Organizational Culture Theory and Critical Theory

Move from systemic and structural issues to . . .

Culture Theory Understanding organizations through a cultural lens with a

focus on values, attitudes and beliefs of members

Critical TheoryRevealing how social and technological structures within

organizations serve to oppress workers.

“Organizational Culture” FOCUS

Changes in Global Marketplace Intense Competition Reconsider Traditional Management Practices Shift from traditional, highly rationale theories to

more fluid and irrational Societal consciousness-raising regarding oppressive

atmosphere in organizations for workers, women, and minorities

Inequities and Oppressive Circumstances

Organizational Culture Theory

State University vs. Southern University Case Study Attempts to explain behavior within organizations Attempts to account for differences among organizations Description of how members of a group live and make sense

of their world together Culture provides a lens through which its members interpret,

interact with, and make sense of reality Culture helps to explain patterns of behavior and thought that

characterize individuals and the groups with which they are associated

Focus on VALUES, ATTITUDES, and BELIEFS of members

Organizational Culture Theory

Organizational culture provides meanings for routine organizational events, thereby reducing the amount of cognitive processing and energy members need to expend throughout the day.

Misunderstandings and Organizational Culture

Cultural variations are often the cause of major and minor misunderstandings as groups come into contact with one another

Value of cultural perspective is in illustrating the misunderstandings that occur within an organization

Culture may hinder organizations from progress in the future Organizations consist of “subcultures” Mergers and International Mergers are also a source of

misunderstandings

Two Competing Perspectives on Organizational Culture

Culture as Variable Something an organization “has” By-product of organizational activities Stories, rites, rituals, and heroes Culture is changeable by management Organizational “tool” for enhancing organizational effectiveness In Search of Excellence (Peters and Waterman) Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life (Deal & Kennedy) Strong cultures have four key components

Values - basic beliefs and concepts (concrete guidelines for success) Heroes - personify cultural values Rites and rituals - public performances that display and enact values Cultural network - primary carrier of cultural information (stories, myths, legends,

jokes, and gossip) Criticisms: shortsighted, more than strategy, not just a skill; culture is a complex,

communicative phenomenon rooted in the history of the organizations events.

Two Competing Perspectives on Organizational Culture

Culture as Root Metaphor Something an organization “is” as opposed to something it “has” Organizations as expressive forms, manifestations of human consciousness Culture is the process of sense-making created and sustained through communication and

interactions Rituals and stories are ‘generative processes’ the yield and shape meanings Provides deep understanding of the way members of a particular organization make sense

of the world around them The essence of an organization is culture Three Primary Elements

Complex (multi-level construction of values, beliefs and attitudes) Communicative Construction (constructed and reconstructed through interaction) Subcultures and Countercultures

Differential interaction Shared experiences Similar personal characteristics

Comparisons on page 90.

Comparison of Two Competing Perspectives on Organizational Culture

VARIABLE Something the

organization “has”; a tool, skill, or lever

Inform workplace of values

Change occurs through management directive and intervention

ROOT METAPHOR Something the

organization “is”; expressive form

Create sustain and influence culture

Change occurs through natural evolution; all members influence culture

Definitions of Organizational Culture

Three common characteristics Culture is SHARED

Frameworks of understanding and interpreting organizational phenomena Culture is INTANGIBLE

Consists of values, assumptions, norms, and frameworks Culture AFFECTS HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Construction of human interaction that affects and is affected by the behavior of all members of the organization

Other characteristics Communicative creations

Cultures are created, sustained and and influenced by and through human interaction Historical

Cultures emerge and develop over time

Organizational Culture Defined

Organizational culture is a communicatively constructed, historically based system of assumptions, values, and interpretive frameworks that guide and constrain organizational members as they perform their organizational roles and confront the challenges of their environment.

Multi-level Perspective on Culture

Schein’s Model of Organizational Culture Three Interrelated Levels of Culture

Artifacts and Creations tangible, physical, or hearable things in the environment of the organization Important to connect artifacts to values

Values Sense of what “ought” to be, as distinct from what is Common basis for operating together Cognitive constructions

Basic Assumptions - represent the essence of cultureFIVE BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

Humanity’s relationship to nature The nature of reality and truth - is truth real or discovered? The nature of human nature The nature of human activity The nature of human relationships

Critical Perspectives on Culture

Critical Perspectives . . . Reject the notion that organizations are value-free sites Organizations are sites of struggle between management and workers resulting

in domination and oppression of the powerless by the powerful. Critical Theory

Karl Marx Roots in the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt (Frankfurt School)

Knowledge is not objective; tainted by personal interests and the power structure Involvement in the inner workings of society to reveal contradictions associated

with the imbalance of power Provide critique that allows for the reversal of oppressive conditions in the future

Research goal: reveal how social and technological structures within the organization serve to oppress workers

Researchers must engage in consciousness-raising among organizational members

Critical Theory

Organization as a Site of Domination Power, Hegemony, and Concertive Control

Power - the possibility of imposing one’s will upon the behavior of other persons

Hegemony - the predominant influence over others Concertive Control - based on adherence to socially constructed norms and

values developed by organizational members as they attempt to structure the environment

Communication and Critical Theory Habermas - goal to develop a theory of society that aims at the self-

emancipation of people from domination (the ideal speech situation) The utterances are truthful There is a legitimate relationship established between the participants The utterances are sincere The utterances are comprehensible

Goal of Critical Theorists

Attempt to uncover the communication practices, whether they be interpersonal, team-based, or organization-wide, that serve to promote an unhealthy imbalance in organizations.

Critical Theory: Issues and Challenges

Creating a more ‘human(e)’ workplace Oppressive reality of organizational life does not have to continue Oppression is not an inherent part of organizational life Workplace democracy

Encourage SELF-REFLECTION Encourage COLLECTIVE DEVELOPMENT Encourage INDIVIDUAL OPPORTUNITY

Critical theory offers a means of identifying elements of constraint and oppression and prescriptions for improving the situation

The plight of women: Feminist organizational communication Examine the oppressive circumstances experienced by women in the

workplace Raise our collective consciousness regarding unequal treatment and oppression Attempts to uncover the assumptions upon which those circumstances are based Offers a variety of means by which the oppression can be alleviated

Critical Theory: Feminist Perspectives

Liberal Feminists - advocate working within the existing structure Radical Feminists - argue for a separation of men and women Materialist Feminists - gender differences are socially constructed

Goal: Seek to show the centrality of language and interaction to the circumstances women face in the gendered workplace

Organizational members are able to understand how their communicative actions and interactions contribute to either the perpetuation or the reversal of the current oppressive situation (change behavior, affect the behavior of others, help promote a more equitable and equal workplace for the sexes)

Summary

Similarities of Organizational Theory and Critical Theory Both theories call into question the theories and practices of the past and view

organizations as more than the sum of management practices and task allocation

Communication is central to both theories Most critical approaches to organizations realize that it is through

communication that oppressive structures come into being and, in turn, restrict the communication of certain groups

Communication is the way to freedom from those oppressive structures Intention of both theories do not serve to increase profits -- they excavate the

underlying values and assumptions that guide organizational life and may serve to oppress certain members

Critical theory is not as popular as organizational culture theory Most organizations are unwilling to make themselves vulnerable to

disapproval (think about how this applies to your major research project!)