Cultural Approach to Organizations

1. Cultural Approach to Organizations communication creates and constitutes the taken-for-granted Clifford Geertz & Michael Pacanowsky

2. Please take a stab at offering your interpretation of what the next slide means

3. MANAGERS AS AGENTS OF CHANGE “Managers who regard themselves as agents of cultural change create bull-in-a-china-shop fears for consultants who have ethical concerns about how their corporate analyses might be used.” (Griffin, p. 282)

4. CLICKER “Managers who regard themselves as agents of cultural change create bull-in-a-china-shop fears for consultants who have ethical concerns about how their corporate analyses might be used.” (Griffin, p. 282) A = CONSULTANTS WORK FOR $ ONLY; B = MANAGERS WANT TO TREAT THE WORKER AS EQUALS; C = CONSULTANTS DO NOT WANT THEIR ANALYSES USED TO MANIPULATE THE WORKERS;

5. WHAT CULTURE IS • Systems of shared meaning • Actions by which members constitute and reveal their culture(texts) • Symbolic expression

6. STUDYING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE • A Soft Science • Not an experimental science in search of law • An interpretive science in search of meaning

7. ETHNOGRAPHERS ARE INTERESTED IN • The Significance of seemingly mundane activity for the actor • Not Statistical Summaries/Frequencies • Not Generalizations, but • Localized Insight • With special attention to: • imaginative language; stories told; nonverbal rites and rituals

8. WHAT ETHNOGRAPHERS DO • Ethnographers map out social discourse • they observe • they record • they analyze • Participant Observation • participating in some event while collecting data (e.g., living in a community)

9. METAPHORS • Especially when used by members throughout an organization • E.g., “lattice organization” [lines of comm are a lattice, not a pyramid] • The importance of one-on-one communication throughout the organization • E.g., “the waterline operating principle: (pp. 292-293)[boring holes below the waterline could sink us all, so consult with others]

10. SYMBOLIC INTERPRETATION OF STORY • Three types of narrative that dramatize organizational life: • 1. Corporate Stories • these reinforce company policy • 2. Personal Stories • personnel tell about themselves (how they would like to be seen within the organization) • 3. Collegial Stories • how the organization really works

11. MANAGERS AS AGENTS OF CHANGE “Managers who regard themselves as agents of cultural change create bull-in-a-china-shop fears for consultants who have ethical concerns about how their corporate analyses might be used.” (Griffin, p. 282)

12. CONSULTING Most communication consultants are hired by top management to extend corporate control over workers. How do you feel about the use of communication analysis to extend corporate control over workers? Is this an ethical use of communication analysis? Why or why not?