DSpace at Khazar University

The Missionary Organization
Our six configuration forms another rather distinct combination of the elements
we have been discussing. When an organization is dominated by its ideology, its
members are encouraged to pull together, and so there tends to be a loose division of
labor, little job specialization, as well as a reduction of the various forms of
differentiation found in the other configurations – of the strategic apex from the rest, of
staff from line or administration from operations, between operators, between divisions,
and so on.
What holds the missionary together – that is, provides for its coordination – is
the standardization of norms, the sharing of values and beliefs among all its members.
And the key to ensuring this is their socialization, effected through the design parameter
of indoctrination. Once the new member has been indoctrinated into the organization –
once he or she identifies strongly with the common beliefs – then he or she can be given
considerable freedom to make decisions. Thus the result of effective indoctrination is
the most complete form of decentralization. And because other forms of coordination
need not be relied on, the missionary organization formalizes little of its behavior as
such and makes minimal use of planning and control systems. As a result, it has little
techno structure. Likewise, external professional training is not relied on, because that
would force the organization to surrender a certain control to external agencies.
Hence, the missionary organization ends up as an amorphous mass of members,
with little specialization as to job, differentiation as to part, division as to status.
Missionaries tend not to be very young organizations – it takes time for a set of
beliefs to become institutionalized as an ideology. Many missionaries do not get a
chance to grow very old either (with notable exceptions, such as certain long – standing
religious orders). Missionary organizations can not grow very large per se – they rely on
personal contacts among their members – although some tend to spin off other enclaves
in the form of relatively independent units sharing the same ideology. Neither the
environment nor the technical system of the missionary organization can be very
complex, because that would require the use of highly skilled specialists, who would
hold a certain power and status over others and thereby serve to differentiate the
structure. Thus we would expect to find the simplest technical systems in these
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