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Abstract
The political conception of organizations that emerged in the 1970s revised conventional understanding of organization structure and process. Scholars using the cultural approach in the 1980s are attempting a similar type of reconceptualization. By incorporating the sub-group unit of analysis which is characteristic of political approaches, a more intelligible account of the structure and process which produce the outcomes of organizational behavior may be constructed. The conceptual basis of a political-cultural analysis and a methodology for implementing such an analysis based on the structural anthropology of Levi-Strauss are described.
... The researchers seek out local interpretations in order to reveal cultural meanings 'from the native's point of view'. [2], [3], [11], [13], [16], [20], [24], [33], [34]. ...
... Researchers should pay attention to the inconsistencies and lack of consensus in the cultural content. [7], [16], [24], [34]. ...
... Organizational culture can be conceived as a secondary phenomenon derived from the commonalities and interactions among the subcultures. [24]. Subcultures may be distinguished on the basis of horizontal or vertical dimensions. ...
Usability is a quality characteristic of a software product or system. User-centered design (UCD) is an approach focusing on making systems usable. However, improving the position of UCD is widely recognized as a challenge. This paper reports results from a case study, in which a small software development company was introduced with UCD principles and activities, and was thus expected to change their current practice. This paper takes a culture- oriented approach in the analysis. The focus is on the interaction between organizational culture and UCD, organizational culture being conceived as a set of subcultures. The results indicate that there exist differences 1) in the views of the nature of UCD; 2) in the motives for implementing it; and 3) in the experiences gained and interpretations made of the use of it in relation to each subculture. The implications for the prospective research and practice will be discussed.
... The researchers seek out local interpretations in order to reveal cultural meanings 'from the native's point of view'. [2], [3], [11], [13], [16], [20], [24], [33], [34]. ...
... Researchers should pay attention to the inconsistencies and lack of consensus in the cultural content. [7], [16], [24], [34]. ...
... Organizational culture can be conceived as a secondary phenomenon derived from the commonalities and interactions among the subcultures. [24]. Subcultures may be distinguished on the basis of horizontal or vertical dimensions. ...
Usability is a quality characteristic of a software product or system. User-centered design (UCD) is an approach focusing on making systems usable. However, improving the position of UCD is widely recognized as a challenge. This paper reports results from a case study, in which a small software development company was introduced to UCD principles and activities, and thus expected to change their current practice. The paper takes a culture-oriented approach to the analysis. The focus is on the interaction between organizational culture and UCD, organizational culture being conceived as a set of subcultures. The results indicate that there exist differences: 1) in the views of the nature of UCD; 2) in the motives for implementing it; and 3) in the experiences gained and interpretations made of the use of it in relation to each subculture. The implications for the prospective research and practice are discussed.
... Instead, also organizational culture needs to be seen as contested, changing and emergent, and researchers should examine how meanings are created and recreated in organizations. (Avison -Myers 1995, Czarniawska-Joerges 1992, Lucas 1987, Robey -Azevedo 1994 Organizational culture appears as fragmented, pluralistic phenomena when one acknowledges all divergent organizational subcultures and occupational communities within any organization. Researchers should pay attention to the inconsistencies and lack of consensus in the cultural content produced and reproduced by the divergent subcultures. ...
... Researchers should pay attention to the inconsistencies and lack of consensus in the cultural content produced and reproduced by the divergent subcultures. (Czarniawska-Joerges 1992, Lucas 1987, Wenger 1998.) Organizational culture might be viewed as 'a negotiated order'; as a sum of the ways the subcultures have been able to resolve their differences (Lucas 1987). ...
... (Czarniawska-Joerges 1992, Lucas 1987, Wenger 1998.) Organizational culture might be viewed as 'a negotiated order'; as a sum of the ways the subcultures have been able to resolve their differences (Lucas 1987). Altogether, organizations should be seen as multicultural, and clashes and conflicts as distinctive features. ...
... Frost (1987) agreed that political activity and orientation can become interwoven into the context or culture over time. Indeed, research in recent years has examined the nature of political orientations and values, and how they become key features of organization cultures (e.g., Baum 1989;Riley 1983), and Lucas (1987) argued that it is important to acknowledge that environments are composed of conflicting interest groups and thus that it is critical to define the political aspects of organization culture. ...
... We should note, however, that politics need not necessarily be viewed as exercising negative effects on the effectiveness of organizations. Indeed, for some scholars, a political analysis of organizational cultures and environments is absolutely critical to understanding the resolution of conflicting interests and to making sense of the complex combinations of systems, policies, procedures, and so forth which manifest themselves in organizations (Lucas 1987). Furthermore, Dipboye (1995) argued that it is through the use of political behavior that organizational participants attempt to regain control over, and circumvent the rigidities of, rational HRM practices in efforts to impose flexibility and effectiveness. ...
Increasing evidence has been found in support of a relationship between human resources management (HRM) systems and organization effectiveness, which has emerged as an important body of work in the past decade. Noticeably absent has been sound theoretical development that explains how such HRM system effects operate. In an effort to address such theoretical limitations in the area, the present article proposes a social context conceptualization that incorporates culture, climate and political considerations to shed light on the intermediate linkages between HRM systems and organization effectiveness. Then, the proposed conceptualization is used to examine how the process dynamics involved with diversity objectives and initiatives might be associated with organization effectiveness. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
... However, this perspective downplays the possibility of conflicts among subgroups within an organization. For this reason, some researchers prefer definitions of culture that acknowledge the collection of potentially disparate values espoused by different subc~tur~ within organizations (Coombs et al., 1992;Gray et al., 1985;Gregory, 1983;Lucas, 1987). The subcultural approach draws attention to the political nature of organizations, which becomes very relevant when dealing with the issue of organizational change. ...
... This emphasis, however, potentially ignores the dynamic character of cultures, particularly their ability to change. Cultural analysis that is static or monolithic typically cannot examine conflict between subsystems (Grieco, 1988;Lucas, 1987) or provide explanations of how cultures persist and change. ...
For over 30 years, the literature on organizations has carried accounts of the potential for information technology to transform organizational structures and processes. Despite this enduring interest in the relationship between information technology and organizations, the variety of actual consequences for organizations has not been satisfactorily explained. In this paper, we propose the use of cultural analysis to understand the organizational consequences of information technology. Analyses that use the construct of culture meet two important requisites for understanding and resolving the contradictory empirical findings. First, cultural analysis emphasizes the importance of socially constructed meanings and their relationship to information technology's material properties. From this perspective, technology's social consequences are largely indeterminate because of the variety of meanings that technology can assume. Cultural analysis thus removes the temptation to consider information technology as an autonomous determinant of organizational form and process. Second, cultural analysis can address information technology's role in both the persistence and the transformation of organizations. Information technology can help preserve institutionalized practices in an organization, and it can operate as a catalyst for change. Because cultural analysis encompasses these opposing organizational processes, it helps to explain the diversity of outcomes experienced after information technology is implemented.
... An organization's culture is the behavior in and of an organization (Ott, 1989), which consists of the values, beliefs, and behavioral norms that are shared by its members (Detert, Schroeder, & Mauriel, 2000), drives actions and relationships (Lucas, 1987), and creates a broad set of organizational cues that form the bases for rules, procedures, and communications that constrain leadership (Waldman, 1993). Through its existence and influence on behavior, organization culture frames and shapes the use of leader behaviors. ...
... In a political approach to leadership, culture has an important role due to its complementary relationship with organizational politics (Lucas, 1987). Organization members reify both organizational politics and culture; however, both are difficult to quantify because of their perceptual nature. ...
Leadership has been an active area of scientific investigation for over half a century, with scholars developing different perspectives on antecedents, processes, and outcomes. Conspicuous in its absence has been a conceptualization of leadership from a political perspective, despite appeals for such a theory and the widely acknowledged view of political processes in organizations. In this article, we develop a model of a political theory of leadership in an effort to address this need, and to demonstrate the versatility of such a conceptualization for understanding both leadership and social influence processes in organizations. Because we define politics in organizational leadership as the constructive management of shared meaning, we demonstrate how a political perspective does not necessarily cast leaders in a personally ambitious, manipulative role. We proceed to show how this political perspective can contribute to effectiveness through both enhanced leader outcomes and the constituencies' consequences to which leaders are directing their efforts. The implications for a political theory of leadership are discussed, as are directions for future research.
... The work of Fortado [ 6 ] examines the relationship between organizational subcultures and the dominant culture. In this sense, Lucas [ 11 ] considers that subgroups should be the unit of analysis of culture because culture is the sum of the ways that separate interest groups are able to resolve their differences. In a totally opposite view Riley [ 15: pag. ...
... The study of subcultures emerged and developed to be regarded as subgroups the basic units of cultural analysis. So that the organizational culture would consist of integrated subcultures, and as it considers Lucas [ 11 ] culture is configured as the sum of the ways that separate interest groups are able to resolve their differences. In this paper we have proceeded to describe the number of subcultures, identifying them with the departments or functional areas of business. ...
The purpose of this paper is the exploratory study of the existence of subcultures in Spanish companies. Determining the main
descriptive characteristics, number and composition and its relation to certain processes and organizational variables. An
empirical study has been performed, which involved senior managers from large companies, showing a description of existing
subcultures and departments to which more often associated to these subcultures, which for the purposes of this study are
defined by those departments that by their actions, expressions and attitudes are different from the rest of the organization.
This work also identifies several lines of future work.
... (c) Individual interests: Individuals in any organization will struggle to obtain their own benefits under specific situations. This may trigger conflicts with other individuals and groups, and a structural balance will need to be reached through negotiation (Lucas, 1987). Emplacing the social relationships of Chaxugeju (the pattern of difference sequence), the Chinese commonly give high priority to personal and family interests (Fei, 2008). ...
Literature on organizational politics (OP), normally focuses on the individual and team levels. Relatively less research has been undertaken to understand how OP at the firm-level is developed; this is particularly so in the context of the transitional economy of China where OP is very prevalent with the practice of guanxi. Therefore, applying the grounded theory analysis, we carried out in-depth interviews that generated 1,132 coding items which were categorized into 328 secondary concepts. Our study eventually leads to a theoretical model to provide a holistic and contextual understanding of OP. The analyses identify antecedents to OP and factors impacting the links (power structure, interest structure, guanxi structure, political motivation, political ability, and political context), among which guanxi structure and political motivation are novel findings as for the Chinese setting, and the functional mechanisms of OP (motivation, evaluation, selection, and conditions), which offer a dynamic perspective to how OP works.
... to remain safe and secure (Martin, 2001). Thus, the differentiation perspective (Martin, 2001) offers the prospect of recognising subcultural conflict and enables a fuller exploration of the workings of power (Lucas, 1987;Mumby, 1987Mumby, , 1988Alvesson, 1996;Clegg & Hardy, 1996;Martin, 2001). By applying the differentiation perspective, this chapter aims to demonstrate that the organisation's subcultures are far from static and how they waver between being in and out of alignment with the organisation's ideology and its prescribed 'DNA' culture . ...
This thesis critically analysed a large New South Wales public sector organisation, Service NSW, its espoused culture as well as various subcultures that emerged during and after a time of immense structural change that occurred concurrently with the COVID-19 pandemic. The structural changes responded to the decision by NSW Treasury in 2018-19 to produce a budget saving of $5.373 million (35% reduction), which resulted in the reorganisation of several NSW government agencies and their incorporation into the Department of Customer Service, as well as the introduction of the Shared Corporate Services cluster model, including Service NSW.
To investigate the impact of these changes, this thesis developed an interpretative conceptual framework and adopted an ethnographic case study and qualitative methods approach for the collection and analysis of empirical data on the Service NSW ‘DNA’ culture, its various subcultures, forms of normative control and how staff members across the occupational community performed their work during times of change. In this way, the thesis addressed a gap in the literature on the impact of neoliberal ideology on Post New Public Management practice and public sector organisational culture from the perspective of the employee experience.
In order to understand the organisation’s employees from their point of view, this critical analysis drew on fieldnotes taken during the course of 2020 and 74 semi-structured interviews with participants from the Department of Customer Service and Service NSW.
To provide additional research context, this critical analysis incorporates auxiliary data as captured through annual reports, various organisational publications and website resources. The findings of this ethnographic and qualitative methods study advances knowledge on Post New Public Management practice during a period of immense change in policy, public sector resourcing, machinery of government changes as well as the impact to employees arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study found that the combined effect of these changes placed enormous, uncommon demands upon staff members across the organisation's occupational units, which were experienced in different ways and to varying degrees of severity. Accordingly, the thesis highlights the nuances of these changes, not only in relation to the impact upon Service NSW’s operational activities, but also, the subjective experience of employees across the organisation’s various membership groups.
This thesis, therefore, argues that Post New Public Management theory and practice must consider the implications for public service employees in relation to work pressures which impact their subjective experience when operating in alignment with a customer centric model of culture in an effort to achieve goals that are underpinned by public policy.
... Además de los valores personales, los individuos tienden a manifestar los valores y creencias diferentes que adquirieron en otros grupos con anterioridad. Lucas (1987) considera que un subgrupo de organizaciones, es también una unidad de análisis, porque la cultura es la suma de maneras en que los intereses separados de los grupos han sido capaces de resolver sus problemas y diferencias. Cuando las subculturas que sólo expresan los valores y creencias de pequeños segmentos o grupos minoritarios de personas de la misma organización, emergen significativamente. ...
Este libro presenta aspectos de la gestión administrativa como herramienta para una excelencia empresarial relacionados con la cultura organizacional, donde se destacan los aspectos de las organizaciones y su cultura organizacional enfocadas estas hacia una cultura global. Se hace en énfasis en el efecto Pigmalión en el ámbito empresarial, como elemento transformador por su efecto a través de las expectativas. Se aborda la gestión administrativa como herramienta para la actividad emprendedora de los comerciantes informales en la generación de capacidades individuales y colectivas, donde se enfatiza en la actividad emprendedora de los comerciantes informal en la generación de capacidades individuales y colectivas. De acuerdo con lo planteado se realiza un análisis de la gestión del conocimiento organizativo para una excelencia empresarial, donde se exponen los aspectos fundamentales de la gestión del conocimiento para una excelencia empresarial, analizándose los líderes en las organizaciones y la gestión del conocimiento para poder crear las organizaciones inteligentes y se fundamenta el rol del gerente-líder en las organizaciones inteligente, como base de una estrategia de desarrollo organizacional.
... Organisaation sisällä toimivien erilaisten alaryhmien (subgroups) ja intressiryhmien (intrest groups) arvot, toimintatavat ja tavoitteet voivat poiketa suurestikin toisistaan ja aiheuttaa näin sisäisiä konflikteja ja tarvetta muodostaa neuvoteltuja järjestyksiä (negotiated order), yhteisesti jaettuja normeja ja sääntöjä. (Lucas 1987.) Tässä työssä keskityn tarkastelemaan koulun aikuisten muodostamaa yhteisöä ja ryhmiä. ...
... After all, most doctors likely prefer to avoid feeling they are treating patients as ''income generators,'' most teachers likely prefer to avoid thinking about the student needs they are failing to meet, and most marketing and sales people presumably prefer to avoid thinking they are peddling unnecessary or marginal quality products to their customers. Organizational infrastructures help provide ''solutions to contradictions which exist 'naturally''' for organizational members (Lucas, 1987, p. 152) by providing rationales for action and shaping interpretation of stimuli (O'Reilly & Chatman, 1996; Schein, 1996; Smircich, 1983), including specifying expected behaviors in commonly faced situations or encouraging normative rationalizations (Schein, 2004). In one example from Margolis and Molinsky's (2008, p. 856) study of ''necessary evils,'' a police officer must evict a delinquent tenant from her home. ...
This review integrates research regarding organizations’ ethical infrastructure and moral disengagement to illustrate the complicated relationship between these constructs. We argue that employee perceptions of strong ethical infrastructures may reduce individuals’ tendencies to rationalize and engage in clearly self-interested unethical behaviors, but might motivate moral disengagement about other behaviors by tapping into members’ desires to preserve a positive self-image and reduce cognitive burden. This research builds upon scholars’ understanding that “good” people can be morally blind and engage in unsavory acts without awareness of the unethical nature of their actions, and suggests that even in organizations with formal and informal systems prioritizing ethics, unethical decisions and behaviors may be rationalized and go unnoticed. Finally, we discuss theoretical and methodological implications—notably that scholars should be concerned about conclusions drawn from employee perceptions about the ethicality of the organizational context, and supplement perceptual measures with direct observation and more objective assessment.
... For example, political considerations might contribute to the flexibility or inflexibility of an organization's HR practices, and line managers' subsequent HR implementation efforts. In this view, political activities can help an organization by resolving conflicting interests and/or by making sense of the complex organizational systems, policies, and procedures (Lucas, 1987). In contrast, political behaviors such as coalition formation, lobbying, withholding information, and controlling agendas also can hurt organizations. ...
The implementation of effective human resource (HR) practices typically rests with line managers. This paper uses social context theory to propose that line manager HR implementation is influenced by organizational culture, climate, and political considerations. Subsequently, HR implementation is anticipated to drive employee outcomes. This model's implications and future research directions also are discussed.
... Although culture is a potent force, it cannot fully dominate thought and action because of the capacity of human agents to comment critically on their situation and to choose to abstain or act otherwise than the dominant cultural norms would dictate (Golden, 1992). Thus, there is the potential for multiple and even competing subcultures existing in an organization (Lucas, 1987). Moreover, culture varies more across industries than within them, indicating that many cultural elements are not unique to particular organizations in the same industry (Chatman & Jehn, 1994;Gordon, 1991). ...
This article consolidates and integrates what has been learned about group-level interpretation into a common theoretical language and conceptual foundation on which future research can be based. The term cognitive consensus refers to similarity among group members regarding how key issues are defined and conceptualized. In addition to addressing neglected definitional issues, this article embeds cognitive consensus in an input-process-outcome framework, and propositions are offered concerning the variables that both impact and result from its development. It is argued that the notion of cognitive consensus provides a valuable means for understanding how decision makers collectively make sense of ill-structured issues in a group setting and is conceptually appealing because it integrates group, cognitive, negotiation, and decision-making research.
... Although culture is a potent force, it cannot fully dominate thought and action because of the capacity of human agents to comment critically on their situation and to choose to abstain or act otherwise than the dominant cultural norms would dictate (Golden, 1992). Thus, there is the potential for multiple and even competing subcultures existing in an organization (Lucas, 1987). Moreover, culture varies more across industries than within them, indicating that many cultural elements are not unique to particular organizations in the same industry (Chatman & Jehn, 1994;Gordon, 1991). ...
The processes and outcomes associated with an executive assessment program for development were evaluated in a field setting. Data concerning the activities of 104 executive-level managers were drawn from three sources: program participants, development team leaders, and professional assessors. Factors affecting program processes and outcomes were grouped into two classes, personal and situational. Development activity and outcomes showed positive relationships to several personal factors, especially motivation, self-efficacy, and preference for intrinsic incentives. Development activity also showed positive relationships to situational factors, especially interpersonal support. Additional analyses examined how rater perspective affected measures of development and how different operationalizations of development might alter conclusions. Implications for promoting the success of an executive assessment and development program were discussed.
... Although culture is a potent force, it cannot fully dominate thought and action because of the capacity of human agents to comment critically on their situation and to choose to abstain or act otherwise than the dominant cultural norms would dictate (Golden, 1992). Thus, there is the potential for multiple and even competing subcultures existing in an organization (Lucas, 1987). Moreover, culture varies more across industries than within them, indicating that many cultural elements are not unique to particular organizations in the same industry (Chatman & Jehn, 1994;Gordon, 1991). ...
Numerous participatory approaches to action on complex issues have emerged in recent years. One approach, the Future Search conference, is said to build a shared vision and rapid action by diverse stakeholders. This article reports on a detailed qualitative analysis of a Future Search conference on repetitive strain injuries, an ambiguous, conflictridden, and systemic problem. The Future Search encouraged the expression of diverse perspectives and mapped a certain domain of common ground. It stimulated various kinds of action, enhanced stakeholder involvement and awareness, and increased commitment to multistakeholder dialogue and action. Several weaknesses of the Future Search model are identified. Specifically, this study suggests the need for more participant clarity about what is expected, a more solid framework to support follow-up action, greater explicitness about what constitutes common ground, and more time for common-ground building and action planning.
... Although culture is a potent force, it cannot fully dominate thought and action because of the capacity of human agents to comment critically on their situation and to choose to abstain or act Heracleous / ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF CULTURE 427 otherwise than the dominant cultural norms would dictate (Golden, 1992). Thus, there is the potential for multiple and even competing subcultures existing in an organization (Lucas, 1987). Moreover, culture varies more across industries than within them, indicating that many cultural elements are not unique to particular organizations in the same industry (Chatman & Jehn, 1994;Gordon, 1991). ...
The author employed an ethnographic research approach, combined with a clinical element, to explore the nature and role of culture in the context of organizational change. The study took place at the U. K. operations of a global human resources consulting firm, People Associates. Using Schein’s levels of culture model, the author identified cultural assumptions and values and explored how these relate to behaviors, using the author’s relationship with the organization as a rich data source. This study contributes in two main ways: first, it shows how an organizational culture develops historically, is internally coherent, and has potent effects on behaviors that should be studied and understood by managers and clinicians undertaking organizational change programs. Second, it highlights and illustrates how researcher reflexivity and subject reactivity can be useful sources of data for understanding an organization.
... Although culture is a potent force, it cannot fully dominate thought and action because of the capacity of human agents to comment critically on their situation and to choose to abstain or act otherwise than the dominant cultural norms would dictate (Golden, 1992). Thus, there is the potential for multiple and even competing subcultures existing in an organization (Lucas, 1987). Moreover, culture varies more across industries than within them, indicating that many cultural elements are not unique to particular organizations in the same industry (Chatman & Jehn, 1994;Gordon, 1991). ...
Though the concept of loose coupling permeates organizational science, it has stagnated because of definitional and operational issues. In this study, a contingency framework of coupling was developed and tested. Using an organizational simulation, the pattern of covariation between cultural and structural coupling was tracked across two different stages of the organizational life cycle and two levels of technological routineness. Quantitative, network measures of cultural and structural coupling were used. As organizations evolved from the infancy to the maturity stage of their life cycle, both structural and cultural coupling among participants became tighter. Unexpectedly, individuals involved with a nonroutine technology were more tightly coupled structurally but less tightly coupled culturally when compared to individuals engaged in a routine technology.
In this book we seek to understand the conditions under which we construct, vulnerabilize, collapse and repair structures of meaning, both in organizations and in many other spheres of social and even personal life, focusing on two particularly critical processes: institutionalization and de-insitutionalizaton of meaning. These two processes play a central role in contemporary societies, subjugated more than ever to brutal oscillations between organic and inorganic social forces. We do not, however, restrict these observations to the organizational sphere. So we can see persons who shape themselves as institutions
to resist to social anonymity that provokes an intense feeling of suffering (“persons-that-strategically-shape-themselves-as-institutions”). But we can also see institutions that accept to vulnerabilize themselves in order to stabilize and exhibit social identities compatible with conventions and aspirations of present times and trends (“institutions-that-strategically-shape-themselves-as-persons”). These hypothesis are illustrated by some field studies we carried out, or followed, in companies and institutions.
В монографии представлен обзор современного состояния безопасности труда и производственного травматизма в России и за рубежом. Приведены статистические данные, характеризующие уровень и социально-экономические последствия производственного травматизма. Проведен обзор научных исследований, посвященных проблемам обеспечения безопасности труда и снижению уровня травматизма в промышленности и сельском хозяйстве стран
Евросоюза и России. Представлены результаты критического анализа системы мониторинга безопасности и условий труда в РФ, включающие цели и задачи его проведения, организацию наблюдений и порядок обработки информации, оценку социально-экономической эффективности результатов мониторинга и принимаемых на их основе решений. Несоответствие целей мониторинга
условий и охраны труда основным целям и задачам мониторинга безопасности труда и профессиональных рисков работников, ограниченность и низкая достоверность имеющейся статистической
информации требуют разработки методологии, нацеленной на решение указанных проблем.
Several authors have examined the factors that have led to one of the U.S.’s most critical issues of the past two decades — the steady erosion of high-tech competitiveness as measured by the loss of global market share and diminishing productivity growth. High technology firms are those that rely on state-of-the-art research and development (R&D) to maintain or capture market share in traditional or emerging fields. the loss of high-tech prowess has been a major factor in reducing the comparative standard of living with high-value jobs being increasingly captured by foreign-based international competitors. Productivity growth is considered the method with which to reverse these trends.
Over the past decade, two major intellectual movements have challenged the traditional manner in which organizations have been conceptualized. The first, the renaissance of interest in organizational power and politics1 was largely initiated and developed by scholars of organizations. The second, the growth of interest in corporate and organizational cultures2, has both popular and scholarly roots. With few exceptions3, the organizational politics and organizational culture literatures have been sharply distinct. This independence is somewhat surprising since both approaches share a good deal of common ground in their critiques of the rational model of organizations. This paper attempts to demonstrate the utility of integrating these approaches by exploring the political consequences of organizational cultures in corporate mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures.
The basic purpose of this study was to determine political behavior in schools according to the perceptions of elementary school teachers and to present the political perceptions of teachers according to miscellaneous variables. The study was carried out using a survey model. The participants in the study consisted of 265 elementary school teachers, randomly selected from seven provinces in the seven geographical regions of Turkey. "A scale of political perception at school" developed by the researcher, was used as the data collection tool. It was determined that teachers from the more developed regions of Turkey, such as the Marmara, Aegean and Mediterranean regions, perceived less political behavior than the teachers from regions considered to be less developed, such as the Eastern Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia Regions. The study also determined that married teachers and female teachers perceived more rational behavior than single teachers and male teachers, respectively. It was observed that teachers who were union members perceived more political behavior than those who were not union members.
RESUMO A teoria e o diagnóstico do clima organizacional devem ser desenvolvidos para que a relação indivíduo-organização seja continuamente ajustada. Este estudo tem como principal objetivo determinar o perfil de clima organizacional percebido e desejado em determinadas Instituições de Pesquisa de âmbito governamental, face à percepção de seus membros técnicos de nível superior. Para efeito de apresentação dos resultados obtidos as instituições participantes foram agrupadas em quatro setores de atuação, ou seja: Saúde, Agropecuário, Recursos Naturais e Economia Agrícola. O instrumento utilizado para medir o clima foi desenvolvido com base na Escala de Kolb, que é constituída de 7 fatores e cujas dimensões foram posteriormente operacionalizadas em um conjunto de 21 questões. Fez-se uso de um questionário auto-preenchível. A Amostra totalizou 449 respondentes distribuídos em 12 Institutos de Pesquisa vinculados à Administração Direta. Concluiu-se que os perfis organizacionais levantados são diferentes entre si, apresentando variações em função dos fatores levados em consideração.
Dissertation submitted to the Department of strategy and management at the Norwegian school of economics and business administration in November 2003, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree dr. oecon.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to describe a symbolic-interpretative research on the leadership culture and its subcultures in one unified comprehensive school in Finland.
Design/methodology/approach
– The research is a phenomenological, qualitative case study. Its methodology is based on triangulation.
Findings
– The leadership culture of the unified comprehensive school studied in the present research seemed to be based on equality, communality, appreciation, flow of information and humor. Besides examining the general leadership culture of the school, an attempt was made to study the possible subcultures of the school by examining the six subject groups into which the teachers were divided in the school on the basis of the teachers’ education and tasks. These subject groups formed the subgroups of the research. If a subgroup's interpretation of the leadership culture of the school differed significantly from those of the other subgroups, the subgroup was considered to have a subculture of its own. Only one such subculture was found, that of the mathematic teachers. It, too, although being clearly a subculture of its own, included several common features with the main leadership culture of the unified comprehensive school.
Originality/value
– The study is the first one in Finnish schools where leadership culture is conceived as a constantly reforming outcome of the meaning and interpretation processes which form themselves through the social structures of the school in connection to the leadership actions at the school.
This study extended research exploring the values embedded in organization members’ interpersonal constructs. The values unmasked allow for increased understanding of an organization's culture. At the child care center studied, key values included consideration for others, personability, and integrity. Values unique to the organization (such as assertiveness) were highly ranked, suggesting the connection of individual values to an organization's culture. Personal constructs were found to reveal personal values, which grouped together indicated organizational values.
A system for characterizing organizational cultures through their values is detailed, applied and discussed. Studies of organizational culture often seek to uncover key values on which communication and interaction are based. The unique values advocated in an organization can be elicited through narratives, revealing how members believe they ought to behave as participants in their unique organizational culture, and how they persuasively advocate those values through narratives. The set of values present in member narratives provided an understanding of one organization's culture. The organizational values found, however, not only revealed characteristic unifying values, but also inconsistent values clashing with one another, bringing to light key conflicts in the organizational lives of staff members.
As workplaces become more demographically diverse, there is an increased need for an overarching civic culture that explicitly addresses relations and interactions among various identity groups within an organization. Despite differences in the level of analysis and the standpoints of organization versus subgroup, both the integration and differentiation perspectives on organizational culture are inadequate to address cultural conflicts associated with demographic diversity. Based on a literature review of works by philosophers, political scientists, and educators, the authors suggest that civic culture, which focuses on relational values such as equality and a respect for differences rather than on substantive values such as product quality and timeliness, is an appropriate framework for multicultural organizations. An empirical study found preliminary evidence that people in demographically diverse organizations are more likely to emphasize relational over substantive values and that values proposed for diverse organizations emphasize both differentiation and integration.
Most researchers recognize the importance of social interactions in the creation of scientific knowledge and new paradigmatic approaches. Nevertheless, methods summarizing major paradigms in a field, such as traditional literature reviews, divorce knowledge generation from its highly social context. Based on the assertion that knowledge is generated in part through social interactions among researchers, we introduce a cognitive network approach to identifying areas of consensus in a scientific subfield. This approach involves using a combination of social network analysis and textual map analysis techniques to locate points where meanings and people congregate. We illustrate this approach by examining the literature in the organizational culture subfield. Analyzing 70 texts in the organizational culture area, we use textual map analysis to identify changes in the conceptualization of culture over several decades and social network analysis techniques to changes in the key actors over this same period. We find that consensus within this field has evolved over time and is shaped by the social structure of researchers in the culture field. We discuss the potential contribution of this technique for providing insight into the process by which paradigms become established in organizational theory in particular, and research communities in general.
Deinstitutionalization refers here to thc erosion or discontinuity of an institutionalized organizational activity or practice. This paper identifies a set of organizational and environmental factors that are hypothesized to determine the likelihood that institutionalized organizational behaviours will be vulnerable to erosion or rejection over time. Contrary to the emphasis in institutional theory on the cultural persistence and endurance of institutionalized organizational behaviours, it is suggested that, under a variety of conditions, these behaviours will be highly susceptible to dissipation, rejection or replacement.
A great deal has been written in recent years regarding aspects of corporate-cultural phenomena. This literature, however, should not be viewed as spontaneously emerging in the late 1970s. While increased international competition and, relatedly, the example of Japanese management appear to have prompted the discovery of culture in Western economic organizations, there is a large body of literature that preceded and has greatly influenced this recent “corporate culture” phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to take stock of this literature, to present a framework for integrating these earlier works, and to discuss its implications.
While calls for a contingency view on changing “corporate culture” (Wilkens and Dyer 1988) have recently emerged, most of the organizational literature on culture is based on universalistic conjecture and prescription. This paper extends a contingency perspective by focusing on business-unit cultures and by arguing that two major dimensions—interest convergence and the ease of operationalizing strategy—interact to determine the function of culture in economic organizations and its relative importance to goal attainment. This is demonstrated through a review of the dominant functionalist perspective, utilitarian, and conflict theory perspectives on organizational culture. These are used to propose a typology that supports the importance of these dimensions.
This 21/2-year study of the implementation of statistical process con-trol in one U.S. location of a large corporation in the automotive in-dustry uncovered cultural barriers to the innovation. A "manufactur-ing culture" is posited and three cultural themes that impeded implementation are described. Implications for research on use of in-novation and ethnographic inquiry are discussed.
Social influence processes in organizations involve the demonstration of particular behavioral tactics and strategies by individuals to influence behavioral outcomes controlled by others in ways that maximize influencer positive outcomes and minimize negative outcomes. Such processes necessarily draw from research in topic areas labeled impression management, self-presentation, interpersonal influence, and organizational politics. However, few efforts have been made to integrate this work for purposes of assessing our current knowledge base, and identifying gaps and thus areas in need of further investigation. The present paper provides a critical analysis and review of theory and research on social influence processes in the workplace, with particular emphasis on human resources systems, organized according to the What, the Where, the Who, and the How of influence. In the process, we identify neglected areas, including theory-building challenges, as well as key issues in need of empirical investigation.
The first in a series of two articles, traces the saga of the organizational culture literature from the organization development model through to the recent interest in total quality management, forming a link between the three concepts. The literature has, at various times - and sometimes concurrently - defined the concept of culture, prescribed methods of study and diagnosis, discussed the possibility of culture change and often prescribed change methods, recommended methods to evaluate the extent and success of change and, most recently, looked at the part culture and culture change play in achieving total quality through the medium of total quality management. With few exceptions, the notion of managerial control is not addressed. Argues that, while TQM had separate origins from the culture movement, the two fields have converged recently with the idea that to achieve “excellence” and “quality”, it is necessary either to change or work with the culture of an organization. Reviews the literature concerned with defining the concept of culture itself and recommended methods of study, diagnosis and measurement, themes that occur predominantly in the early literature.
Ethics initiatives are commonly used by organizations to influence members’ behavior with the expressed goal of aligning the behavior exhibited in the organization with the organization's stated rules and values (Laufer & Robertson, 1997; Schwartz, 2002; Tenbrunsel, Smith-Crowe, & Umphress, 2003; Trevino, Weaver, Gibson, & Toffler, 1999; Weaver, Trevino, & Cochran, 1999a, 1999b, 1999c). It is hoped that by emphasizing the organization's values and rules, organization members will be more thoughtful about their work behavior and consider these values and rules when making decisions at work.
Mystery, instead of being a state that must be solved or eliminated, is actually necessary for the formation and maintenance of organizations. Three key sources of mystery emerge from Kenneth Burke's perspective on communication: separation, strangeness, and hierarchy. This essay argues that Burke recognized the need for mystery in communication, manifested in both ambiguity and contradiction. In today's organizations, rather then seeking to eliminate mystery through communication, members should seek to strategically use mystery to enhance communication at work and promote organizational unity through stimulating the creation of alternative symbol systems.
This study addresses limitations of prior research on politics by first addressing the multidimensionality of politics perceptions through assessing the confirmatory fit of 1-, 3-, and 5-factor models. Secondly, the study examines the relative effects of organizational and personal characteristics on politics perceptions, as well as their interactions. Results indicate that 5 underlying dimensions of politics perceptions demonstrate the best fit to the data, and that these dimensions are differentially influenced by organizational and individual-level factors and their interactions. Implications of the results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Within the field of entrepreneurial learning research, there is growing recognition of the need to consider the influence
of power on the learning process itself (Harrison and Leitch 2008). However, there has been little attempt to develop these
issues in the family business context specifically. While family business studies have examined various elements of conflict,
role confusion and organisational performance (Poutziouris et al. 2006; Berkel 2007), they have neither set this in the context
of the analysis of learning processes and outcomes nor related these discussions back to the wider debates on the role of
power in organisations. In this chapter, we contribute to the small number of studies which do examine these issues (Nienelä
2004): the dynamics of the family business present a rich opportunity to examine such topics, combining as it does the process
of business development in general with the specific overlay of family issues, both within the family members and between
family members and non-family executives in a venture.
This pilot study seeks to build theoretical understanding of how public relations practitioner involvement in one type of strategic organizational decision making—strategic issue diagnosis—is related to shared values with top management, diagnosis accuracy, strategy pursued, and power of the public relations function. Strategic issue diagnosis (SID) is the process decision makers use to understand environmental issues and events. Findings of this exploratory study suggest that the number of perceived shared values is positively and directly related to active sense-making strategies (SID), and negatively related to encroachment, the assignment of top positions in public relations departments to individuals without training or experience in public relations. Active SID, in turn, is positively related to accurate issue diagnosis and strategic change. Strategic change is negatively related to encroachment.
New technological advances in microelectronics have recently prompted a number of developing countries to introduce computer-based information systems as a strategic tool for promoting socio-economic development. Despite efforts, these initiatives have not resulted in more effective planning and monitoring systems. Apart from problems related to inadequate resources and infrastructure, experience suggests that the introduction of information technology for development planning implies cultural values which are fundamentally at variance with those of traditional societies. There is, however, a paucity of literature which exposes the interplay between these cultural factors and the process of technology adoption. In this article, we review the literature on organizational culture and information technology. We then present a case study which attempts to link the current theory to practical experiences. Finally, we discuss ways in which the analysis of cultural aspects can lead to more effective management of information technology.
Traditional perspectives in organizational analysis are being questioned, the field displays new diversity, especially as a result of phenomenological studies, new directions are emerging, and a dialectic animates the relationship between theorizing and research. Organizational analysts, positing a distinction between the organization and the environment, have raised a number of issues which remain: How can organization and environment be defined? What is the nature of the consequences of organization-environment transactions? Are they in fact distinguishable? These questions are addressed here and some tentative proposals made. The essay argues that organizations prefigure, organize, and then enact the social environment in which they operate. 'Organizational work', it is argued, involves the social construction of the environment as well as the management of intrusive, unseen aspects of the environment that nevertheless affect everyday organizational life. In order to elaborate this thesis, data from several studies of police organizations are presented to outline the nature of the external environment posited by the organizations and to suggest that the occupational culture is a significant source for a perspective of that environment.
The move to displace the concept of culture traditionally used in anthropology to organizational research is discussed. Issues surrounding the culture concept and the juxta-position of culture and organization are given special attention. Current thinking about the nature of the process of displacement is refined. Examples from an ongoing study of a city transit organization are used to demonstrate the use of cultural scenes and themes in organizational research.
This paper presents a level-specific analysis of the dispersion of influence in administrative bureaucracies of 44 Belgian cities. A distinction was drawn between process and structure, and the effect of various structural and process constraints on the influence of middle and lower echelons was examined. It was found that the effects of process and structure on influence in decision making were not consistent across organizational levels.
Aspects of organizational context that have been held to be relevant to organizational structure were examined. Seven primary concepts of organizational context, viz.: origin and history, ownership and control, size, charter, technology, location and dependence on other organizations, were analyzed and operationally defined scales constructed. These were used as independent variables in a multivariate regression analysis to predict three underlying dimensions of organization structure previously established. The size of the correlations obtained on a sample of 46 organizations in the English Midlands (0.75 with structuring of activities using size and technology as predictors; 0.75 with concentration of authority using dependence and location as predictors; 0.57 with line control of workflow, using the operating variability scale of charter as a predictor) indicates that these aspects of context are salient for structure. The framework of contextual and structural variables is seen as making possible processual studies on a much more rigorous comparative basis than before.
In this new and brilliantly organized book of essays, Anthony Giddens discusses three main theoretical traditions in social science that cut across the division between Marxist and non-Marxist sociology: interpretive sociology, functionalism, and structuralism.
Beginning with a critical examination of the importance of structuralism for contemporary sociology, the author develops a comprehensive account of what he calls "the theory of structuration." One of the main themes is that social theory must recognize, as it has not done hitherto, that all social actors are knowledgeable about the social systems they produce and reproduce in their conduct. In order to grasp the significance of this, he argues, we have to reconsider some of the most basic concepts in sociology.
In particular, Giddens argues, it is essential to recognize the significance of time-space relations in social theory. He rejects the distinction between synchrony and diachrony, or statics and dynamics, involved in both structuralism and functionalism, and offers extensive critical commentary on the latter as an approach to sociology.
The book, which can be described as a "non-functionalist manifesto," breaks with the three main theoretical traditions in the social sciences today while retaining the significant contributions each contains. In so doing Giddens discusses a range of fundamental problem areas in the social sciences: power and domination, conflict and contradiction, and social transformation. He concludes with an overall appraisal of the key problems in social theory today.
This paper describes and critiques organizational culture studies done in industrial settings, some of which were based on anthropological paradigms, including the structural-functional and configurationist holistic paradigms. Most failed to explore multiple "native" views. In this paper, a multicultural model is proposed for large organizations, and problems of "cross-cultural" contact are described. Native-view paradigms from anthropology, especially ethnoscience ethnography, are recommended for exploring multiple perspectives in detail. An illustration from a recent study of "Silicon Valley" technical professionals' "native" views is presented to demonstrate how ethnoscience methods, in particular, can be applied to the task of studying culture.
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In this second article of a two-part series, the author identifies power as the central phenomenon of organization. The generation of power, both within and outside the organization, depends on four fundamental conditions, which are identified. A classification of organizational types, based on primacy of different types of organizational goals, is outlined and its utility illustrated by analyzing variations among the business firm, the military organization, and the university in this society. The author is chairman of the Department of Social Relations at Harvard University.
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