CHAPTER 19
CULTURAL APPROACH TO ORGANIZATIONS
Outline
I. Introduction.
A. Anthropologist Clifford Geertz views cultures as webs of shared meaning, shared
understanding, and shared sensemaking.
B. Geertz’ work has focused on Third World cultures, but his ethnographic approach has
been applied by other scholars to organizations.
II. Culture as a metaphor of organizational life.
A. Initial interest in culture as a metaphor for organizations stems from initial American
fascination with Japanese corporations.
B. Corporate culture has several meanings.
1. The surrounding environment that constrains a company’s freedom of action.
3. Pacanowsky argues that culture is not something an organization has, but is
something an organization is.
III. What culture is; what culture is not.
A. Geertz and his colleagues do not distinguish between high and low culture.
B. Culture is not whole or undivided.
C. Pacanowsky argues that the web of organizational culture is the residue of
IV. Thick description: What ethnographers do.
A. Participant observation, the research methodology of ethnographers, is a time-
consuming process.
B. Pacanowsky spent over a year imbedded in Gore & Associates to understand how
members experienced the organization.
C. He advised other researches to assume an attitude of “radical naivete” to experience
the organization as a “stranger.”
D. An ethnographer has five tasks.
1. Accurately describe talk and actions and the context in which they occur.
3. Assign motivation, intention, or purpose for what people said and did.
5. Interpret what happened; explain what it means within this culture.
E. Thick description refers to the intertwined layers of common meaning that underlie
what people say and do.
1. Thick description involves tracing the many strands of a cultural web and
tracking evolving meaning.
3. The puzzlement is reduced by observing as a stranger in a foreign land.
F. Ethnographers approach their research very differently from behaviorists.
2. Pacanowsky warns that statistical analysis and classification across
organizations yields superficial results.
G. As an ethnographer, Pacanowsky is particularly interested in imaginative language,
stories, and nonverbal rites and rituals.
V. Metaphors: Taking language seriously.
A. Widely used metaphors offer a starting place for assessing the shared meaning of a
corporate culture.
B. Metaphors are valuable tools for both the discovery and communication of
organizational culture.
VI. The symbolic interpretation of story.
A. Stories provide windows into organizational culture.
B. Pacanowsky focuses on the script-like qualities of narratives that outline roles in the
company play.
C. Pacanowsky posits three types of organizational narratives.
1. Corporate stories reinforce management ideology and policies.
3. Collegial stories—usually unsanctioned by management—are positive or negative
anecdotes about others within the organization that pass on how the organization
“really works.”
D. Both Geertz and Pacanowsky caution against simplistic interpretations of stories.
VII. Ritual: This is the way it’s always been, and always will be.
A. Many rituals are “texts” that articulate multiple aspects of cultural life.
B. Some rituals are nearly sacred and difficult to change.
VIII. Can the manager be an agent of cultural change?
A. Geertz regarded shared interpretations as naturally emerging from all members of a
group rather than consciously engineered by leaders.
B. The cultural approach is popular with executives who want to use it as a tool, yet
culture is extremely difficult to manipulate.
C. Even if such manipulation is possible, it may be unethical.
D. Linda Smircich notes that communication consultants may violate the
ethnographer’s rule of nonintervention, and may even extend management’s control
within an organization.
IX. Critique: Is the cultural approach useful?
A. The cultural approach adopts and refines the qualitative research methodology of
ethnography to gain a new understanding of a specific group of people, particularly in
clarifying values of the culture under study.
B. The cultural approach is criticized by corporate consultants who believe that
knowledge should be used to influence organizational culture.
C. Critical theorists attack the cultural approach because it does not evaluate the
customs it portrays.
D. The goal of symbolic analysis is to create a better understanding of what it takes to
function effectively within the culture, not to pass moral judgment or reform society.
Key Names and Terms
Clifford Geertz
Princeton University anthropologist who pioneered the ethnographic study of culture.
Culture
Webs of significance; systems of shared meaning.
Cultural performance
Actions by which members constitute and reveal their culture to themselves and others;
an ensemble of texts.
Thick description
A record of the intertwined layers of common meaning that underlie what a particular
people say and do.
Metaphor
Clarifies what is unknown or confusing by equating it with an image that’s more familiar
or vivid.
Corporate stories
Ritual
Texts that articulate multiple aspects of cultural life, often marking rites of passage or
life transitions.
Michael Pacanowsky
Principal Changes
Kick-off Questions & Interaction Starters
• How long do you have to be a part of a culture before you really understand it?
• What are some rituals that characterize the culture of this school?
• Does an organization have “one” culture?
Suggestions for Discussion
The value of thick description
Unlike theories such as social judgment, elaboration likelihood, and uncertainty
reduction, the cultural approach to organizations is comprised of minimal theoretical
apparatus. There are no flowcharts, continua, or complex equations here, and it is telling that
only a half dozen or so terms qualify as “key” in our list. The art of ethnography, of course, is in
its application, which is why this chapter’s treatment contains so many rich examples. The
premises behind the work of Geertz and Pacanowsky are not difficult to master; their
Clifford Geertz’ impact
Geertz, who died in 2006 at age 80, was hugely influential in his “home” discipline of
cultural anthropology. Michel Foucault drew a distinction between authors who merely write
books and those whose writing establishes entire frames of reference. While Geertz described
himself as the former, few others would. It might be worth time in your class to unpack some
of his ideas or approaches, most notably thick description (see above). For Geertz, thick
description wasn’t just very detailed notes or ethnographic observation, but unpacking
meaning that shapes social life. For him, this meant spending much of his time in field
In search of excellence
In the 1980s, Tom Peters wrote on organizational culture in his books, In Search of
Excellence (with Bob Waterman), A Passion for Excellence (with Nancy Austin), and The Pursuit
of Wow. More recently, organizational scholars have moved away from Peters’ prescriptive
method of identifying excellent organizational traits and his suggestion that organizations
should alter their cultures in order to achieve certain virtues. His work is still valuable when
discussing organizations’ rituals, stories, and unique ethos. It may serve as a good launching
What about the dark side of corporate culture?
As described in the critique section of the chapter, one weakness of the cultural
approach is its unwillingness to try to alter corporate culture. Andrew likes to push his students
on this point by showing a couple of videos, one on working at Google (several videos exist on
YouTube) and another about the shoe company Zappos
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axlWBn7YQA4). Both companies feature non-traditional
working environments, with Google offering a multitude of employee perks and Zappos
featuring fun and relationship-building as core company activities. Both seek to break down
than describe. Of course, a defender of the theory might point out that it isn’t fair to fault a
theory for failing to do something that it never set out to do.
Sample Application Log
Brian
The Men’s Glee Club is an organization which has its own culture. The substance of our
culture is found in our motto: fraternitas, integritas, veritas (that is, brotherhood, integrity, and
truth). This substance is played out in our rehearsals, weekly devotional times, planned social
events, and informal gatherings. As suggested by the theory, many stories are told to help
define the Club. Every year the director talks about how we should have our Spring Banquet
Exercises and Activities
The culture of your school
A particularly useful class discussion might result from encouraging students to identify
elements of the actual organizational culture an ethnographer would uncover at your campus.
After students have described the culture as they see it, ask them to compare their construct
with the official version contained in the institution’s brochures, catalogs, website, and so
forth. (It would be a good idea to bring specific texts to class.) Ask them if the institution’s
effort to mold its culture through publications and public pronouncements is effective. When
Andrew does this, he talks students through their campus’ metaphors, stories, and rituals,
paying particularly attention to cases where the corporate story diverges from collegial stories.
To enrich the discussion further, ask students to compare the official and actual
cultures of your institution to those of other colleges or universities with which they have some
If you want to take this a step farther, you might invite a member of the admissions
team to your class to deepen the dialogue. If you look at the biographies of your campus’
admission staff, don’t be surprised if you find multiple communication majors among their
numbers. Within higher education, our students are well suited for this career path. There is
considerable overlap between what is studied in our field and what is useful and needed on
Do they live in a dorm? An example of a metaphor
Encourage your students to analyze family rituals and workplace stories. To enrich
these discussions, you can broaden their scope. What stories—corporate, personal, or
collegial—characterize their families? What rituals help to capture important cultural
components of their places of employment? What metaphors vivify or symbolize both
organizational contexts? Students might need some prodding to see metaphors used on your
campus that might carry some (intentional and unintentional) connotations. In higher
education and student development circles, for example, there is a strong push to move away
from calling residential accommodations “dorms” toward a much more neutral or favorable
term like “residence hall.” A dorm just sounds bad; it’s sterile, institutional, and certainly not
“homey.” Students are often quick to jump in, “yes, have you been to my dorm—it is those
things!”
I’d also encourage you to explore some of the stories and lore that make up the culture
of your campus. What stories paint the landscape of life on campus? Sometimes those are
historically rooted and other times more fiction than fact. It’s always interesting to us when
students don’t know which it is. For example, on my (Wheaton’s) campus, the dining hall has
Feature film and television examples
The Firm, a classic film based on the novel by John Grisham, provides an excellent
example of a distinct corporate culture that has gone over the edge. This culture’s obsession
with control also makes it a good example of Deetz’s critical approach, which is discussed in
the following chapter. Brubaker and The Shawshank Redemption provide interesting looks at
the organizational cultures of two prisons. The films A Few Good Men and An Officer and a
Gentleman provide intriguing looks at organizational cultures within the military. Wall Street
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Pulling once again on your students’ familiarity with the Harry Potter books and films,
Harry’s fascination with entering the wizarding world after growing up as a muggle is present
throughout the early parts of the series, particularly in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
(2001). Hagrid leads Harry to Diagon Alley, where for the first time he sees the world of
wizards, an organization all its own apart from muggle Britain.
The British television show The Office, as well as the American version of the same title,
provides rich examples of tensions at the workplace and of organizational culture. Just as
examples from the show are used in this chapter, I’d recommend the show for its wry wit and
candid portrayal of the working world. 30 Rock explores the behind-the-scenes culture of the
Further Resources
If you enjoy Pacanowsky’s work, we recommend “Postscript: A Small-Town Cop:
Communication In, Out, and About a Crisis,” Communication and Organizations: An Interpretive
Approach, ed. Linda Putnam and Michael Pacanowsky (Beverly Hills: Sage, 1983), 261-82.
Paul Schrodt provides an empirical examination of the relationship between group and
individual identity in “The Relationship Between Organizational Identification and
the difficulty of serving two masters. We particularly recommend this piece for those
interested in athletic organizations.
Organizational Stories
Rosemary A. Brander, Margo Paterson, and Yolande E. Chan, “Fostering Change in
Organizational Culture Using a Critical Ethnographic Approach,” The Qualitative
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Anne-Laure Fayard and John Van Maanen, “Making Culture Visible: Reflections on Corporate
Ethnography,” Journal of Organizational Ethnography, Vol. 4, 2015, pp. 4-27.
Cristian Odagiu and Marius Piţurlea, “Organizational Change Management: A Cultural
Approach,” Proceedings of the Scientific Conference AFASES, May 2012, pp. 157-163.
Applied contexts
Diane Gavin, “Starbucks Exceptionalism: An Institutional Ethnographic Exploration of Coffee
Culture in America,” Journal of Psychological Issues In Organizational Culture, Vol. 4,
2013, pp. 44–58.
John Gribas and Cal W. Downs, “Metaphoric Manifestations of Talking ‘Team’ with Team
Novices,” Communication Studies, Vol. 53, 2002, pp. 112–28.
43.
Heather C. Trepal, Ioana Boie, and Victoria E. Kress, “A Relational Cultural Approach to
Working with Clients with Eating Disorders,” Journal of Counseling & Development, Vol.
90, 2012, pp. 346–356.
Clifford Geertz
Check out Geertz’s autobiographical piece, which provides a summary both of his career and
the field of cultural anthropology in general: Clifford Geertz, “An Inconstant Profession: The
Anthropological Life in Interesting Times,” Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 31, 2002, pp.
1-19.
Other pieces of note:
Beth Eddy, “Learning to Understand Others: The Pragmatic Rhetoric of Ethnography and
Religious Ethics in Clifford Geertz’s Works and Lives,” Essays in the Philosophy of
Humanism, Vol. 22, 2014, pp. 137-157.
Clifford Geertz, “Shifting Aims, Moving Targets: On the Anthropology of Religion,” Journal of the
Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 11, 2005, pp. 1-15.
Clifford Geertz, “What is a state if it is not a sovereign? Reflections on Politics in Complicated
Places,” Current Anthropology, Vol. 45, 2004, pp. 577– 594.
Ethnography
H. L. Goodall Jr., “Deep Play in a Poker Rally: A Sunday Among the Ferraristi of Long Island,”
Qualitative Inquiry, Vol. 10, 2004, pp. 731– 767.
Miriam Dempsey Page, “Clifford Geertz and Beyond: The Interpretive Interview/Essay and
Reflexive Ethnography,” 1997, available online at
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED408618.pdf
Eric D. Teman and Maria K. E. Lahman, “Broom Closet or Fish Bowl? An Ethnographic