| Developing the "Extended Web" Model: A Cultural Framework for Organizational Development |
| | Heracleous, Loizos T. | National U. of Singapore | fbalh@nus.edu.sg | 65-874-6440 |
| | Although the literature on organizational culture is immense and encompasses a variety of
theoretical perspectives, there is a dearth of cultural models that are both conceptually robust
and empirically useful for in-depth cultural diagnoses in the context of organizational change
interventions. Schein's "levels of culture" model has been highly influential in both the OD
field and the wider management literature as it offers one of the few such models of culture.
Johnson's "cultural web" model is another significant model of culture that has been empirically
employed in a variety of organizational interventions as a way to diagnose organizational culture
and to explore its links with strategic change processes. This article proposes that close
consideration of the two models reveals the existence of complementary aspects, whose
integration would lead to a more theoretically sophisticated and empirically potent cultural
framework. The aims of this article are thus twofold. Firstly, and primarily, to develop an
integrative cultural model based on Johnson's "cultural web" model and Schein's "levels of
culture" model, that can more effectively portray organizational culture and thus be more useful
and insightful in organizational diagnoses and interventions. Secondly, to illustrate empirically
the operation of this model, especially the historical development of cultural values, beliefs and
basic assumptions and the interrelations between its constituent elements. The empirical data
were collected and analyzed as part of an ethnographic research program with a clinical
component that took place over a period of 22 months at the UK operations of Hay Management
Consultants. |
| | Keywords: Organization culture; Cultural models |
| Using an Outsider-Insider Frame of Reference in Studying the Process of Change |
| | Aggestam, Maria | Lund U. | maria.aggestam@fek.lu.se | 0046-040 16 45 43 |
| | This paper examines the use of insider-outsider collaboration
as a methodology in studying systemic transformation in Poland.
An interpretative frame of reference frequently offers an understanding
of an unclear and fuzzy structure of inquiry and its outcome in comparison
to traditional logical positivism. The paper spells out the sharpness
of this mode of inquiry by indicating a number of the intellectual roots
of the method, and highlights its main attributes.
The approach used is to build on insights based on the fieldwork
in organisations, and is highly iterative and linked
significantly to the researcher role.
Overall, it is the process starting from specifying
the research site to reaching closure. More specifically, this approach
builds on insider and outsider partnership as introduced by Evered & Louis (1981)
and Louis & Bartunek (1992). Finally, the paper illustrates both
the theoretical base and some of ways the study has been carried out, and
concludes by pointing to some of the advantages of this research.
|
| | Keywords: INQUIRY PARADIGM; RAPID CHANGE; SYSTEMIC TRANSITION |
| The Bi-Cultural Broker: A New Role for Change Agents in Multi-National Organizations |
| | McMillen, Maria Cecilia | Universidad de San Francisco de Quito | MCMcMillen@aol.com | (718) 446-0168 |
| | Arias, Maria Eugenia | | Mearias@aol.com | (860) 657-9269 |
| | Focusing on organizational change efforts by companies in Latin America, this paper proposes a key role for change agents in multi-national organizations: that of the bi-cultural broker. In this role, change agents must uncover and make explicit the culturally based assumptions about social relations that underlie the organizational practices being applied; identify misalignments with cultural values in their own context; provide facilitating structures to correct misalignments; and evaluate the timing of interventions to correct misalignments in the implementation of the change effort. We draw upon examples of Latin American companies involved in efforts to improve quality and lower costs in their manufacturing processes, to examine the role played by change agents. We propose that as bi-cultural brokers, these professionals understood and made explicit the underlying assumptions of proposed practices and adapted them to their own, distinct context. We apply a critical perspective to examine the underlying assumptions of change models developed in Anglo-North American culture and contrast them with Latin American cultural values. We end with a discussion of implications of this approach for pluralistic
organizations. |
| | Keywords: Latin America; Organizational Change; Cultural Differences |