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Strategies for Cultural Change, by Stuart P. Bate. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 1994. Pp. 308. L25.00. ISBN 0-7506-0519-7.
It has become fashionable in the last decade to talk about organisational culture, a fad commonly attributed to Peters and Waterman after the appearance of In Search of Excellence in 1982. They propounded there that a 'strong' culture, defined as a 'handful of guiding values'
Peters and Waterman, 1982:76
, was essential for excellence in organisations. Culture has elsewhere, and rather more precisely, been defined as 'the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one organisation from another'
Hofstede, 1991:180
. Literature on the topic of organisational culture and culture change abounds, some of it agreeing with Peters and Waterman and some, as Bate points out, taking the opposite view that strong cultures can act as an 'inertial system' on change in organisations (p. 11). There is also disagreement about the nature of culture; some see it as something an organisation has, which leads to an analytic approach with the emphasis on change, whilst others see it as something an organisation is, thus leading to a synthetic approach with the emphasis on understanding. Strategies for Cultural Change comes from this latter direction. Culture is viewed as a social construct in the same way as an organisation is a social construct, designed to solve problems experienced by groups of people.
What makes Bate's views different from other authors is his belief in the 'bothandness' of life (p. 69). So, instead of compartmentalising strategy, culture, change and organisations he synthesises them to make 'culture synonymous with organisation; strategy synonymous with culture' (p.9). Strategy, from this vantage point, 'is more than just a set of tactics, methods that one uses from time to time...it is a constant, ongoing thinking process...a way of life' (p. 165). Culture, therefore, is...