Perspectives on the concept of culture in Organizations

Abstract or Introduction

The understanding and assessment of culture is a vital part of the management of an organization and the ability of managers to understand and assess the culture can play a crucial role in how effectively individuals and teams and organizations operate. Morgan (1998, p138) suggested the culture of an organization could be found in the ‘ organizational structure, rules, policies, goals, missions, job descriptions and standard operating procedures’….and this acted as a ‘primary points of reference for the way people think about and make sense of the contexts in which they work’.

There are a varied number of definitions of culture which encompasses the individual, local, national and global cultures that exist within organizations and individuals.

Dutch author, Hofstede (1984, p51) offered a broad and globally encompassing definition by suggesting ‘culture is the collective programming of the human mind that distinguishes members of one human group from another. Culture in this sense is a system of collectively held values’