2011-02490

Katigbak, Maria Elena Grace D.

Cultural Approach to Organizations

It would be interesting to note if negative collegial stories within organizations (which
have been rampant in any internal situation) affect its performance and if the proliferation of
these stories may be enough to create a (semblance of a) counter-culture.
The formation of a counter-culture may imply many things, some of which are the
members strong adherence to the organization to care enough to start an initiative to change
things within the organization and the adverse effect of negative collegial stories has on
internal communication within the organization.
I will then seek to observe an organization known to have such an environment within the
University of the Philippines, Diliman, through referrals by members of any organization
with such problems.
This study will focus on the proliferation, if any, of bad collegial stories about a certain
person or group of people being talked about more often than most. Should an issue evolve
into an outright bashing of these members of the organization, I will then note if these are
enough to create a counter-culture or if the person or people being talked about will choose to
leave the organization.
More often than not, if the person being talked about does not hold a certain position of
power within the organization, then the individual will choose to leave. But, from experience,
there are individuals who choose to gather comrades and create a tentative and tense
environment within the organization.
I once had this experience in my international organization wherein this specific person
being bashed in our local committee took his position to the national committee and he is
currently in control of the finances of our local committee, which creates a tense environment
in our organization because our local committee is still his home organization. Whenever he

has work to do back in our local committee, people are tentative when communicating with
him.
The study will range for a whole school year, so that all functions within the organization
may be covered. All functions must be covered because, as we have established in other
communication classes, communication is heavily influenced by our environment. To cover
the cost of environmental and work bias (example, if the organization does not have much
work to do during a certain time of the year, they may be more open to gossip than when they
are pressured during their work/peek season), a whole-year observation will be implemented.
The study will also be limited to UP, Diliman organizations for convenience of
observations.
I will act as a non-participant observation and let things run their own course, so as not to
change any manner of communication within the organization. I will pose as an applicant and
strive to be accepted within the organization. The person who referred me to the organization
will be asked not to disclose any information about my study until after the study has been
conducted and the organization has been asked whether or not I will be allowed to share my
findings.