Chapter 21 Types of Organizations

Abstract

This chapter examines various “types of organizations” (and subtypes within each) as an important issue for scholars because of the evolving and expanding nature of organizational types. It begins with a review of major existing types of organizations - including for-profits, nonprofits, benefit corporations, government/ public, etc. Two other broad approaches to understanding types of organizations are then presented. First, hidden/clandestine organizations represent a less visible type of collective found in various parts of society that may differ in key ways from more visible forms. Second, a range of other alternative organizational types that depart in significant ways from traditional forms are discussed (e.g., cooperatives, decentralized autonomous organizations, temporary organizations, etc.). The chapter concludes with a brief discussion about future work in our field around the topic of organizational types.