Charlie Wilson’s War

Morality and Politics

Ethical criteria in bargaining and organizational politics
◦ Mutuality – are all parties operating under the same understanding of the rules?
◦ Generality – does a specific action follow a principle of moral conduct applicable to all comparable situations?
◦ Openness – are we willing to make our decisions public?
◦ Caring – does this action show care for the legitimate interests of others?
Conclusion
Politics can be sordid and destructive, but can
also be the vehicle for achieving noble
purposes
Managers need to develop the skills of
constructive politicians:
Fashion an agenda
Map political terrain
Networking and building coalitions
Negotiating
Symbolic Frame
KCP
Symbolic Frame 5 Suppositions
1. What is most important is not what happens but what it means
2. Activity and meaning are loosely coupled; events and actions have multiple interpretations as
people experience life differently.
3. Facing uncertainty people create symbols to resolve confusion, find direction, and anchor
hope and faith.
4. Events and processes are often more important for what is expressed than for what is
produced. Stories, rituals, heroes, ceremonies all help people find purpose and passion.
5. Culture forms the superglue that bonds an organization, unites people, and helps and
organization accomplish the desired ends.
Symbols
Myths, Vision, and Values

Heroes and Heroines- why human interest stories are so powerful

Stories

Ceremony to socialize, stabilize, reassure, and convey messages to external constituencies

Metaphor, Humor and Play- a way to illuminate and brake frames, also indicates that any single
definition of a situation is arbitrary
Organizations as Cultures
“The way we do things around here”

It is renewed and re-created as newcomers learn the old ways and eventually become teachers
themselves.

Only a weak culture accepts newcomers without some form of hazing.

Organizations as Culture
◦ Organizations have cultures or are cultures?
◦ Definitions of culture:
◦ “pattern of shared basic assumptions that a group has learned as it
solved its problems…and that has worked well enough to be
considered valid and taught to new members”
◦ “How we do things around here”
◦ Culture is both product and process
◦ Embodies accumulated wisdom
◦ Must be continually renewed and recreated as newcomers learn old
ways and eventually become teachers
◦ Manager who understand culture better equipped to understand and
influence organizations
Symbolic Frame Overview
In contrast to traditional views emphasizing rationality and objectivity, the symbolic frame
highlights the meta-rational and tribal aspects of contemporary organizations.
Symbols help us make sense of ambiguous and confusing realities
Culture as basic organizational glue, the “way we do things around here”
Symbols embody and express organizational values, ideology
Chapter 13
“In the field of group endeavor, you will see the incredible
events in which the group performs far beyond the sum of
its individual talents. It happens in the symphony, in the
ballet, in the theater, in sports and equally in business. It is
easy to recognize and impossible to define. It is a mystique.
It cannot be achieved without immense effort, training,
cooperation, but effort, training and cooperation alone can
rarely create it.” Dee Hock, Former CEO of Visa
Sources of Cultural Success
• How someone becomes a group member is
important
• Diversity provides a team’s competitive
advantage
• Examples, not command, holds a team
together
• A specialized language fosters cohesion and
commitment
Sources of Cultural Success
•Humor and play reduce tension and encourage creativity
•Ritual and ceremony lift spirits and reinforce values
•Stories carry history and values and reinforce group identity
Sources of Cultural Success
•Informal cultural players make contributions disproportionate to
their formal roles
•Soul is the secret of success
Chapter 14, Organizational Theater

When goals are ambiguous and performance hard to measure,

organizations maintain stakeholder support by staging the right play,
conforming to audience expectations of how the organization should
operate.
Isomorphism by DiMaggio and Powell
Coercive isomorphism
Mimetic isomorphism
Normative isomorphism
Organizational Structure as Theater
•Meetings
•Plans
•Evaluation
•Collective Bargaining
•Power
•Managing Impressions
Organizational Structure as Theater
◦ Structure as Stage design: an arrangement of lights, props and costumes
◦ Makes drama vivid and credible
◦ Reflects and expresses current values and myths
◦ Public schools reassure stakeholders if…
◦ The building and grounds look like a school
◦ Teachers are certified
◦ Curriculum mirrors society’s expectations
◦ Colleges judged by:
◦ Age, endowment, beauty of campus
◦ Faculty student ratio
◦ Faculty with degrees from elite institutions
Organizational Process as Theater
Activities (meetings, planning, performance appraisal, etc.) often fail to produce intended
outcomes, yet persist because they help sustain organizational drama
◦ Scripts and stage markings: cue actors what to do and how to behave
◦ Opportunities for self-expression and forums for airing grievances
◦ Reassure audiences that organization is well-managed and important problems are being addressed
Organizational Process as Theater (II)
Meetings as “Garbage cans”
◦ Attract an unpredictable mix of problems looking for solutions, solutions looking for problems, and
participants seeking opportunities for self-expression

Planning as ceremony to maintain legitimacy and reinforce participants’ bonds

◦ Plans are symbols
◦ Plans become games
◦ Plans become excuses for interaction
◦ Plans become advertisements
Organizational Process as Theater (III)
Evaluations
◦ Often fail in intended goals of improving performance and identifying strengths and
weaknesses
◦ Ceremony signals the organization is well-managed and cares about performance
improvement
Collective Bargaining
◦ Public face: intense, dramatic contest
◦ Private face: back-stage negotiation, collusion

Power
◦ Exists in eye of beholder – you are powerful if others think you are
◦ May be attributed based on outcomes
Conclusion
Organizations judged by appearance
The right drama:
◦ Provides a ceremonial stage
◦ Reassures stakeholders
◦ Maintains confidence and faith

Drama serves powerful symbolic functions

◦ Engages actors in their performances
◦ Builds excitement, hope, sense of momentum
Leadership from the Symbolic
Perspective
“ Successful leadership is having followers who believe in the power of the leader. By believing,
people are encouraged to link events with leadership behaviors…When a leader does make a
difference, it is by enriching and updating the drama-constructing new myths that alter beliefs
and generate faith.”