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Headnote:
Strategies for Cultural Change. By P Bate. 1994, Oxford: ButterworthHeinemann Ltd.
Anthropology and Psychoanalysis: An Encounter Through Culture. Edited by S. Heald and A. Deluz. 1994, London: Routledge. Rumours: Uses, Interpretations, and Images. By J. Kapferer. 1990, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Organizational Communication. By P K. Manning. 1992, Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
Organizational Communication and Cultural Vision: Approaches for Analysis. By M. L. Mohan, 1993, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. SUNY Press.
The Reengineering Alternative: A Plan for Making Your Current Culture Work. New York: Irwin.
Anthropology of Organizations. Edited by S. Wright. 1994, London: Routledge.
Peter Hawkins1,2 INTRODUCTION
This essay has a dual focus. First, to take stock of the current state of the field of organizational culture, both in research and how it is being applied in the practice of organizational change. Second, it includes a review of a number of key books that have been published in this area in the last few years. The range of books is extremely varied both in style and approach. Only two of the books attempt a comprehensive perspective on cultural change in organizations. The first of these, The Re-Engineering Alternative: A Plan for Making Your Current Culture Work (Schneider 1994), provides a framework for diagnosing different types of organizational culture. In contrast, Strategies for Cultural Change, by Paul Bate (1994) is far more interested in the complex process of managing cultural change.
Three of the books are studies of various aspects of organizational communication. Each of the writers brings a radically different perspective but each of them views communication as rooted in, and framed by the organizations culture: (Kapferer, 1990; Manning, 1992; Mohan, 1993.
The final two books (Wright, 1994; Heald & Deluz, 1994) are both edited volumes of papers by anthropologists who are studying organizational cultures. Many writers and consultants in the area of organizational culture in the last 25 years have borrowed heavily from anthropology for the underpinning framework of their thinking. It is therefore both appropriate and useful that these two volumes bring a current anthropological challenge to how the concepts of organizational culture are currently being used. Wright's volume challenges the search for the "unitary culture," as well as providing a sociopolitical critique. Heald and...