Theories of Organizational Cultures

Abstract

The concept of culture has turned some researchers’ attention to novel perceptions that have produced alternative frameworks for understanding how organizations actually work. Most management scholars agree that culture enhances firm performance by guiding organizational members’ response repertoires within their operational environments (Gordon and DiTomaso, 1992; Sørensen, 2002). Strong corporate cultures increase behavioural consistency within organizations. In more recent years, the link between culture and economic development has been echoed in the works of such scholars as Fukuyama (1995) as well as Harrison and Huntington (2000). Most of these scholars have presented culture as an obstacle to economic progress and have not paid any attention to the potential positive contributions that culture can make to economic activities, even in poor countries. This chapter builds on the discussions in Chapters 6 and 7. It focuses the cultural lens on the anatomy and transformation process of organizations — seeing them as primary agents of economic growth in societies.