The concept of organization belongs in several different scientific fields. It is used just as frequently in biological discourse as in sociology or psychology. The notion of organization is usually associated with that of development. Neurobiology thus describes the nervous organization of human beings going from the simplest to the most complex structures, each integrated in the other.

Freud used the notion of organization and associated it with the development of the libido. He proposed that the sexual life of human beings does not develop in one phase but gradually, through a series of successive phases or organizations. He wrote in Lecture 21 of Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (1916-17a [1915-17]): "Normal sexuality has emerged out of something that was in existence before it, by weeding out certain features of that material as unserviceable and collecting together the rest in order to subordinate them to a new aim, that of reproduction" (p. 322). In the beginning infantile sexuality is characterized by relative anarchy and the absence of any real organization, with each of the component instincts striving independently of the others for satisfaction. The features of sexual organization take shape progressively, leading to a relatively stable libidinal structure, which is turn replaced in the course of development with what we call normal adult sexuality. Particularly in Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905d), "The Disposition to Obsessional Neurosis" (1913i), and "The Infantile Genital Organization" (1923e), Freud described pregenital organizations and an adult genital organization. The first of the pregenital organizations leave it in the sadistic-anal organization, in which it is not the component genital tendencies that come to the fore but rather the sadistic and anal tendencies. From the point of view of psychopathology, obsessional neurosis represents a regressive form of this. On a more primitive level, and following Abraham's work, Freud described another pregenital organization in which the erogenous zone of the mouth plays the main role, an organization that is illustrated psychopathologically in the form of melancholy. In opposition to these infantile sexual organizations, genital organization is characterized by the fact that it is definitively constituted after puberty and all the component instincts are subordinated to the primacy of the genital organs and the goal of procreation.

Another line of development other than the erogenous zone must be taken into account in the constitution of libidinal organization: that of the relationship to the object. Freud did in fact describe this second line of development leading the little human being from an autoerotic phase (or organization) to a narcissistic phase and then to a phase of object discovery. Although they refer specifically to the psychoses in order to postulate the existence of a narcissistic organization, modern psychoanalytic studies, particularly those dealing with borderline and psychosomatic states, further enrich this notion by highlighting the defects in the constitution of primary narcissism and its object relations.

In sociology "organization" is understood as planned, coordinated and purposeful action of human beings to construct or compile a common tangible or intangible product or service. This action is usually framed by formal membership and form (institutional rules). Sociology distinguishes the term organization into planned formal and unplanned informal (i.e. spontaneously formed) organizations. Sociology analyses organizations in the first line from an institutional perspective. In this sense, organization is a permanent arrangement of elements. These elements and their actions are determined by rules so that a certain task can be fulfilled through a system of coordinated division of labour.

An organization is defined by the elements that are part of it, its communication, its autonomy (Max Weber termed autonomy in this context: Autokephalie)(which changes are executed autonomously by the organization or its elements?) and its rules of action compared to outside events .

By coordinated and planned cooperation of the elements, the organization is able to solve tasks that lie beyond the abilities of the single elements. The price paid by the elements is the limitation of the degrees of freedom of the elements. Advantages of organizations are enhancement (more of the same), addition, and extension. Disadvantages can be inertness (through co-ordination) and loss of interaction.