DOCIDIMIT =SUMS AUTNOR Organizational Culture

"1 DOCIDIMIT =SUMS ED 252252 892 CS 504 772 AUTNOR Sotirin, Patrici* J. TITLE Organizational Culture--A Foluson Contemporary Theory/Research in OrganizationalCommunication. PUN OAT* Nov 84 DOTE 18p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meetingof the Speech Communication Associa,ion (70th,Chicago, IL, 'Tovember 1-4, 1984). PUB TYPE %Aewpoillits (120)-- Speeches/Conference Papers (150) IIDRS PRIM MY01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Communication (Thought Transfer);Communication Research; *Cultural Context; *OrganizatiOnal Communication; *Organizational Theories;*Research Methodology; Research Needs IDENTIFIERS *Organisational Culture ABSTRACT Defining organisational cultureas the amalgam of beliefs. mythology, values, and ritualsthat, even more than its product;, differentiates it from otherorganisations, this paper demonstrates its utilityas a synthesizing focus on current ideas about communication in organisations.Modes of thought, dominant paradigms, perspectiveson communication and organisations, and research approaches are reviewed usingorganisational cultureas both a basis for comparison and a point of correlation. Dividedinto nice sections, the paper reviews theoriesespoused by such researchersas Linda Putnam, George Chaney, MichaelPacanowsky, Nick O'Donnell-Trujillo, and Andrew Pettigrew.(ROD) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDITSare the best that can be made * * from the original document. * *********************************************************************** NPANIONIPPV OP INIONATIONI NATIONAL IINITITVTE OP NOUCATION EIVCATIONAI RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Uwe document his been reproduced es Nom Me person of orgenashon Of/91M* I9 it WIN' chews* Neve been mode to Improve reproductIon quests. Pow, is of we.* or op000ns stated on thss deco moot do not necessenhmoresent ots col NIE potshot) of poscie ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE--A FOCUS ON CONTEMPORARY THEORY/RESEARCH IN ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION Patricia J. Sotirin 'PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Patricia J. Sotirin TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE--A FOCUS ON CONTEMPORARY THEORY/RESEARCH INORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION An evolution in perspective oa communication inorganiza- tions and a growing disenchantment with theprevailing theoretical metaphor guiding theory/research inorganizational communication has sponsoreda diversity of assumptions and methodologies. The notion of organizational culture has recently been advanced, as an alternative metaphor. This paper demonstrates its utility as a synthesizing focus on current ideas about communication in organizations. Modes of thought, dominant paradigms, perspectiveson communication and organizations, and research approachesare reviewed using organizational culture as botha basis for comparison and a point of correlation. Page 2 I In their review of researchtraditions and directions, Putnam and Cheney issued a challenge toorganizational communication scholars "to embodya healthy pluralism, witb a critical bent."1 Other recent critiques have madesimilar appeals for alternate research directions and theoretical diversity.2 That the field is nowopen to such diversity is due in pei.t to a change in perspectiveon the nature of communication in organizations. Putnam and Cheney described itas an evolution from "a preoccupation with sender-orientedtransmission effects to a focus on communicationprocess and meaning.0 Pacanowsky and O'Donnell-Trujillo alsoobserved a change in focus but they ascribed it to.a growing disenchantmentwith systems theoryas a guiding metaphor.` In place of systems theory, theyhave championed the organizationalculture metaphor for "its ability to liberate our thinking about bothorganizations and communication.5 The notion of organizationalculture evidences the diversity currently characterizing organizationalcommunication theory/ research. Thus, it offers a useful focusfor reviewing' dominant modes of thought and bodies of assumptionsin the field. It provides both a basis for comparisonacross perspectives and a point of correlation for reviewing studiesdone on elements of culture under different metaphors. Further, calling attention to theory/research trends offersopportunity for self-monitoring.6 Accordingly, this paper will describepresent theory/research directions by focusingon the notion of organizational culture. 4 Page 3 II Academic and popular usages suggestsome preliminary parameters on the notion of".an organization's culture. While there seems to be no 'definition of "culture" enjoying academic consensus,7Prosser identified four orientations guiding current theories.8 "Evolutionalism" focuses on cultureas a cuaulatioi of collective experience; "functionalism" focuseson interconnections between social elements, emphasizing patterns and theirpersis- , tence; "history" focuses on historical data and emphasizestime and space dimensions; and "ecology" regards cultureas an adap- 'tational process, both between a culture and itsenvironment and between and within cultures. Further, Prosser named values and value orientations as "the most cultural ofcultural charac- teristics."9 Prosser's review of academicusages suggests that "culture" is a multi-dimensional, procesP1,valuative concept. Popular usage of the term "organize-0nel culture"has developed fidely acclaimed pragmatic connotations-- witness a recent observation made in The New York Times "Business Day" Section: In the 1960's, decentralizationwas the vogue in management. In the 1970's, corporate strategy became the buzzword. Now, corporate culture is the magic phrase that management consultants are breathing into the ears of American executives.10 The article vent on to define "compalny culture"as "the amalgam of beliefs, mythology, values and ritualsthat, even more than Page 14 "11 its products, differentiates it fromother companies. The pragmatic implications of the "amalgamation"were made more explicit in a business journal articledefining "traditions" as organizational culture; corporate historywas promoted as a management tool with which to draw instructiveanalogies between company cultures past and present in order to "diagnoseproblems, reassess policy, measure performance, andeven direct change."12 Present development in organizationalcommunication maintains the popular notion of cultureas a pragmatic force in organizational life. Hawes advised "characterizingorganizational pheno- "13 mena as cultural phenomena. The popular notion of cultureas an amalgamation is also evident in current organizational communication treatments. It may be helpful in this regardto consider culture a "constellation"concept, within whose field such attendant elements as values, beliefs,myths, rituals, stories, histories, routines, traditions, and folkwaysare held by the 14 force of collective symbolic meaning. Morgan affirmed that the concept of culture focuses inquiryon "the symbolic aspects of organizational life" and on howattendant elements "embody networks of subjective meaning whichare crucial for understanding how organizational realitiesare created and sustained."15 Additionally, a communication orientationassigns significance to language, valuative argument, and the intricaciesof communicative interactions as these elements both reflectand impact organizational culture. Bormsnn made clear the essential communicative nature of organizational culture; while otherelements may be important (i.e., material goods, tools, etc.), "withoutcommuni- cation these components would not result ina culture."16 :45 Page 5 III Moving from preliminary parameters toan understanding of how organizational culture both directsinvestigation and is being investigated requires recognitionof assumptive bases. The transition from idea to conceptualizationis a "leap" Cusella considered "crucial" andone that is too often theoreti- cally unsupported. 17 In concurrence, Putnam warned thatassump- tions should be made explicit because "ourbeliefs about social reality undergird the wayve theorize and operationalize organizational communication."18 Bedding observed 'that not only assumptionsbut their location should be made explicit: are they located in the researcher/ 19 theorist or in the target? An assumption common to both locations is that human behavioroccurs within some framework 20 of rationality. At the researcher/theorist locationthis assumption establishes a common startingpoint: a consensus on the amenability of social behavior to reasonedinquiry. But beyond this overarching tenet, researcher/theorists take diver- gent tacks. The most general is that of orientation. Orientation is a meta-perspectiveon the apprehension of reality; as such, it is preliminary toassumptions about the nature of reality. Simons posited a distinction between "empirical" and "anecdotal" orientations;21 Wilden developedthe distinction as one between "analog" and "digital" modes of comprehension;22 Haves described a continuum of "styles of thinking"from verbal/ 23 literary to mathematical/formal. The distinctions being made are based on mode of thought rather than method of inquiry;they influence how to ask questions, not what questionsto ask nor a Page 6 where cr how the answers are to be found. B:mons explained his bifurcation by contrast. Anecdotalists, he observed, . "muddle" their theories with state- ments about the contexts and relationships among messages. In place of single referents, they present us with levels' and layers of meaning.

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