What is culture? What is NOT culture?
differently with respect to the specific issue, but whether positively or negatively,
Culture: Ideational and Materialistic Approach
● Ideational emphasizes subjective interpretations where material aspects of culture can
be describe in objectivist terms or their meanings can be interpreted subjectively
● Materialistic include the material condition of work and the size of employees.
Definitions of Organizational Culture
1. Culture is the set of important understandings that members of a community share in
common (Sathe, 1985,p.6).
2. Culture is a set of understanding or meaning shared by a group of people
(Louis,1985,p.74).
3. A standard definition of culture would include the system of values, symbols, and
shared meaning of a group including the embodiment of these values, symbols and
meanings into material objects and ritualized practices (Sargiovanni & Corbally,
1984,p.viii).
4. Cultural Arrangements, of which organizations are an essential segment, are seen as
manifestation of a process of ideational development located within a context defined
of definite material conditions (Mils, 1988,p.366).
5. An organization might then be studied by discovering and synthesizing its rules and
social interaction and interpretation, as relived in the behavior they shape (Achall,
1983, p.3).
6. Culture is the pattern of shared beliefs and values that give members of an institution
meaning and provide them with the rules for behavior in their organization
(Davis,1984,p.1).
7. To analyze why members behave the way they do; we often look for the values that
govern behavior. To really understand a culture and identify completely the group’s
values and overt behavior, it is important to explore underlying assumptions, which
are unconscious but determine actual ideas, feelings and perception of the group
members. (Schein, 1985)
8. The development of a worldview with its shared understanding of group identity,
purpose, and direction are products of the unique history, personal interactions, and
environmental circumstances of the group" (Smircich, 1983)
9. Culture does not necessarily imply a uniformity of values. Indeed, quite different
values may be displayed by people of the same culture. They may array themselves
they are all oriented to it" (Feldman, 1991)
10. Culture is a loosely structured and incompletely shared system that emerges
dynamically as cultural members experience each other, events, and the
organization’s contextual features.
11. Members do not agree upon clear boundaries, cannot identify shared solutions and
don’t reconcile contradictory beliefs and multiple identities. Yet these members
contend they belong to a culture (Meyerson, 1991).
12. When organizations are examined from a cultural viewpoint, attention is drawn to the
aspects of cultural life, basically how things go around an organization (Martin, n,d)
Focus and Breadth
When many types of cultural manifestations are studied, including informal norms, rituals,
stories, physical arrangements, and formal and informal practices, this produces a holistic
view of cultural context, sometimes known as generalist study of culture.
Level of Interpretation
Depth is also an important component of some definitions of culture, cultural manifestation
can be interpreted superficially, or its interpretation can reflect deeply held, unconscious
assumptions.
Areas of Disagreement Implicit in Definitions of Culture
Is Culture Shared?
● Although we have been given 12 definitions of what organizational culture is, it can
be broadly divided into 3 categories: Culture IS shared, culture is built around
conflict, and culture is ambiguous.
The Shared Perspective
● Most defintions provided tend to focus on culture being a "shared" construct,
therefore viewing culture akin to that of a "jigzaw puzzle" where people of the same
beliefs, principles, mentalities, objectives, etc etc, make up the whole culture.
(Definitions 1-3, 6, and 8)
The Conflict Perspective
 ● Posits that culture is formed through conflict between other groups or subcultures, Common Types of Rituals
stating that people who have a lot to share in common will team up against those who 1. Initiation Rituals
they oppose. (The "enemy of my enemy is my friend" mentality.) 2. Enhancement Rituals
● Yet even the conflict perspective still requires some level of "sharing" between 3. Degration Rituals
subcultures.(Definition 4) 4. Integration Rituals
5. Conflict Reduction Rituals
The Ambiguous Perspective 6. Ending Rituals
● Posits that culture is characterized by ambiguity. Members of a culture may "agree" 7. Compound Rituals
on certain beliefs and be "united" towards a common goal or against a common
enemy, but the reasons behind their "agreement" or "unity" may differ. Organizational Stories and Scripts
Stories
Is Culture Unique? Consist of 2 elements, a narrative which describes a sequence of events, and then a set of
● Organizations may sometimes create tightly knit bonds amongst themselves because meanings or interpretations of the morals to the story.
their own members believe in their "uniqueness".  The details of a narrative or its interpretations may vary, depending on who’s telling
● This sense of "uniqueness" revolves around traits their members believe is seldomly the story, the audience, and the context.
found in other groups. Therefore centering their organization's identity around said It is important to define an organizational story with the following:
traits.  The elements of an organizational story are known by a large number of people,
● These "traits" may take the form of the "nature" of the products and services they therefore are informative about a cultural context.
produce. It may also take the form of "behaviors" or "quirks" within their  An organizational story focuses on a single event sequence
organization that they believe may not be found in other groups.  An organizational story’s central characters are the members of the organization.
 An organizational story is ostensibly true
WHAT CULTURE RESEARCHERS STUDY WHEN THEY CLAIM TO BE Scripts
STUDYING CULTURE The similarities and differences among various versions of a story can be centralized using
the concept of a script.
Cultural Forms: The Esoterica of Cultural Analysis *Cultural forms  A script is a cognitive framework that underlies an organizational story, the skeleton
 include rituals, organizational stories, jargon, humor, and physical arrangements of a story remains.
including architecture, interior decor, and dress code. - It can provide important clues  Script analysis has been used to develop a typology of stories frequently told in a
*1980 -Formal Practices -Informal practices wide range of organization.
A script has four defining characteristics:
Rituals: The Celebration and Sanctifictation of the Mundane  A script specifies a well-defined set of characters or roles.
Ritual  It contains a single, fixed sequence of events
‘’Pour Time ‘’  In addition, some events in a sequence may be optional
A ritual is like a drama (Rosen, 1985; Trice &Beyer, 1984)
They are repeated (Trice & Beyer, 1984) HUMOR: Drawing the Line Laughs
 According to (Romero and Cruthirds 2006; cited Liu and Wang, 2016), "organization
humour" is a form of entertaining communication that can benefit individuals, teams,
and organizations.

Physical Arrangements: Architecture, Decor, and Dress
 Particularly powerful cultural clues -Dress norms and interior decor can be a rich
source of information about culture *General Motors (GM) -Design and Interior
Decor *Dress Norms at General Motors (GM) -John DeLorean
 Cultural researchers’ profundity analysis can approach the depth of understanding of
the basic assumptions.
From Definitions and Operationalizations to Theories of Culture
 Culture serves as the fundamental basis for behaviour and disparate cultural
conformation.

Formal & Informal Practices

 Practices have long been the primary focus of attention in organizational research.
 Formal practices are written, also are therefore more easily controlled through
management.
 Four types of Formal Practices have been of particular interest to culture researchers:
 Structure,
 Task & Technology,
 Rules & Procedures, and
 Financial Controls
 Informal practices evolve by interaction, as well as are not written down.
 Informal practices create a limited or temporary space at which formal requirements
can be relaxed.
 Some cultural studies are open directed toward finding that interpretations are
inconsistent across various manifestations, together with not surprisingly, these
studies are more likely to include both formal, along with informal practices
 Cultures studies that assume that interpretations of various cultural manifestations are
consistent seldom examine both formal, besides informal practices; when they do,
they tend toward focus only on those formal, otherwise informal practices that are
mutually consistent.

Content Themes: Espoused and Inferred

 A content theme is a common thread of concern that underlies interpretations of
several cultural manifestations content theme can be cognitive (beliefs or tacit as
assumptions) or they can be attitudinal (values).

Summary: The Question of Depth of Interpretation

 Diverse cultural forms are interpreted differently depending on the stated conditions.