According to physical science, every substance in the world has certain elements (s). When we analyze the substance ‘water’ we get two main elements – Hydrogen and oxygen. Like all other disciplines, 0B also has four key elements viz., people, structure, technology, and external environment. The first three elements are related to the internal environment of OB.

When people join together in an organization to accomplish an objective, some kind of structure is required. People also use technology to help get the job done, so there is an interaction of people, structure, and technology, as shown in the following figure. In addition, these elements are influenced by the external environment, and they influence it. Each of the four elements of 0B will be considered briefly.

1. People: Without people, there cannot be an organization. They make up (create) the internal social system of the organization. People consist of individuals and groups. Groups may be formal or informal, small or large, interrelated and complex. People are dynamic in nature as they interact with each other and also influence each other. Groups may form, change and dissolve. Organizations are established to serve the people.

2. Structure: Everything in the world has a structure. For example, the human body, tree, house, and even the book you are reading now have their own type of structure. In an organization, structure defines the roles and relationships of people. It leads to the division of work. Some may be executives; others may be supervisors, assistants, persons, and workers. All of these people are related to each other to accomplish the objectives in a  coordinated manner. The structure clarifies the authority responsibility relationships.

3. Technology: Without technology, work would be either difficult or even impossible. It provides the economic and physical resources to make people’s jobs easy. The people are given the assistance of machines, tools, methods, and resources. The nature of technology is contingent/ dependent upon the nature of organizational tasks and the scale of operations. Technology may put restrictions on the freedom of people.

4. External environment: An organization operates in a larger social system – the external environment. Organizations are influenced by the external environment which includes socio-cultural, economic, political, legal, technological, and geographical forces. These forces influence people’s attitudes, motives, and working conditions in an organization in many ways. Similarly, the organization also has an influence over the environment but the degree of influence is less. The organization imports inputs from the environment and exports its outputs to the environment.