Organizational Theory – Part 3
Cultural Studies
CHAPTER 5 LECTURE/RECAP
New Focus
Language of
Workplace
Formal and
informal
practices of
organization
Culture
Meaningful
artifacts
Performance
of manager
and
employees
Organizational Culture
 “…the actions, ways of thinking, practices, stories,
and artifacts that characterize a particular
organization” (p. 122)
 Relationship between communication, individuals,
and social context
 Symbolic constructions

Controlled by managers? Employees? Both?
 Sub-cultures
Rise of Cultural Approach
 Competitive pressures
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Organizations must adapt to surrounding culture (Theory Z; William
Ouchi)
 Desire for more interpretive methodology for examining
organizations
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Culture = “is” not “has”
Example of method: ethnography
Told as a story
 Can stimulate cultural change
 Reveals taken for granted practices and beliefs
 Aims to set definition of workplace as a community

 Social trends

Growing importance of cross-cultural understandings
Dr. G’s Experience;
Cultures and Sub-Cultures
Dental
Nursing
Doctors
CVCHC
X-ray
SAFP
CVHS
Front Desk and
Medical Records
Birthday parties,
gossip, loyalty
Younger
Employees
Hanging outside
of work,
gossiping, loyalty
WHC
AFP
Learning the Culture
 Role of communication
 Structure (roles, rules, policies,
communication networks)
 Vocabulary
 Cultural elements
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Stories
Rituals
Values
Performances
Metaphors
Artifacts
Example
 Gordon
 Example of practices?
 Language in mission statement?
 Artifacts?
 The Office
 Your examples?
Practical View of Organizational Culture
 Culture as “an organizational feature, like technology
or management style, that mangers can leverage to
create more effective organizations” (p. 131)
 Quasi-causal relationships
 Excessive positivity
 Research  suggestions
Interpretive View of Organizational Culture
 Managers and members create culture; culture
emerges through organizational life
 “…communication works to build, reproduce, and
transform the taken-for-granted reality of
organizational culture” (p. 134).
 Role of narratives (must consider context and
narrator)
Critical View of Organizational Culture
 Challenges power relationships and status quo
 Are any cultural elements operating in a way that favor those already
in power?

Role of ethnographers
 Key features of cultural study
 Integration
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Differentiation
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Culture = consistency and clarity
‘appears cultural members agree on what and why’
No room for ambiguity
Culture as monologue; not dialogue
Often favors stories of those in power
Focuses on differences across units and subcultures
“Cultural manifestations as predominately inconsistent with one another” (p. 139)
Issues with communication between subcultures
Fragmentation

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‘Certainty replaced with ambiguity, contradiction, tension, and irony
Use of ambiguity: tool of manipulation for management; coping mechanism for
employees
New Members
 Socialization
 Anticipatory socialization
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Vocational (more general)
Organizational (more specific)
 Organizational assimilation
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How do things really work?
Strict rules vs. rules we can ignore
Level of familiarity
Sources of info: ‘company messages, coworkers/peers, supervisors,
other organizational members, customers and outsiders, assigned
tasks’ (p. 144)
 Especially important for High-Reliability Organizations
 Role of technology
Communication Perspective
on Organizational Culture
 Communication = core process = forms and
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transforms culture
Importance of daily communication and symbolic
expressions
Consider verbal and nonverbal (words, actions,
artifacts)
Organization culture = cultural nexus = national,
local, familial, other external forces
Various motives for studying organizational culture
Group Activity
ORGANIZATIONAL NARRATIVES. WHAT CAN
WE LEARN ABOUT THE ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE?