Cultural Theories 1975 - 2020

By OrgComm
  • Study of Organizational Values

    Study of Organizational Values
    Harold Lloyd Goodall Jr finds that organizational values can be found in artifacts, cartoons, workspace layout, and the arrangement of cars in an employee parking lot. This is significant because it means that organizational values are no longer limited to what is stated in a formal publication.
    ~ Rylee Benton
  • T.S. Eliot

    T.S. Eliot
    Eliot practiced a solid impact on English American culture from the 1920s until late in the century. His experiments in word usage, style, and versification renewed English poetry, and in a progression of essays, he broke old orthodoxies and raised new ones. He was significant because he had valuable insights on culture. -Christina Mendez
  • Anticipatory Socialization (1949)

    Anticipatory Socialization (1949)
    Through anticipatory socialization, people learn about their work through two forms of communication: vocational and organizational. Anticipatory vocational socialization will take place throughout ones life and Anticipatory organizational socialization will happen when one learns about a specific job and organization. -Alejandra Quayle
  • Social Trends- The Practical View

    Social Trends- The Practical View
    Social trends began in 1960 post war- these trends basically set the stage for workplace environments today. We are still operating with many of these structures- The Practical view seeks actionable advice and specific strategies for employee satisfaction. Culture is seen as an organizational feature to be used to the companies advantage.
  • Definition of Man, Kenneth Burke

    Definition of Man, Kenneth Burke
    Another way to view organizations comes from Kenneth Burke. His essay, "Definition of Man" helps us understand companies as symbolic constructions. Burke explains that symbols are instruments of understanding and action. Burke often refers to humans as symbol-using animals. He helped view organzational culture and communication a different way. Kaeler Moore
  • "Definition of Man" by Kenneth Burke

    "Definition of Man" by Kenneth Burke
    This was an essay written by Kenneth Burke explaining the people are distinct from animals by virtue of their use of symbols to communicate, their utilization of negativity, their separation from nature, and their reality in rising and dropping social structures, and their want to become superior than they already are. This is significant because Burke helps us understand "why symbols both represent other things and evoke other symbolic possibilities." -Christina Mendez
  • Critical Cultural

    Critical Cultural
    Originating in the legal arena, Critical Race Theory explores the role of race in questions of justice, equal access, and opportunity. Borrowing from the work of Matsuda et.al, Orbe and Harris summarize six key assumptions helpful for understanding critical race theory (125-6).
    (xueyan zhang)
  • The convulsive 1968

    The convulsive 1968
    In 1968, the world was shaken in many ways. It was a year in which a generation woke up, but there was also repression and violence. French students and the American people took to the streets to protest. Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Soviet Union. In Mexico City, students were repressed 10 days before the Olympic Games. Civil and peaceful resistance became a massive form of protest. Governments were unaware of the benefits of the Contingency Theory (Paulo Tort).
  • Socialist Feminism

    Socialist Feminism
    Extending Marxist feminist thought, Socialist Feminists believe that women’s unpaid labor in the home is one of the fundamental causes of sexism and oppression of women. Moreover, patriarchy, the system of sex oppression is connected with other forms of oppression, such as race and class.
    (xueyan zhang)
  • A Thick Description- Clifford Geertz

    A Thick Description- Clifford Geertz
    Pioneering anthropologist produces a "thick description" of the cultures, in which an organization requires an exceedingly detailed observation of daily life. This was a significant development because it leads to the development of ethnography.
    ~ Rylee Benton
  • Storytelling System

    Storytelling System
    "When an organization is viewed as a system- in this case, a storytelling system- modification represent feedback. Paying attention to stories and how they change can be important for employees and managers alike (Mitroff & Kilmann, 1975)" (p.136). Ivana Huang
  • Storytelling System

    Storytelling System
    Storytelling System modifications represent feedback. Paying attention to stories and how they change can be important for employees and managers alike (Mitroff & Kilmann, 1975). Organizational stories may be found in speeches and casual conversations, as well as in employee newsletters, company brochures, strategic planning statements, corporate advertisements, fund-raising campaigns, and training videos.
    Presley Gilcrease
  • Period: to

    Cultural Studies Theories

  • Definition of Culture Emerges

    Definition of Culture Emerges
    In 1976, Anthropologist Marshall Sahlins, known for his ethnographic work in the pacific and for his contributions to anthropological theory, defined culture as "meaningful orders of people and things" (pg. 125). This definition helped lay the foundation for which future scientists, academic writers and everyday people would build upon in hopes of better understanding our ever-changing concept of culture. - Lauren Sarter
  • Theory Z, William Ouchi

    Theory Z, William Ouchi
    William Ourchi's Theory Z explains that the success of the company depends on their ability to adapt to their surrounding culture. This approach helped create better organizational culture and guided countless companies. Kaeler Moore
  • William Ouchi’s (1981) Theory Z

    William Ouchi’s (1981) Theory Z
    Theory Z focuses on growing employee loyalty towards the company by providing a stable life long job that focuses on the well-being of the employee. Theory Z also holds that the survival and prosperity of organizations highly depends on their adaptability to surrounding cultures. -Alejandra Quayle
  • Theory Z

    Theory Z
    William Ouchi proposes a Theory Z type of organization that would integrate individual achievement and advancement while also developing a sense of community in the workplace. - Monica Haverkamp
  • William Ouchi's- Theory-Z

    William Ouchi's- Theory-Z
    Created by William Ouchi in 1918 following the economic boom. The idea is that the survival and prosperity of an organizations depends on the ability to adapt to surrounding cultures. In other words, focuses on stability and well-being of the employee, emphasizing new cultural values into the work environment and reducing negative influences. This was significant in organizational communication because business that were operating under the hierarchy were failing.- Jasmine Moreno
  • Theory Z (1981)

    Theory Z (1981)
    Ouchi's Theory Z reflects on the survival & prosperity of organizations depend heavily on their ability to adapt to their surrounding cultures. Yolanda Scott
  • Theory Z - EF

    Theory Z - EF
    Theory Z was developed in 1981 by William Ouchi. . The theory is about how the “survival and prosperity of organizations
    depend heavily on their ability to adapt to their surrounding cultures.” The significance of this theory is that it was based on successful Japanese companies and was used as a model for American companies. Edith Flores
  • Willian Ouchi's Z theory

    Willian Ouchi's Z theory
    The Z theory is associated with the Japanese management style which says that people have a psychological need to work, that they wish to fulfill personally and exercise responsibilities. Japanese management describes employees as loyal and wanting to improve teamwork, and the organization. In another study, Ouchi highlighted in a US company a greater loyalty to the company, a strong collective orientation, a more moderate specialization and a greater confidence in the informal controls.
    Marité
  • Theory Z - William Ouchi

    Theory Z - William Ouchi
    Organizations survival is based on ability to adapt to surrounding cultures. Companies must be able to evolve, and accept new values into the workplace. This is significant, because companies still operate with this same value today. Companies that are not able to change with the times will always fail. Malikka Smith
  • Willian Ouchi's Z theory

    Willian Ouchi's Z theory
    The content of theoretical research is the relationship between people and business, people and work. The success of all enterprises is inseparable from trust, sensitivity and intimacy. Therefore, it advocates the use of frankness, openness and communication as the basic principles to implement "democratic management." Z theory promotes stable employment, high productivity, high ethics and employee satisfaction.
    ---Siyu Liu(Melody)
  • In Search For Excellence by Peters and Waterman

    In Search For Excellence by Peters and Waterman
    Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman Jr. wrote their book after studying 62 successful companies and detailing 8 culture commonalities. These were a bias for action, close relations to the customer, autonomy and entrepreneurship, productivity through people, hands-on/value-driven, stick to the knitting, simple form, and simultaneous loose-tight properties. According to the practical view, these important features allow companies improve their cultures and productivity, even today. Julia Siebelink
  • Corporate Cultures

    Corporate Cultures
    Terrence E. Deal and Allan A. Kennedy defined the elements of strong cultures. The health of the companies bottom line is not ultimately guaranteed by attention to the rational aspects of managing—financial planning, personnel policies, and cost controls, What’s more, important to long-term prosperity is the company’s culture—the inner values, rites, ritual.
    -Shavonda Coleman
  • The Practical View

    The Practical View
    This view of organizational culture responds to manager's desire for actionable advice and specific communication strategies (pg. 133). In 1982, two successful and germinal books provided the foundation for this view. The first was titled Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life, and the second was In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Corporations, which made the New York Times best seller list for nonfiction. - Lauren Sarter
  • The Practical View - EF

    The Practical View - EF
    McKinsey & Company outlined elements for company cultures. One book discussed the importance of support, vision and values, heroes, rites and ritual, and networks. The other book highlighted action, close relations to the customer, autonomy and entrepreneurship, productivity, hands-on, stick to the knitting, simple form, lean staff, and simultaneous loose-tight properties. The theory is modeled after successful company cultures and are a basis for improving effectiveness. Edith Flores
  • McKinsey 7-S Framework~In Search of Excellence

    McKinsey 7-S Framework~In Search of Excellence
    Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman noted that strong organizational cultures yield strong companies. Organizational culture develops from shared assumptions, beliefs and values exhibited. For a strong culture to emerge, there must be alignment with the organization's strategic context and the ability to adapt to environmental changes. They developed the McKinsey 7S strategy and organizational effectiveness; t
    ~Shavonda Coleman
  • The Interpretive View - EF

    The Interpretive View - EF
    The research began in 1983 and was organized by Putman and Pacanowsky. It treats “culture as a process that is socially constructed in everyday communicative behaviors among all members of the organization.” It is significant because it emphasizes the importance of members establishing the culture of an organization. Edith Flores
  • The Interpretive Theory of Culture

    The Interpretive Theory of Culture
    Linda Putnam and Michael Pacanowsky rejected the idea that culture within an organization can be controlled, like the Practical View, and instead say it emerges in daily symbols or interactions. These little details of constant communication and organizational structure form stories or narratives, which merge to form the company's values. No single story is a complete picture of the company, however. This is important because one story taken out of context can be very misleading. Julia Siebelink
  • Unique Sense of Pace-Pacanowsky & O'Donnell-Trujillo

    Unique Sense of Pace-Pacanowsky & O'Donnell-Trujillo
    Symbolic expression that defines an organization culture. These elements help to learn more about or transform an organizations culture.They are understood differently depending on approach and culture content.-Jasmine Moreno
  • Putnam & Pacanowsky (1983)

    Putnam & Pacanowsky (1983)
    Putnam and Pacanowsky pioneered interpretive methodology
    while looking for new models of effective organizations and only found an overly rational, mechanistic view of communication throughout the entire field of organizational communication. They were able to turn the perspective towards interpretation. -Alejandra Quayle
  • Ethnography

    Ethnography
    The most common methodology has its roots in anthropology and that is ethnography, or the writing of culture (Clifford & Marcus, 1985)- Patricia Jones
  • The Interpretive View

    The Interpretive View
    Those who subscribe to an interpretive view treat culture as a process that is socially constructed in everyday communicative behaviors among all members of an organization. They "find it ridiculous to talk of managing culture. Culture cannot be managed; it emerges. Leaders don't create cultures; members of the culture do" (Martin, 1985)- Patricia Jones
  • A New Generation, Todd Gitlin

    A New Generation, Todd Gitlin
    The economic enivironment after WW2 encouraged a cultural approach to organizations. Todd Gitlin, a sociologist says that the culture after the war created a new generation with different values. This shows the importance of culture and the impact it has on organizational culture. Kaeler Moore
  • Organizational Assimilation

    Organizational Assimilation
    As a new employee assimilates into an organization and their initial expectations are violated, they attempt to make sense of their job and the organization. This is significant because it explains how employees learn the new requirements of their roles and what is considered a normal pattern of thought and behavior.
    Gina Baldridge
  • Dennis Mumby: Ideology function as a form of control

    Dennis Mumby: Ideology function as a form of control
    In recent years, the proliferation of protest and resistance phenomena has been the subject of increasing attention on the part of management researchers.The concept of hegemony describes the principles underlying a new consensus that is established around the cult of performance, on the principle of rationality, and is diffused by management devices affecting all areas. The hegemony of management is, however, never complete.
    Marit Ita Ilunga
  • Todd Gitlin on Social Trends in organizations.

    Todd Gitlin on Social Trends in organizations.
    We have seen an unprecedented development of functions and services dedicated to communication strategies in companies and more generally in all categories of organizations (private, public, associative). This has led to the development of a dynamic professional sector, both through the emergence or the transformation of information-communication professions at the service of organizations in the broadest sense. We can see how more accessible and open information evolved throughout time.
    Marité
  • Metaphors- Cultural Elements

    Metaphors- Cultural Elements
    Metaphors were introduced to the workplace in 1987 as a way to group unfamiliar experiences in the workplace into a familiar one. Using words like "family, machine, or ship" brought those within the organizations together. - Malikka Smith
  • Organizational Assimilation

    Organizational Assimilation
    The experience of organizational assimilation involves both surprise and sense making (Louis 1980).As new employees initial expectations are violated, they attempt to make sense of their job and the organization. Newcomers learn the requirements of his/her role & what the organization and its members consider to be normal patterns of behavior and thought. Two dynamic processes involve the organizational attempts to socialize the new members & the current organization members. Presley Gilcrease
  • Integration Perspective

    Integration Perspective
    The Integration Perspective
    Portrays culture in terms of consistency and clarity and focuses those manifestations of a culture that have mutually consistent interpretations. The cultural members agree about what they need to do and why they need to do it. No room for ambiguity, the organizations culture is portrayed as monologue and not dialogue.
    Letitia Scott
  • Resistance: Challenging organizational power and control (1990)

    Despite the engage in resistance-distancing and defending themselves from organizational power. Resistance to organizational domination can take a variety of forms, ranging from large-scale social movement, including boycotts and strikes, to individual tactics designed to carve out a small but satisfying space of agency, action, and autonomy.
    • Tuan Anh Cao (David)
  • Anticipatory Socialization

    Anticipatory Socialization
    The stage people learn about work through communication. Two forms are vocational and organization.
    Children and adolescents acquire a general knowledge of accepted attitudes toward work, the importance of power and status in organizations and of work as a source of meaningful relationships.
    Letitia Scott
  • Ethnography

    Ethnography
    In writing an ethnographic account of Disneyland, John Van Maanen, a management professor at MIT, relied on his recollection of working there while he was a student as well as his more recent interactions with employees and guests. Unlike traditional research methods in the social sciences in which the researcher maintains distance from the group under study, ethnography requires the researcher to become immersed in the culture by experiencing it firsthand. - Monica Haverkamp
  • Differentiation Perspective

    Differentiation Perspective
    Subcultures can develop and coexist in an organization and can exist in harmony, conflict, or indifference. Subcultures are viewed as “islands of clarity,” with ambiguity moved outside the subculture. This is significant because it gives employees a place to belong in an organization and a way to understand and interpret the organization. This also values diversity in an organization as subcultures view and interpret the organization differently.
    Gina Baldridge
  • The Taxonomy of Perspectives

    The Taxonomy of Perspectives
    Joanne Martin’s perspectives, "Integration, Differentiation, and Fragmentation," are the glasses scholars can put on to study organizational culture. Integration says cultural members agree with no ambiguity. Differentiation inversely focuses on how members are different. Finally, fragmentation studies ambiguity as the deciding feature of culture. A yearlong study of this taxonomy showed that all three perspectives should be used for a well-rounded cultural analysis. Julia Siebelink.
  • Postmodern View to Org (1992)

    Postmodern View to Org (1992)
    Joanne Martin (1992) perspectives on culture can be characterized as highlighting integration, differentiation, or fragmentation. Each perspective reveals: orientation of consensus, relations among divergent manifestations, and orientation to ambiguity. Yolanda Scott
  • Organizational Culture

    Organizational Culture
    Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus Edgar Schein(1992) offers this variation " An organizational culture is a pattern of shared basic assumptions that have been invented, discovered, and /or developed by a group as it learns to cope with problems of external adaptation and internal integration. Patricia Jones
  • Ethnography in Organizations

    Ethnography in Organizations
    In 1993, Helen Schwartzman wrote the text, Ethnography in Organizations. In it, she discussed that "nothing could be more commonplace than meetings in organizations"(pg. 155). Schwartzman reviewed multiple components of culture, including: power, domination, resistance to domination, gender, race, class division, & the concepts of time & money in order to better understand how organizations can improve communication both internally & externally. Her book is still credited today. - Lauren Sarter
  • Power and Ideology (1993)

    The term ideology refers to our basic, often unexamined, assumptions about how things are or ought to be. An ideology is a system of ideas that serves as the basis of a political or economic theory.
    • Tuan Anh Cao (David)
  • Socialization: Integrating New Members into Organizational Cultures

    Socialization: Integrating New Members into Organizational Cultures
    Socialization is the process by which people learn the rules, norms, and expectations of a culture over time. A cultural approach that acknowledges transitioning new members into an organization requires helping the new members integrate into the culture.
    Letitia Scott
  • Engineering Culture

    Engineering Culture
    Gideon Kunda studied the power of relationships on workers lives and how the company culture claims it is a non-authoritarian, informal, and flexible work environment that enhances and rewards individual commitment, initiative, and creativity while promoting personal growth. Kunda stated, however, that these pervasive efforts mask an elaborate and subtle form of normative control in which the members' minds and hearts become the target of corporate influence.
    -Shavonda Coleman
  • Socialization

    Socialization
    Socialization is the process by which people learn the rules, norms, and expectations of a culture over time and thereby become members of that culture. In terms of gender development, children receive praise if they engage in culturally appropriate gender displays. When aggressiveness in boys is met with acceptance, but a girl’s aggressiveness earns them little attention, the two children learn different meanings for aggressiveness as it relates to their gender development.
    (Xueyan Zhang)
  • The Hidden Power of Legitimation: Manufactured Consent and Concertive COntrol (1972 and 1999)

    Manufactured consent, in which employees at all levels willingly adopt and enforce the legitimate power of the organization, society, or system of capitalism.
    Concertive control occurs when employees police themselves, developing the means for their own control.
    • Tuan Anh Cao (David)
  • Socialization: Integrating New Members Into Organizational Culture

    Socialization: Integrating New Members Into Organizational Culture
    Socialization is the process by which new employees understand corporate policies, culture, and company hierarchy. It helps new employees understand the company culture and encourages teamwork between new and existing employees. Thereby increasing productivity and helping to reduce employee turnover.
    ----Siyu Liu (Melody)
  • Socialization

    Socialization
    Socialization is the process by which people learn the rules, norms, and expectations of a culture over time and thereby become members of that culture. In terms of gender development, children receive praise if they engage in culturally appropriate gender displays. When aggressiveness in boys is met with acceptance, but a girl’s aggressiveness earns them little attention, the two children learn different meanings for aggressiveness as it relates to their gender development.
    (Xueyan Zhang)
  • Fragmentation Perspective

    Fragmentation Perspective
    Fragmentation Perspective focuses on the ambiguity within organizational cultures. They focus on the experience and expression within these organizations. With fragmentation perspective there is no consensus between the subcultures of an organization.
    -Sarah Elmore
  • Socialization: Integrating New Members Into Organizational Culture

    Socialization: Integrating New Members Into Organizational Culture
    Socialization is the process of people becoming accustomed to the culture. Rules, norms and expectations are learned and members are assimilated into the culture. Socialization of members is an essential part of any culture and must begin at an early age.
    -Sarah Elmore
  • Longevity of Org (2004)

    Longevity of Org (2004)
    Collins/Porras reflects on organization longevity can be sustained by a culture that preserves its core purpose and values; they are open to change. Yolanda Scott
  • Organizational Longevity

    Organizational Longevity
    Created by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras; The idea that a culture that preserves it core purpose and values will remain open to change and opportunity. Creates strong homogenous culture based on 4 characteristics. Significance it that it is seen as strong and its members feel as sense of purpose- Jasmine Moreno
  • Face-to-face communication

    Face-to-face communication
    "A study by Jennifer Walldeck, Dave Seibold, and Andrew Flanagin (2004) of the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that the most important predictor of effective socialization is still face-to-face communication, and the least important predictor is traditional technologies, including handbooks, other written materials, or telephone conversations" (p.147). Ivana Haung
  • Advanced communication and information technologies (ACITs)

    Advanced communication and information technologies (ACITs)
    "According to communication technology scholars Andrew Flanagin and Jennifer Waldeck (2004), Advanced communication and information technologies (ACITs) such as websites, intranets, chat groups, instant messaging, smartphones, videoconferencing, online databases, and electronic forums affect socialization process" (p.147). Ivana Huang
  • Study of the Benedictine Sisters (Hoffman & Medlock-Klyukovski)

    Study of the Benedictine Sisters (Hoffman & Medlock-Klyukovski)
    This study was an investigation of qualitative data from three networks of Benedictine women who explain rituals in the church, that were once looked upon as subordinate and weak, and how they came together to take a stand to change their way of life and culture. The significance is to clarify our comprehension of how others oversee hierarchical paradox by recognizing the key adjustment of ritual as a technique for negotiating conflicting requests. - Christina Mendez
  • High-Reliability Organizations

    High-Reliability Organizations
    Related to organizational socialization, high-reliability organizations (HROs) expose their employees to persistently dangerous situations. Studies show that these employees adhere to strict, planned, and coordinated safety rules and regulations. This is significant because it shows an additional ways that individuals assimilate into an organization based on the complexity of the role and how missteps can lead to disaster.
    Gina Baldridge
  • High-reliability Organizations

    High-reliability Organizations
    High-reliability organizations refer to organizations that have effective internal management mechanisms and security early warning mechanisms to improve security and reliability. High-reliability organizations consider the organization's accident rate and safety management issues from the perspective of the organization itself.
    ----Siyu Liu (Melody)
  • High-Reliability Organizations

    High-Reliability Organizations
    In HROs, members continually operate in dangerous conditions where even a small misstep can lead to disaster. HROs avoid catastrophe by adhering to meticulously planned and coordinated safety rules and cultures; successful socialization can literally mean the difference between life and death. Scholars have explored socialization in HROs, such as nuclear reactors, air traffic control towers, military organizations, and fire departments (Myers, 2005).
    Presley Gilcrease
  • Socialization and Technology

    Socialization and Technology
    Socialization and Technology are rapidly taking off in the work force today. Advanced Communication and Information Technologies are changing they way in which people communicates, which effects all companies who have the goal of communication to customers. Socialization efforts must keep up the pace in the changing environment of the workplace.
    -Sarah Elmore
  • Web-Based Recruitment & Socialization Messages

    Web-Based Recruitment & Socialization Messages
    Texas Tech University management scholar William Gardner and his colleagues discovered that individuals who value equality will be more strongly drawn to "clan" cultures or cultures that emphasize "cohesion, morale, participation and loyalty." as Web-based recruiting efforts become more commonplace, this type of research will help organizations target employees more effectively. - Monica Haverkamp
  • Excessive Positivity

    Excessive Positivity
    Critical Management scholar David Collinson makes the argument that contemporary leaders use "excessive positivity" to frame organizational environments. This is a significant note because a lack of awareness could result in a discrepancy in an employee's everyday experience and lead to cynicism or resistance or cause the leader to lack an ability to hear alternatives.
    ~Rylee Benton
  • Cultures as Symbolic Constructions

    Cultures as Symbolic Constructions
    Businesses, like any human communities, have a culture of their own. This result from of a complex dynamic involving factors as diverse as the nature of the activity, the history of the organization, the personality of the leader. It is a result of a process of experience and collective learning that leads to making each organization a particular human configuration. As a result of structural and subjective dynamics, culture expresses a global relationship from organization to innovation.
    Marite