There is a difference between "organization" and "structure" with an organization being able to remain unchanged even if its structure changes.
The terms "structure" and "organization" are synonyms to the extent that both make reference to relations existing between components in a system. Yet, there are some connotational differences between the two terms, which are linked to their different ethnological origin, and which are worthwhile emphasising because they allude to two different aspects of the constitution of a system. "Structure" comes from the Latin word struere, a verb that means to build. Thus, in agreement with this origin, the work "structure" refers both to that which is built and to the way in which its particular components are put together while making it a whole. In other words, the term "structure" enphasizes the relations between the parts which as well as the identity of the parts which constitute a whole. As a consequence, two systems have the same structure if they have equivalent relations between equivalent components. Accordingly, the structural analysis in a given phenomological domain (culture, for example), attempts at the discovery of universals both in the components and in the relations between the components in different phenomena of the domain. The word "organization" has a different ethnological origin; it comes from the Greek word organon, which means instrument, and makes reference to the functionor role that a component has in the constitution of a whole. Accordingly, the word "organization", as distinct from the word "structure", emphasizes the realtions that define a system as a unity (and thus determine its properties), with no reference to the nature of its components, which can be any at all, as long as they satisfy these relations. Therefore, two systems have the same organization if the relations that define them as unities are the same, regardless of how these relations are obtained, and, accordingly, two systems that have the same organization may have different structures. Also, since two systems are equivalent only if they have the same organization, it follows that if the organization of a system changes, the identity of the system changes and it becomes a different one, a new unity with different properties. Conversely, if the organization of a system stays invariant while its structure changes, the system remains the same and its identity stays unchanged. Strictly, then, the identity of a sytem is determined by its own organization and remains unchanged as long as this remains unchanged, regardless of whether the system is static or dynamic and regardless of whether the structure of the system changes or not. (CS 467-68)
This page was last updated on July 9, 1996, by Rob Sable.