational and technological restructuring based on changes in the energy that powered industry. Joel Mokyr puts a timeframe of 1870-1914 on this "Second Industrial Revolution", the concept introduced by Patrick Geddes in his work Cities in Evolution. According to Gratton: "Work became more regimented, more specialised. The workplace and the work schedule became more compartmentalised and hierarchical." Gratton states that this was 'the embryonic stages of Fordism – the rise of the engineer as the organiser of economic activity, and the decline of the artisan.