Organizational Culture and
Change
2019-2020
College 1 What is organizational culture
Alvesson chapter 1
What is culture ?
- Culture shared between groups of people
- Geografie determines culture
- Religion is crucial norms, rituals
Origin of the term
From the latin word colere = to till the ground/grow
Cultus (past participle) = cultivated/nurtured/cared of
An agricultural
Culture is a fuzzy concept
Culture is studies aross many disciplines
Enormous variation in the definition of the term
The concepts is used to cover everything and nothing
Culture as an umbrella term
- Popculture is around the world, for a certain generation = common culture knowledge of
our time
- Difference between high culture and ‘massa cultuur’
- Ballet is a example of a exclusive culture
- Google is a prominent organization with a prominent culture
- Professional culture for example culture of doctors, culture of nurse, culture of
management. This al within a hosipital
- Values shared internationally human rights etc.
What is organizational culture ?
what you would fancy in a organization culture?
, - Open communication, transparancy
- Self-employment setting your one hours, autonomy, growth
Parameters of organizational culture
A widely shared understanding of organizational culture
Culture is broadly seen as a shared and learned world of experiences, meanings, values and
understandings which are expressed and reproduced partly in sumbolic form
Most studies share the following assumptions about culture phenomena
1. They are related to history/tradition
2. They have some depth
3. They are difficulte to gras pand must be interpreted
4. They are collective/shared by members of groups
5. They have to do with meanings, understandings, beliefs
6. They are emotional rather than strictly rational
Organizational culture is significant as a way of understanding organizational life in all iets
richness and variations
Culture as social and taken-for-granted
Culture is not primarly inside people’s heads, but somewhere between the heads of people
Culture is done without anyone really thinking about it – it is emergent, dynamic,
situationally adaptive and co-created in dialogue
It helps to interpret behavior, social events, institutions and processes in meaningful ways; in
this way, it helps to reduce uncertainties
Frequently, culture refers to little more than a social pattern/ surface phenomea rather than
exploring the meanings and ideas behind them there is a need to dig deeper
Edgar Schein’s model of
organizational culture
- Tip of the iceberg is what we see, but there is so much more
- Sigmund freud – model of the mind (also with the tip of the iceberg)
- Basic assumptions these things are hidden from us, deeply ingraned
- On the right some examples of what it can be
Elements of organizational culture
The concept of culture is associated with collectively shared form of
Symbol & meanings
, Values & ideologies
Rules & norms
Emotions & expressiveness
The collective unconscious
Behavior patterns
Structures & practices
Etc.
Meanings and symbols
Alvesson considers symbols and meanings as the most significant conepts for understanding
organizational culture
Meanings
Refers to how an object or utterance is interpreted
Through culture, interpretations become more homogeneous
In a cultural context, socially shared meanings are of interest
Symbols
An object- word statement, action or material item that stands for something else
It is rich in meaning and calls for considerable interpretation
Collective (vs. private) symbolism is of interest
How to study organizational culture ?
Culture is not only a fuzzy term- ita lso refers to complex, inaccesible an fuzzy phenomena
Alvesson suggest a balance between rigor and flexbility when studying culture
Rigor: be focused and precise when analyszing specific cultural phenomena, seek interpretie
depth
This includes critical thinking-through of hidden motive and objectives in organizational life
Flexibility: there is no formula or model for studying culture, causal links lead to
oversimplification
Studying culture requires careful reflection of one’s own cultural bias
Studying organizational culture: etnography
Observe the day-to-day functioning of an organization
Patterns of onteraction between individuals and groups
Variations language used
Topics and questions explored in coversations
Various habits and rituals of daily routine
Why do people study organizational culture?
Organizational culture a major topic in research & practice
Central to how people in organization think , feel and act
Facilitates critical inquiry if taken-for-grantex asoects (values, beliefs…)
Historical interest: in the 1980s, boom of japanese companies
Focus on shared values commitment and high-quelity output
Pop-management authors/ consultants suggested that Western countries learn the art of
Japanese mangement
, Why do people study organizational culture ?
The culture hype did not live up to it’s promises
Ongoing interest: in organizational scandals/failure: blame the culture !
Considerable attention during periods of changes
Shift from mass production tot he service and kowledge economy (remote brain work, more
difficult to control)
Three interests for studying a phenomon
