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© 1999 Psychology Press Ltd

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF WORK AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, 1999, 8 (4), 497–502

Organizational Culture

Karel De WitteCatholic University of Leuven, Belgium

Jaap J. van MuijenLTP, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Since In search of excellence (Peters & Waterman, 1982) researchers as well aspractitioners have been interested in organizational culture. Although muchconfusion and discussion about the concept remains, organizational culture as aconcept has not disappeared from organizational literature and practice. Organi-zations and their managers still want to have an impact on organizational culture,whether by consolidating it or by changing it.

But management of organizational culture is a controversial topic. Someauthors think that organizational culture can easily be managed (Anthony, 1994),whereas for others this is seen to be much more difficult (Burack, 1991; Nord,1985; Trice & Beyer, 1990). According to these authors, organizational culturemanagement is constrained by such diverse factors as the multiplicity andcomplexity of sub-cultures, conflicting political interests, bad timing, and com-munication failures.

Organizational culture pragmatics argue that organizational culture can be,should be, and has been managed, and they often offer guidance how to do this.Organizational culture purists find it ridiculous to talk about managing organi-zational culture—organizational culture cannot be managed, it evolves (Martin,1985).

This debate of organizational culture management seems to depend on theorganizational culture approach the researcher believes in. Some researcherssuggest that organizations should be conceptualized as cultures. They favour theview that organizational culture is part of what an organization is rather thansomething an organization has (Smircich, 1983). Those researchers who arguethat organizational culture is a socially constructed system of shared beliefs andvalues would find it inconsistent to think systematically managing or attemptingto control the organizational culture phenomenon. They claim that organizational

Requests for reprints should be addressed to K. De Witte, Department of Work andOrganizational Psychology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, 3000 Leuven,Belgium. Email: karel.dewitte@psy.kuleuven.ac.be

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culture can only be influenced in an indirect way and is the result of theinteraction between the individual and organizational processes.

Other researchers who are searching for more predictable methods oforganizational control believe that organizational culture can be managed. Theseresearchers follow the opinion that an organization has a culture or produces aculture, and usually define organizational culture as the social and normative gluethat holds the organization together (Deal & Kennedy, 1982).

It is not the intention of this special issue to give final answers to this ongoingdiscussion. Rather, the intention is to contribute to the debate by offering diversecontributions. In this Introduction, we first offer a framework on organizationalculture and will then site the different contributions within this framework.

A FRAMEWORK FOR ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Figure 1 gives an overview of the different elements that should be taken intoaccount when dealing with organizational culture. The model refers to formationas well as to the change or development of organizational culture. This modelintegrates literature as well as practical experiences within consultancy projectswith the aim of changing the organizational culture.

The outside frame of the figure refers to the influencing factors in the broaderenvironment, which influence the organizational culture. Influencing factorscloser to the organization can be found on the next frame. These are influenced bythe broader environmental factors. When an organization is founded, organi-

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FIG. 1. A conceptual model for understanding organizational culture.

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zational culture forms and develops from the interaction between individual andorganization. This is visualized by the horizontal line in the middle of Fig. 1,which represents different organizational processes, such as operational pro-cesses, selection, training, evaluation, R&D, maintenance processes, etc. Theorganizational culture can be “tasted” and “smelled” through these differentbusiness- and personnel-related processes. Finally, we find the outcomes oforganizational culture: What is the impact on the individual members of theorganization?

The Environment

From the literature it becomes clear that a diverse constellation of variables hasan influence on the organizational culture. The different influencing factors, bothin the broader and the more direct environment of the organization, are visualizedas surrounding influences. In fact, the organization should be aware of the dif-ferent variables at any moment. As this may be not realistic, it seems us thatdifferent variables are “controlled for” at different moments. Some are con-tinuously present and other variables are regularly emphasized at differentmoments or phases of the organizational life cycle.

Influences that are mentioned in the literature are the national culture, theevolution of the business, professional associations, and stakeholders.

The Organization

The following influencing factors are situated in the more direct environment ofthe organization.

The importance of a vision is often emphasized in the literature (Frohman,1997; Katz & Miller, 1996; Kotter, 1996; Simpson & Beeby, 1993). This visionshould be inspiring and challenging (Nixon, 1992). Kotter (1996) mentions thefollowing criteria for an effective vision: conceivable, attractive, realistic,directed (targeted), flexible, and communicable. Rites of rationalization andlegitimation (Beyer & Trice, 1988) help the individuals understand the contentand reason of the vision. These sensitizing acts legitimate the thinking, making itappear worthwhile, acceptable, and necessary.

The development of a clear vision is often difficult for managers. Differentauthors stress the importance of leaders in the organization (Frohman, 1997;Kotter, 1996; Simpson & Beeby, 1993; Zamanou & Glaser, 1994). Through thelast decades organizations have learnt that good management is one of the mostimportant factors for optimal daily functioning. They have more experience incontrolling the current situation than in changing it into new required directions,although the latter is required more and more nowadays. An organization notonly needs leaders at the top, but at all levels (Kotter, 1996)! Some authorsunderline that a change in leadership is required to realize significant organi-zational culture change (Dyer, 1985; Gordon, 1991), whereas for others

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organizational culture can be changed by a relatively stable leadership team(Lundberg, 1985). According to Gagliardi (1986), substantial organizationalculture changes require a change in leadership, whereas incremental changes canbe guided by the current leaders, who demonstrate new competences anddistribute appropriate reconciliation myths to reduce conflict.

The perception of a crisis or the experience of pressure (e.g. productivity) willchallenge the existing organizational culture. Lundberg (1985) makes a dis-tinction between precipitating pressures (e.g. atypical performance demands,stakeholder pressures, organizational growth and decrement, resource depri-vation) and triggering events (environmental calamities, environmentalopportunities, internal revolutions, and external revolutions). A triggering eventis a stimulus that leads to the release of the tensions built up by the precipitatingpressures.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE FORMATIONAND CHANGE

Organizational culture is a complex phenomenon. Organizational culture ismanifest in behavioural norms, hidden assumptions, and human nature(Kilmann, 1985). Also, Schein (1985) suggests the usefulness of viewing organi-zational culture from different levels, namely artifacts and creations, values, andbasic assumptions. The degree to which an organizational culture is consciouslyand overtly rather than unconsciously and covertly manifest, influences howeasily organizational culture can be managed and changed. When organizationalculture change involves changing surface-level behavioural norms and artifacts,it can occur with relative ease. At the deepest levels of organizational culture,namely assumptions, ideologies, and human nature, it is very difficult and timeconsuming to create organizational culture change (Kilmann, 1985). The processof identifying and changing organizational culture is affected by the level oforganizational culture under consideration. A top-down approach to organi-zational culture change is feasible if the focus is on behavioural norms and not onassumptions. However, top-down approaches generally result in overt com-pliance and not covert acceptance, and might be difficult to sustain. Therefore, acombination of top-down initiation with participative feedback sessions to definethe new behavioural norms through dialogue with the organizational members isto be preferred. Managing the deepest layers of organizational culture clearlyrequires a participative approach, which results in overt commitment and covertacceptance. Participative approaches to changing underlying assumptions aredifficult and time consuming to implement, but are likely to result in changes thatlast and are felt in everything the organization members do. As Kilmann (1985,p. 365) writes, “executives may try to dictate a new culture by making dramaticchanges in their own behaviour and symbolic gestures and fiery speeches, but

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only when work group members encourage one another to be receptive toovertures by other groups will culture change take place”.

Outcomes

Brown (1985) finds the following outcomes in the literature: conflict reduction,co-ordination and control, uncertainty reduction, and a higher motivation amongthe employees. The evolvement of an organizational culture consistent with thevision and strategy leads to an effective and competitive organization. It is dif-ficult to describe this competitive advantage in hard business facts, because itdiffers from organization to organization.

CONTRIBUTIONS

Each contribution investigates the relation between different elements of theframework.

Koopman, Den Hartog, and Konrad et al. refer on the one hand to the nationalculture and on the other hand to leadership. Differences in leadership prototypesmirror differences in national culture. Leadership is needed for changingorganizational culture, but leadership itself appears to be influenced by nationalculture.

Ruigrok and Achtenhagen analyse four cases of change in organizations andstudy the role of organizational culture in this change process. In addition, theinfluence of the business and international orientation are under scrutiny.

Peiró, Gonzalez-Roma, and Cañero report on a change project of managerialculture. The importance of dialogue, mentioned previously, as a step in changingthe organizational culture is clarified and how this can be realized in practice isdemonstrated.

Van Muijen et al. describe an instrument to measure organizational cultureand investigate the influence of national culture and sector on organizationalculture.

Vandenberghe and Peiró describe the impact of organizational culture on theindividual members of the organization.

Finally, De Witte & van Muijen offer an overview of critical questions forresearch as well consultancy on organizational culture. The practitioners mightbe less concerned about some theoretical problems, and the researchers mighthave other concerns from the practitioner.

We have not tried to reduce the complexity of the phenomenon of organi-zational culture. We hope the contributions will be helpful in thinking aboutorganizational culture and will give some guidance for practitioners and re-searchers, particularly in avoiding possible pitfalls. But the reader looking for adefinitive answer will encounter another illusion.

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