FEKH45 Seminar 1

Seminar 1

In this first seminar, we dive deeper into the topics of culture management and control.

Literature for the seminar:

• Willmott, Hugh. (1993). Strength is ignorance; slavery is freedom: Managing culture in
modern organizations. Journal of management studies, 30 (4), pp. 515-552.

• Fleming, Peter, and Andrew Sturdy. (2009). Just be yourself!”: Towards neo-normative
control in organisations. Employee Relations, 31(6), pp. 569-583.

• Fleming, Peter, and Andrew Sturdy. (2011). "‘Being yourself’ in the electronic sweatshop:
New forms of normative control." Human Relations 2, pp. 177-200.

• Müller, Monika. (2017). ‘Brand-centred control’: A study of internal branding and

normative control. Organization Studies, 38(7), pp. 895-915.

Please read the literature for the seminar and enter the answers into your learning journal.
Upload your text on the evening before the seminar, at the latest.

The length of the text should be such that you can meaningfully relate to the questions/tasks
– after all, the learning journal is your own opportunity to learn.

Task 1
Organizational culture management (practical warm-up task)

a) Google describe their culture as including the following characteristics:

- Openness
- Innovation, especially technological innovation
- Smartness with excellence
- Hands-on approach
- Small-company-family rapport

Culture is also often described as unspoken shared beliefs, norms, and values: What would
be shared beliefs, values and norms underlying these cultural characteristics?

b) Assumed that the employee statements on this employer evaluation site are
accurate (just browse through them on several pages, you don’t need to read them

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all, but still try to get a nuanced picture)

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Google-Reviews-E9079.htm

What seems to motivate / de-motivate employees at Google and how do these statements
fit in with the official cultural values?

(Note: Pay attention to whether the statements appear to be balanced or

exaggerated in a positive or negative way – e.g., current versus former
employees might have different views on the corporate culture, etc.)

Task 2
Culture management and normative control (Willmott, 1993)

This text here has become a kind of classic in critical management studies (which is a sub-
field in organization theory). It is not easy to read, but Willmott delivers a scathing piece on
corporate culture management (which is actually an unusual type of academic text).

At some point in the article (and referred to in the title of the piece ‘Slavery is freedom…’) he
refers to George Orwell’s 1984 in terms of doublethink or newspeak. If you have not read
Orwell’s 1984 (or can’t remember it in some detail), just google it – you find a lot online, also
on doublethink and newspeak…

Questions:
a) How can, according to Willmott, corporate culture management lead to doublethink
and newspeak?
b) Do you agree with such a comparison or does Wilmott go too far here?

Task 3
Normative and neo-normative control (Fleming & Sturdy, 2009,
2011)

A classic description of normative control is based on Kunda (1992) and his study of a company
in his famous book “Engineering Culture”. He defines normative control as:

“the attempt to elicit and direct the required efforts of members by controlling
the underlying experiences, thoughts, and feelings that guide their actions. … In
short, under normative control it is the employee’s self – that ineffable source of

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subjective experience – that is claimed in the name of the corporate interest”. (p.
11, original emphasis)

20 years later, Fleming and Sturdy (2009, 2011) describe a new form of normative control:
neo-normative control, as mentioned in their article.

Questions (task 3)
a) What is ‘neo-normative control’ according to Fleming and Sturdy?
b) What are examples of this type of control in the Sunray case?
c) How would you feel as an employee of Sunray?

For the seminar: (you don’t need to submit a written answer in your learning journal, just
prepare in whatever way you prefer)

If your first name starts with A to F: Take the role as Sunray management. Prepare
arguments for why you have chosen to develop and promote this specific kind of culture.

If your first name starts with G to M: Take the role as an employee working at Sunray.
Prepare arguments for why you dislike the culture, why and in what ways you find the
culture problematic.

If your first name starts with N to V: Take the role as an employee working at Sunray.
Prepare arguments for why you appreciate Sunray’s culture, why and in what ways you think
the culture is working well.

Task 4
Brand-centred control (Müller, 2017)

You have now seen (by answering task 3) how neo-normative control is a specific
development of normative control. But what about branding, the new ‘hype’ in all
organizations, and its relation to culture management and normative control…

Questions:
a) How would you describe brand-centred control?
b) How does brand-centred control differ from other forms of normative control?
c) Would this type of control work in all organizations?
d) Can you think of examples of this type of control in other organizations?