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Chapter 16: Organizational Culture Theory
Chapter 16
Organizational Culture Theory
Chapter Outline
I. Introduction
• Organizational life is characterized as much by change as it is by anything else.
• Change is frequently marked by such feelings as excitement, anxiety, uncertainty,
frustration, and disbelief.
• To understand organizational life beyond pop culture—including an organization’s values,
stories, goals, practices (including technological), and philosophies—Michael Pacanowsky
and Nick O’Donnell-Trujillo (1982, 1983, 1990) conceptualized Organizational Culture
Theory (OCT).
o Pacanowsky and O’Donnell-Trujillo believe that organizations can best be
understood using a cultural lens, an idea originally proposed by anthropologist
Clifford Geert.
• Pacanowsky and O’Donnell-Trujillo (1982) argue that Organizational Culture Theory
invites all researchers “to observe, record, and make sense of the communicative behavior
of organizational members” (p. 129).
• The theorists paint a broad stroke in their understanding of organizations by stating that
“culture is not something an organization has; a culture is something an organization is”
(Pacanowsky & O’Donnell-Trujillo, 1982, p. 146).
• Culture is communicatively constructed by organizational practices, and culture is distinct
to each organization.
o For the theorists, understanding individual organizations is more important than
generalizing from a set of behaviors or values across organizations.
o It is important to accept the notion that organizational culture “is created over a
period of time,” although culture is rather resilient and long-lasting.
• The essence of organizational life is found in its culture.
o According to organizational culture theorists, culture is a way of living in an
organization.
o Organizational culture includes the emotional and psychological climate or
atmosphere. This may involve employee morale, attitudes, and levels of productivity,
competition, autonomy, and cooperation (Moon, Quigley, & Marr, 2012).
o Organizational culture also includes all the symbols (actions, routines, conversations,
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etc.) and the meanings that people attach to these symbols.
o Cultural meaning and understanding are achieved through the interactions employees
and management have with one another.
II. The Cultural Metaphor: Of Spider Webs and Organizations
• When “culture” is contextualized within an organization, one needs to understand that
there is more than “what meets the eye.”
o In other words, organizational culture includes what is visible.
• Pacanowsky and O’Donnell-Trujillo adopted the Symbolic-Interpretive approach
articulated by Clifford Geertz in their theoretical model.
• Geertz remarks that people are animals “suspended in webs of significance” (p. 5).
o Geertz believes that culture is like the webs spun by a spider. That is, webs are
intricate designs, and each web is different from all others.
backstabbing, or becoming romantically involved with others.
III. Assumptions of Organizational Cultural Theory
• The first assumption pertains to the importance of people in organizational life.
o Specifically, individuals share in creating and maintaining their reality. These
o Organizational members create, use, and interpret symbols everyday.
o These symbols, therefore, are important to the company’s culture.
West, Introducing Communication Theory, 6e
• Symbols include the verbal and nonverbal communication in an organization.
o Frequently, these symbols communicate an organization’s values.
o Symbols may take the form of slogans that carry meaning.
• The third assumption of OCT pertains to the variety of organizational cultures.
o Organizational cultures vary tremendously.
o The perceptions of the actions and activities within these cultures are just as diverse
as the cultures themselves.
IV. Ethnographic Understanding: Laying It on Thick
• Geertz (1973) argues that to understand a culture one must see it from the members’ points
of view.
• Ethnography is a qualitative methodology that uncovers and interprets artifacts, stories,
rituals, and practices to reveal meaning in a culture (Pachirat, 2013).
• Geertz remarked that ethnography is not an experimental science but rather a methodology
that uncovers meaning.
• Geertz, and later Pacanowsky and O’Donnell-Trujillo, primarily subscribe to direct
observation, interviews, and participant observation in finding meaning in culture.
• Geertz relied heavily on field notes and kept a field journal, recording his feelings and
ideas about his interactions with members of a specific culture.
be understood with ethnographic principles in mind.
V. The Communicative Performance
• Pacanowsky and O’Donnell-Trujillo (1982) contend that organizational members act out
certain communicative performances, which result in a unique organizational culture.
• Performance is a metaphor that suggests a symbolic process of understanding human
behavior in an organization.
• The theorists outline five cultural performances: ritual, passion, social, political, and
enculturation.
A. Ritual Performances
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• Communication performances that occur on a regular and recurring basis are termed
ritual performances.
• Rituals include four types: personal, task, social, and organizational.
B. Passion Performances
• The organizational stories that members enthusiastically relate to others are termed
passion performances.
C. Social Performances
• Social performances are the common extensions of civility, politeness, and courtesy
used to encourage cooperation among organizational members.
D. Political Performances
• When organizational cultures communicate political performances, they are exercising
power or control.
o Acquiring and maintaining power and control is a hallmark of U. S. corporate life.
o Most organizations are hierarchical, there must be someone with the power to
E. Enculturation Performances
• The fifth type of performance identified by Pacanowsky and O’Donnell-Trujillo is
termed enculturation performance. Enculturation performances refer to how members
obtain the knowledge and skills in order to become contributing members of the
organization.
VI. Integration, Critique, and Closing
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• The majority of research conducted using OCT has been qualitative in nature since the
theorists contend that honoring the organizational “voice” is essential to understanding the
utility, and heurism.
A. Logical Consistency
• From the outset, Pacanowsky and O’Donnell-Trujillo tried to remain true to their belief
that the organization’s culture is rich and diverse; they felt that listening to the
communicative performances of organizational members was where one can understand
“corporate culture.”
o Eric Eisenberg, H. L. Goodall, and Angela Tretheway (2014), observed that
Organizational Culture Theory relies heavily on shared meaning among
organizational members.
o Eric Eisenberg, H. L. Goodall, and Angela Tretheway commented that stories are
not shared similarly across employees because different organizational stories are
told by different organizational narrators.
B. Utility
• The theory is useful because the information is applicable to nearly every employee in
an organization.
C. Heurism
• The appeal of Organizational Culture Theory has been far and wide, resulting in a
heuristic theory.
• Organizational culture has framed research examining Muslim employees (Alkhazraji,
1997), law enforcement officers (Frewin & Tuffin, 1998), student discipline (van der
Westhuizen, Oosthuizen, & Wolhuter, 2008), and nurses (Gaudine & Thorne, 2012).
Classroom Activities
1. Organizational Rituals: Doing a Mini-Ethnography
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Chapter 16: Organizational Culture Theory
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Objective: To engage students in ethnographic types of data collection to identify various
organizational rituals
Materials: None
Directions:
1. Instruct students to obtain permission from an individual to observe his/her
performance at the workplace. If observing the person is not an option, have the
2. Have students present their findings to the class. Discuss the various rituals that make
an organization unique.
2. How Your School Communicates Its Values
Objective: To assist students in identifying the various symbols organizations use to
1. Assign students to small groups, and have each group generate a list of the various
symbols used by your college or university. They should identify symbols in each of
3. Analysis of a Fictional Organization
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Chapter 16: Organizational Culture Theory
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Objective: To assist students in critically analyzing the various types of performances that
evolve as part of an organization’s culture
Materials: Videotape of a television show that portrays life in an organization, such as 30
Rock, The Office, Grey’s Anatomy, or Boston Legal
Directions:
1. After viewing the videotape, instruct students to identify the various types of
performances depicted in the organizations:
2. If time is limited, ask groups to simply choose a television show with which all group
members are familiar and to identify depictions of the various performances.
