Ashley Roberts

FROM SPRING TO WINTER: A PATHOLOGY OF CULTURE MANAGEMENT by Ashley James Byron Roberts A Thesis Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Cardiff University Human Resource Management Section of Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University June 2014 i DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed …………………………………………………………. (candidate) Date ………………………… STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD. Signed …………………………………………………………. (candidate) Date ………………………… STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. Signed …………………………………………………………. (candidate) Date ………………………… STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed …………………………………………………………. (candidate) Date ………………………… ii SUMMARY The concept of organizational culture has been an enduring managerial fad, with more recent studies highlighting the benefits of fun workplace cultures. This thesis presents the findings from a longitudinal ethnographic study of the I.T organization, WebCo; an organization that emphasizes its unitary culture as the central driver of its success. The author conducted two separate periods of ethnographic research and interviews in order to understand the managerial attempts at sustaining WebCo’s strong organizational culture that exhibited many elements of fun. The dynamics between employees and the on-going managerial attempts at sustaining normative forms of control are used to explore the manageability of organizational culture debate. Furthermore, this thesis comprehensively analyzes the inter- relationship between organizational culture and structure. Through the longitudinal research design, this study explores the use of a range of introduced structural practices in order to sustain the organizational culture through a period of rapid growth in organizational members. The results of this study contradict any notion of unitary culture and indicate major fractures between different sub-cultures located within WebCo. The highlighted complexity of social relationships critiques the dominance of functional literature in the area of organizational culture and attention is drawn to the knowledgeable employees and their agentic power in circumventing normative forms of control. A further finding of this study is that the management of culture can be effective, but only when supported with other aspects of ‘good work’. The study concludes therefore, by noting how organizational culture can be managed, yet not as a distinct and separate activity. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to wholeheartedly thank my supervisors, Prof. Rick Delbridge and Prof. Robyn Thomas for their interest, guidance and encouragement. You make academia what it is today, and it is a great place! I would also like to thank the staff at Cardiff Business School for their friendship and just highlight a few that deserve special thanks. They are the members of the PhD team, Elsie and Lainey. I also owe a great deal of gratitude to Dr. Rachel Ashworth without whom, I would not have been in academia in the first place. My most sincere thanks also go to Dr. Sarah Jenkins for her warm friendship. To all the members of WebCo staff I say thank you for your help and assistance in making this dissertation possible. I will never forget the warm welcome that I received at the start of the second research period! Finally, it is almost impossible for me to find words that can convey my most sincere thanks to Christine and Byron, my parents and to my Sister, Lé. You truly made this thesis possible and I am eternally grateful for all of your support and love. iv For Mum and Dad v CONTENTS Title Page i Declaration ii Abstract iii Acknowledgements iv Dedication v CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Overview 7 1.2 Structure of the Rest of the Thesis 8 CHAPTER TWO: CONTROL AND CULTURE 12 2.1 Introduction 12 2.2 Strategies of Organizational Control 12 2.3 Direct Control, De-skilling and Responsible Autonomy 13 2.4 Cultural Control 15 2.5 Organizational Culture as a Critical Variable to be Managed 17 2.6 Organizational Culture as a Root Metaphor? 26 2.7 Overt and Covert Resistance to Organizational Culture 30 2.8 Organizational Cultures of Fun 33 2.9 Cynicism about Organizational Values 35 2.10 Chapter Summary 37 1 CHAPTER THREE: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES FOR 39 CULTURAL CONTROL 3.1 Introduction 39 3.2 Recruiting for Cultural Control 39 3.3 The Use of Rewards for Culture Control 45 3.4 Careers for Cultural Control 49 3.5 Coping with Growth – The Introduction of Cross-functional Teams for 51 Cultural Control 3.6 Aims and Objectives of Research 57 3.7 Chapter Summary 58 CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 59 4.1 Introduction 59 4.2 Research Philosophy 61 4.3 Research Design 61 4.3.1 Case Study Design 62 4.4 Research Methodology 64 4.4.1 Methodological Triangulation 64 4.4.2 Participant Observation 65 4.4.3 Interviews 70 4.5 Research Access, Research Site Selection, Research Participants 74 and Data Recording 4.5.1 Research Access and Research Site Selection 74 2 4.5.2 Research Participants 75 4.5.3 Data Recording 78 4.6 A Grounded Theory Methodology 83 4.7 Data Analysis and Coding at Research Period One 85 4.8 Data Analysis and Coding at Research Period Two 88 4.9 Ethical Challenges 92 4.10 Validity and Reliability 93 4.11 Summary and Reflections 97 CHAPTER FIVE: THE RESEARCH SITE 98 5.1 Introduction 98 5.2 The Computer Hosting Industry 98 5.3 The Research Site (WebCo) 99 5.4 Work Organization – 2005 100 5.4.1 Q-Team 101 5.4.2 The Sales Teams 102 5.4.3 Account Managers 103 5.4.4 Business Development Consultants 104 5.4.5 Techs 106 5.5 Chapter Summary 107 3 CHAPTER SIX: CULTURE AND STRUCTURE IN HARMONY: THE 109 MANIFESTATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE, THE MANAGEMENT OF MEANING AND ‘GOOD WORK’ 6.1 Introduction 109 6.2 A Charismatic Cultural Creator 109 6.3 Reinforcing Organizational Culture through Artefacts 111 6.4 Spectacles of Organizational Culture 113 6.5 Building a Successful Culture – Recognizing The Need for Structure; 115 Recruitment and Career Development 6.5.1 The Importance of Recruiting for Cultural-fit 116 6.5.2 The Use of Psychometric Testing for Recruitment and Career 119 Development 6.6 Structural Factors of Autonomy and Rewards: The Importance of 120 Context in Building a Successful Culture 6.6.1 Building the Culture, Together 121 6.6.2 The Importance of Autonomy and Rewarding Success 124 6.7 Chapter Summary 128 CHAPTER SEVEN: CULTURE V STRUCTURE: 129 BUREACRATIZATION, A LEADERSHIP CHANGE AND ‘POOR WORK’ 7.1 Introduction 129 7.2 The Bureaucratization of Culture Management 129 7.3 Keeping the Religion? 132 7.4 The Introduction of Economic Value Added and 133 4 Reduction in Celebratory Rewards 7.5 The Net Promoter Score® 135 7.6 A Leadership Change 138 7.7 The Need for Higher Pay? 140 7.7.1 The Account Management Pay Contradiction 141 7.7.2 The Pay Review Team 143 7.8 A WebCo Career? 150 7.9 Summary 154 CHAPTER EIGHT: CHANGES TO WORK ORGANIZATION AND 156 RECRUITMENT: FORMALIZATION, ‘FUSTERS’ AND FRAGMENTATION 8.1 Introduction 156 8.2 The Changes to WebCo Recruitment 158 8.2.1 The Need for a Formalized Recruitment Department 158 8.2.2 The 2006 WebCo Recruitment Process 160 8.2.3 Candidate’ Knowledgeability in the On-Site Interviews 161 8.2.4 The Implications of a Changed Managerial Practice 162 8.2.5 A New Rationale for Candidate Instrumentality? 163 8.2.6 Employees’ Thoughts on the Psychometric Test 164 8.2.7 Established Employees’ Thoughts on the New Recruits 166 8.3 Changes to Work Organization 168 8.4 The ‘Tech Cycle’ 172 8.5 The Introduction of Cross-Functional Teams – ‘Fusters’ 176 8.6 Chapter Summary 181 5 CHAPTER NINE: ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS 184 9.1 Introduction 184 9.2 Managing Employee Subjectivity: The Successful Combination of 186 Cultural and Structural Controls 9.3 Person - organization Fit or the Re - presentation of Fit 191 9.4 Bewitched or Belittled? Work Re - Organization through 193 ‘Fusters’ and Formalization 9.5 A Cultural Career? Pay, Promotion and the Shift from Spring to Winter 196 9.6 Directions for Future Research 199 BIBLIOGRAPHY 201 APPENDICES 232 Appendix I: Interview Schedule for WebCo Employees (2005) 232 Appendix II: Interview Schedule for WebCo Employees (2006) 233 Appendix III: Interview Schedule for WebCo Employees (2005) 234 Appendix IV: Interview Schedule for WebCo Employees (2006) 235 Appendix V: The Organizational Roles at WebCo (2005) 236 Appendix VI: The Organizational Roles at WebCo (2006) 237 6 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Overview The concept of managing organizational culture has attracted much interest and many different taxonomies have been offered to help understand its complexities (Ogbonna and Harris, 1998; Martin and Frost, 1996; Alvesson, 2002). The general trend throughout the offered taxonomies moves from the practitioner orientated, technical diagnoses of culture production to interpretivist accounts that aim to understand and explain how individuals make sense of organizational culture. The body of research into organizational culture has also attracted many a critical scholar with their aims of emancipating employees by illuminating the domination of totalizing and monolithic culture management programmes (for example, Willmott, 1993). More recently, critical scholars have focussed their attention on the concept of fun cultures at work which appears to be a popular trend within managerial practice (see Bolton and Houlihan, 2009).

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