Organizations as Cultures

1
Organizations as Cultures

• Gareth Morgan

2
What is Culture?

• Derived metaphorically from the idea of
  cultivation the process of tilling and
  developing land.
• Usually referring to the pattern of development
  reflected in a societys system of knowledge,
  ideology, values, laws, and day-to-day ritual.

3
Organization as a Cultural Phenomenon

• What does political scientist Robert Presthus
  mean when he states we now live in an
  organizational society?
• Important dimensions of modern culture are rooted
  in the structure of industrial society, the
  organization of which is itself a cultural
  phenomenon.

4
Organization and Cultural Context

• How does Morgan compare organizational culture of
  factories in Japan to that of the rice fields?
• What does Morgan describe to be some of the
  cultural differences between Japanese and Western
  cultures?

5
How can culture create a form of blindness?

• In providing taken-for-granted codes of action
  that we recognize as normal, it leads us to see
  activities that do not conform with these codes
  as abnormal.
• There is considerable value in adopting the
  standpoint of the cultural stranger because, in
  becoming aware of the strangers point of view,
  we can see our own in a refreshingly new
  perspective.

6
Corporate cultures and subcultures

• What is meant by the term corporate culture?
• Organizations are mini-societies that have their
  own distinctive patterns of culture and
  subculture.
• Patterns of belief or shared meaning, fragmented
  or integrated, and supported by various operating
  norms and rituals, all of which can exert a
  decisive influence on the overall ability of the
  organization to deal with the challenges that it
  faces.

7
Observing organizational culture

• How would you describe the organizational culture
  of Nipissing University?
• How does the organizational culture at Nipissing
  compare to the case examples given by Morgan?
• How is the organizational culture at Nipissing
  different from other organizations you have been
  a part of?

8
Creating Organizational Reality

• Harold Garfinkel
• The most routine and taken-for-granted aspects of
  social reality are in fact skillful
  accomplishments.
• When we disrupt the norms of everyday life the
  ordered reality of life inevitably breaks down.
  
• Karl Weick
• The process in which we shape and structure our
  realities is a process of enactment.
• Although we often see ourselves as living in a
  reality with objective characteristics,
  life...requires that we take an active role in
  brining our realities into being through various
  interpretive schemes, even though these realities
  may then have a habit of imposing themselves on
  us as the way things are.

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Organization The enactment of a Shared Reality

• When looking at organizational analysing, Morgan
  asks
• What are the shared frames of reference that make
  organization possible?
• Where do they come from?
• How are they created, communicated, and
  sustained?
• How would you answer Morgans questions?

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Aspects that shape Organizational Reality

• Organizational structure
• Rules
• Policies
• Goals
• Missions
• Job descriptions
• Standardized operating procedures

11
Critical Analysis

• What are the strengths and limitations of the
  cultural metaphor?