You are on page 1of 3

Title: Organizational Culture and Control , By: Wilson, Fiona M.

,
Organizational Behaviour, 1999
Database: Business Source Premier

Section: Power, Control and Resistance


Organizational Culture and Control
Contents
CULTURE IS A POPULAR explanatory concept frequently used to describe a
company, a rationale for people's behaviour, as a guideline for action, a cause
for condemnation or praise, or a quality that makes a company ‘what it is’
(Kunda,
The 1992). Organizational culture is defined by Hofstede (1991:262) as
‘the
Language of programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of
collective
one organization from another’. Since the late 1970s a vast body of literature
Redundancy
has looked at the importance of organizational culture for organizational
outcomes (Smircich and Calas, 1987). For some the emphasis has been on
improving efficiency, growth, and success (e.g. Ouchi, 1981; Peters and
Waterman,
Breaking the 1982). Peters and Waterman, in looking for excellence in
organizational
Boundaries culture, place considerable emphasis on the importance of
positive reinforcement, rewarding desirable behaviour. At IBM a senior
of Personal
manager
Time at adopted the practice of writing out a cheque as a reward for
achievements
Work? he observed as he wandered about the organization. It is
thought that positive reinforcement is practised in many Japanese, British,
French organizations often ‘with considerable influence on employee
motivation and performance’ (Morgan, 1986). Well-known examples of
companies
Culture andwho claim to have changed their culture are British Airways, who
attempted
Change to change the emphasis on flying routes to an emphasis on
company service, and Nissan, who claimed they achieved an entirely new
sentiment and identification from their labour force (Ackroyd and Crowdy,
1990).
STOP
Interest in culture was sparked by Japanese business success, which was
thought to arise from competitive advantage secured through national and
corporate culture (Ouchi, 1981; Pascale and Athos, 1982). Through the
1970s
MachoJapanese industry managed to establish a solid reputation for quality,
reliability,
Managersvalue, and service—attributes that others wished to emulate. A large
and profitable literature has capitalized on the idea that culture can be
are Not
diagnosed
Working and changed to improve organizational effectiveness. Deal and
Kennedy (1982: 15) claim, for example, that with a strong culture ‘a company
can gain as much as one or two hours of productive work per employee per
day’. The prescriptive view shows how organizational culture can be
designed
Culture and and managed through the ‘hearts and minds’ of employees. The
ideal employees are those who have internalized the organization's goals and
Gender
values and no longer require rigid control. The trend has been towards a
‘normative control’ (Etzioni, 1961), an attempt to direct the efforts of
employees by controlling the underlying experiences, thoughts, and feelings
that
STOPguide their actions (Kunda, 1992: 11). Inherent conflict can be
transformed into cooperation in the interests of both employee and employer.
Through education, personal development, growth, and maturity employees
become better, healthier people, saved from alienation and conflict. As
Johnson
Jobs thatand Gill (1993: 33) note, it is not clear whether the organizations
Deal
WomenandDo? Kennedy and Peters and Waterman observed developed in the way
they have through chance and spontaneity (social control) or through
conscious intent (administrative control).

Culture and
Hierarchy
Discussion
Point

Beauty!

Culture and
Masculinity

A Small
Practical
Problem and
Norms of
Behaviour in
a Gliding
Club

STOP

Computing
and Culture

Culture and
Race

Other
Aspects of
Culture

Example 1

Example 2

Questions for
Further Work

You might also like