“Organizations are (1) social entities that (2) are goal-directed, (3) are designed as deliberately structured and coordinated activity systems, and (4) are linked to the external environment.”

—  Richard L. Daft

Source: Organization Theory and Design, 2007-2010, p. 10; Cited in: Jan A. P. Hoogervorst (2009), Enterprise Governance and Enterprise Engineering, p. 80.

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Richard L. Daft5
American sociologist 1964

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