Cultural Approach to Organizations Critique
of Geertz & Pacanowsky
By Jennifer L. Prouty
Clearly cultural approach to organizations is humanistic. Geertz and Pacanowsky did readings and conducted research on how the public responds to culture in organizations. Through their research results, they were able to find a new understanding. In our textbook Geertz refers to himself as an ethnographer. Now you are probably wondering what an ethnographer actually is. Ethnographers map social discourse, in other words they observe, record, and analyze social situations. To be an ethnographer you must be able to commit to the long haul. Geertz spent years observing in Indonesia and Morocco developing a description of two separate cultures. Pacanowsky on the other hand studied at W.L. Gore & Associates for about nine months. Pacanowsky paid attention to all cultural performances but was sensitive to the imaginative language members used, the stories they told, and the nonverbal rites and rituals they practiced. Taken together these three forms of communication provide a helpful access to the unique shared meanings within an organization.
The starting point for accessing shared meaning of a corporate culture is to take language seriously. Pacanowsky made three of his own metaphors to describe crucial features of that unique culture.
1. Cluster of peasant villages
2. Large improvisational jazz group
3. Factions in colonial America
My thoughts...
To be a cluster of peasant villages is like living in a community within a community. I believe that Pacanowsky saw some sort of unity within small groups of people all over the company. All of these small groups had to work with each other in order to help the company succeed.
I happen to be a musician and have played in many jazz groups. I have found it very hard to improvise in some aspects because you have to play your instrument so that the sound that comes out agrees with the sound coming out of all the instruments around you. If you play one wrong note then you make everyone else look bad.
I think what Pacanowsky means by factions in colonial America is the fact that many people where optimistic about trying new things and what if they weren't the right thing afterall. The only way you know if something works is to try the old pass/fail method.
Stories that are repeated over and over again provide a window through which to view corporate webs of significance. Pacanowsky suggests three types of narratives that dramatize organizational life.
1. Corporate stories
2. Personal stories
3. Collegial stories
My thoughts...
Corporate stories are stories that you hear about management doing unusual deeds, our text gives and example of a McDonald's chairman of the board picking up trash in a parking lot on a particular visit. I think that it is important to emphasize that those people in management are on the same level as we are and that they had to work to get that title.
Personal stories are stories that employees share about themselves. I know for a fact that when I am at work I am almost always listening to people or telling people about things that happened in my life recently.
Collegial stories are those positive or negative anecdotes told about others in the organization. These are stories that are not necessarily sanctioned by management but tell actually how the company actually works. I work in a grocery store that prides itself in low prices but how do we actually keep these low prices. That's easy our store receives coupons from companies on a daily basis in the hopes that the customers will use these and buy more of the product because of the coupon. Well we don't exactly give the customer the coupons instead we mail them back into the company and just say that customers used them. This an example of a collegial story.
Pacanowsky and Geertz agree that some rituals are "texts" which articulate multiple aspects of cultural life. These rituals are sacred and any attempt to change them meets with strong resistance. Organizational rites at more traditional companies than Gore weave together many threads of corporate cultures. Pacanowsky only spent nine months researching at Gore although I feel he got the just of things I don't feel that he got the same experience as Geertz did. Afterall Geertz spent years in another country observing what went on as an organization but what also went on in terms of culture differences.
Summary
As you can see cultural approaches to organizations doesn't necessarily mean that everything is going to be of a foreign nature to you. What I mean by this is that people aren't speaking in different languages but they may be speaking in a lingo that is familiar to only people who are in that organization. The way the communication theory is presented and the content of the message should capture the reader's attention. Geertz and Pacanowksy do this effectively by supplying real-life examples of their theory. This theory is presented by demonstrating many ways that we as humans in our culture act in organizations.
There are a couple of theories that deal with persuasion one being cultural approach to organizations as well as rhetoric. Visit this site on rhetoric.
Griffin, EM, A First Look At Communication Theory, 3rd ed., USA, 1997, pg. 273-284.
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Last updated 3/9/00