Faculty
Professor Emeritus & Honorary professor at CBS, Joanne Martin, Stanford University & professor Majken Schultz, CBS

Course Coordinator
Professor Majken Schultz

We expect students to have carefully read all the required reading (and as much of the optional reading as they desire) prior to the first day of class. Short written assignments (detailed assignments available well in advance) will be required on the first day of class. It is a precondition for receiving the course diploma that students attend the whole course.

Much of organizational research has focused on explicit attributes of organizations – size, technology, structural relationships, performance and productivity, etc. In contrast, the study of organizational culture has examined the symbolic and value-laden aspects of life in organizations, with special attention to cognitive and value themes that emerge from the study of cultural manifestations, such as rituals, stories, informal norms and practices, jargon, use of space, customary dress, and architecture. The focus is on the patterns of meaning that underlie these cultural manifestations. The purpose of this course is to introduce, explore, and expand theories of organizational culture and to prepare students to use these theories in their own research on culture and related areas of study.

Three quite different theoretical approaches have dominated the study of organizational culture. The first, Integration perspective sees culture as unitary, organization-wide, clear, and consensually shared. The second, Differentiation perspective emphasizes subcultural differences allows for the possibility of conflicts of interest and/or alliances among these groupings. The third, and possibly most important, perspective is labeled Fragmentation; it emphasizes ambiguities of interpretation, irony, paradox, and irreconcilable contradictions that cross-cut, undermine, and confuse any organization-wide or subcultural claims of consensus or clarity. Rather than preferring one of these three perspectives, we will that any portrait of a culture is incomplete, unless it includes data collected from all three perspectives. We further discuss some of the conceptual areas related to culture, such as organizational identity. Finally, we will explore the usefulness of the three-perspective approach in students’ own research plans. For beginning PhD students, who have not yet developed their research plans, we will structure suitable assignments and roles in class.)

Students will leave with a thorough grounding in contemporary culture theory, supplemented by exercises and presentations where that theory has been used to address research questions. Students will gain experience in three levels of cultural learning: understanding what other scholars have published,, critiquing that prior work in a rigorous and systematic fashion, and beginning to develop their own original, researchable contributions to the theory. Students interested in this general area of inquiry will make contact with their peers from a variety of universities and countries, hopefully developing collaborative research relationships (e.g., co-authored studies, critiquing each others’ work, joining in conference panels and workgroups) which will help their academic careers get started.

Lecture plan

Time/period	Faculty	Title
7 June	Joanne Martin & Majken Schultz	Introducing the three most common approaches to studying organizational culture (Martin – morning lecture; Schultz and Martin – afternoon discussions and exercises).
8 June	Joanne Martin & Majken Schultz	Understanding how to use a combination three-perspective approach to studying organizational culture (Martin-morning lecture; Schultz and Martin – afternoon discussion and exercises)
9 June	Joanne Martin & Majken Schultz	Applying the three-perspective approach to research, including applications to related areas of theory (Schultz – morning lecture; Martin and Schultz – afternoon student presentations and discussions)

In the morning there will be lectures followed by discussions, and the afternoon sessions will be interactive. Usually structured exercises, using the written assignments prepared prior to day one of the course, followed by structured and unstructured discussions, work in small groups, and student presentations.

Required Theoretical Reading: Martin, Joanne. Organizational Culture: Mapping the Terrain. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2001. Chapters 4 (Single-Perspective Theories of Culture), Chapter 5 (A Three-Perspective Theory of Culture), and OPTIONAL, Chapter 6 (Interests and Claims of Neutrality). Chapter 6 offers a critical and political view of all the cultural theories.

Required Case Study Reading: Frost, P., Moore, L., Louis, M., and Martin, J. Reframing Organizational Culture. Newbury Park, CA., Sage Publications. In Part 1 of the book, read one Integration case, perhaps McDonald, P., “The Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee,” pp. 26-38; one Differentiation case, perhaps Van Maanen, J., “The Smile Factory: Work at Disneyland,” pp. 58-76;and one Fragmentation case, perhaps Weick, K., A Vulnerable System: An Analysis of the Tenerife Air Disaster,” pp. 117-130. These three case studies each illustrate a single theoretical perspective.

Required reading that connects Culture and Identity: Hatch, M. J. & Schultz, M. (2002) The Dynamics of Organizational Identity,Human Relations vol 55/8: 989-1017.

For students interested in using cultural theory in their own research, the 2002 book includes Chapter 7, “To count or not to count,” on methods choices, Chapter 8, “Putting It All Together: Reviews of Sample Studies,” to help you anticipate how journal reviewers may react to your work, and Chapter 11, which lists possible dissertation ideas. For students interested in the application of culture and identity in relation to management of organizations take a look at Hatch, M. J. & Schultz, M. (2008) Taking Brand Initiative. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.