Org Culture

1. CULTURE
ORGANIZATIONALCh. 6

2. @client
Your Company Name
Here
@client @client
www.website.c
om
EXPERIENCE WITH
ORGANIZATIONS
LET’S
DISCUSS
Tell us about your first job. What was your role?
What was the organization like?
How would you describe the communication?
Did you feel like a “real” member?

3. WHAT IS
CULTURE?
• Specialized lifestyle of a group of people
• Values, beliefs, artifacts, ways of behaving,
ways of communicating
• Includes language, modes of thinking, laws,
religion, etc.

4. ENCOUNTERING A NEW CULTURE
TRAVEL ABROAD
Acculturation vs. Enculturation

5. THE ACCULTURATION PROCESS
Same with acculturation to a new org. culture

6. WHAT IS
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
‣ Through communication org. members express their
values & create artifacts that represent the culture.
‣ Individuals (heroes/villains)
‣ Language & stories
‣ Norms
‣ Rituals
2. Values: guide behaviors & decisions
3. Assumptions: taken for granted beliefs
1. Artifacts: visible manifestations of invisible culture
4. Interactions: culture emerges from interactions

7. Communication within organizations Organizations as communication
TWO DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION
vs.

10. Do you see
these 6 values
guide our
behaviors &
decisions?

11. @client @client @client
A DEFINITION
THEORY
Process by which a social
system, or structure,
produces and reproduces
itself through members’
use of resources and
rules (i.e. patterns of
behavior members
learned in the past).
STRUCTURATION
1. Every interaction either
challenges or reinforces
the present structure
An organization exists only
as far as members adhere to
rules and norms
2.
Social systems both constrain
and enable members:
‣ Constrain: tendency to
reproduce same system
‣ Enable: opp. to change
system with new rules
3.
- Giddens, 1984
Culture is something an org
DOES, not something it has.

12. ORGANIZATIONAL
NORMS
ORGANIZATIONAL
RULES
versus
Indicate which behaviors
are expected, obligatory,
preferred, or prohibited.
Explicitly codified norms

13. What would happen if we stopped enacting or
“reproducing” these rules on a daily basis?
FridaysforFuture

14. EXAMINING
ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE

15. SCRIPT
ANALYSIS
METAPHOR
ANALYSIS
REFLECTIVE COMMENT
ANALYSIS
RITUALANALYSIS
ETHNOGRAPHIC
ANALYSIS

16. 1. Find frequently repeated story
2. Network(s) in which story is told
3. Rites or rituals
4. Heroes and villains
5. Values and behaviors promoted by story
SCRIPT ANALYSIS

17. Examining “office” culture

18. 1. Identify a ritual
2. Classify the ritual
3. Consider characteristics of the ritual
4. Draw conclusions about values and practices of
organization’s culture
RITUAL ANALYSIS

19. 1. Rites of passage:
2. Rites of degradation:
3. Rites of enhancement:
4. Rites of renewal:
5. Rites of conflict reduction:
6. Rites of integration:
TYPES OF RITUALS
induction, promotion, retiring
demotion
recognition
retreats, PD
grievance, appeal
party, happy hour

20. Examining “office” culture

21. 1. Interviewees talk about work
experience
2. Identify common metaphorical
language
3. Group metaphors into unifying
themes
4. Draw conclusions about culture
METAPHOR ANALYSIS

22. Enron: Machine Metaphor
How could this metaphor have encouraged its
unethical business practices?

23. REFLECTIVE COMMENT
ANALYSIS
1. Gather decision-making comments
2. Identify criteria or decision-making premises used
3. Draw conclusions about values of the organization

24. ETHNOGRAPHY
1. Gain access to join the organization
2. Participate and observe organization
3. Conduct interviews
4. Write description of organizational culture

25. ETHNOGRAPHY

27. 3CULTURE
APPROACHES TO
1. Integrated Approach
2. Differentiated Approach
3. Fragmented Approach

28. INTEGRATED APPROACH
• Focuses on umbrella culture for an org
• Focuses on artifacts, values, assumptions
that are common across org.members

29. DIFFERENTIATED APPROACH
• Focus on differences that cause divisions
• Looks at subcultures

30. FRAGMENTED APPROACH
• Focuses on complexity of organizations by
looking at ambiguity & inconsistency
• No singular cultural understanding

32. UNDERCOVER BOSS EXAMPLE