On Studying Organizational Cultures

Diagnosis and Understanding

Majken Schultz

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9783110141375
• eBook ISBN: 9783110882476
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Economic Theory
• Index: Economics

No detailed description available for "On Studying Organizational Cultures".

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Culture in Organization Theory
• Position within Organizational Theory
• Culture as a New Metaphor
• Culture as a New Approach
• Contribution to Organizational Theory
• Cultural Diversity
• Variable or Metaphor
• Integration, Differentiation and Ambiguity
• Rationalism, Functionalism and Symbolism
• Choice of Competing Perspectives
• Functionalism and Symbolism
• Empirical Field of Study
• Choice of Focus
• Empirical Material
• Chapter 2. A Functionalist Perspective
• The Functions of Organizational Culture
• The Functional Existence of Culture
• The Functional Explanation of Culture
• The Functions of Organizational Culture
• The Levels of Culture
• Three Levels of Culture
• Internal Relations between the Levels of Culture
• The Cultural Paradigm
• Relations between Cultural Levels and their Functions
• Sorting out Cultural Data
• The Specific Functions of Organizational Culture
• A Functionalist Analytical Model: The Funnel
• Subcultures in Organizations
• A Clinical versus Ethnographic Method
• Chapter 3. Functionalist Diagnosis of Organizational Culture
• Artifacts and Values in a Department
• The Artifact Level: A Stratified Paper Pyramid
• The Value Level: Means
• The Value Level: Power and Status
• Summary of the Value Level
• Basic Assumptions in the Department
• The Method of the Analysis of Basic Assumptions
• Nobody Does it Better than We Do!
• The Members of the Organization are at the Center!
• This Belongs to Us!
• The Organization’s Members are Able and Ready to Passively Adapt Themselves!
• There is only One Truth, which Can Be Discovered from Within
• The Organization Members Constitute a Family which Works
• The Cultural Paradigm
• The Core of the Cultural Paradigm
• Consistency and Inconsistency of the Cultural Paradigm
• Tracing Backwards from Basic Assumptions
• Relations between Basic Assumptions and Values
• Inconsistency between Values and Basic Assumptions
• Consistency between Values and Basic Assumptions
• Unclarity between Values and Basic Assumptions
• A Mixed Culture
• The Effects of Artifacts in Relation to Values and Basic Assumptions
• Consequences for the Functionalist Funnel Model
• The Diagnosis of Organizational Culture
• Chapter 4. A Symbolic Perspective
• Symbolism
• The Creation of Meaning
• Symbols: The Expression of Meaning
• Symbols in a Semiotic Context
• The Multidimensional Reality
• Culture as System
• A Multiplicity of Interpretations
• Webs of Meaning
• Symbols
• Physical Symbols: Objects
• Behavioral Symbols: Rituals
• Verbal Symbols: Myths, Sagas and Stories
• Patterns between Symbols
• World View and Ethos
• Metaphors and Metonyms
• The Actant Model
• Relations among Key Symbolic Expressions
• Key Symbolic Expressions
• Associative Relations between Symbolic Expressions
• A Methodological Model for Interpretation
• The Spiral
• Thick Description
• Summary
• Chapter 5. A Symbolic Interpretation of Culture
• Organizational Culture in a Department
• Meeting Rituals
• A Further Cultural Interpretation
• Myths and Tradition
• Metaphors: House, System or Machine
• A Spiral of the Department
• Criss-crossing the Webs of Culture
• Organizational Culture in a Directorate
• ‘Process’ as Dominant Metaphor
• ‘Experimenters’ and ‘Seedlings’
• ‘Natural Cycle’ in the Directorate
• The A-team and the B-team
• Myths about Labelling
• A Cultural Pattern: A Conceptual Map
• A Spiral of the Directorate
• Criss-crossing the Webs of Culture
• Cultural Interfaces between the Department and the Directorate
• Culture and Organizational Environments
• Pamphlet Rituals: A Case Story
• Ritualized Interface between Department and Directorate
• The Ritual in the Two Organizational Cultures
• The Study of Cultural Interfaces
• Using the Spiral in the Interpretation of Culture
• How to Reach an Overall Cultural Interpretation
• The Methodological Principles of Symbolism
• An Ongoing Process of Interpretation
• Chapter 6. Comparison between Cultural Perspectives
• Differences between the Two Perspectives
• Theoretical and Methodological Differences
• Differences in Empirical Application
• Summary
• Similarities between the Two Perspectives
• Culture as Pattern
• Culture as Relations between Depth and Manifestations
• Summary
• Appendix 1. Organizational Diagrammes
• Appendix 2. Interviews and Observation Data
• References
• Index