Chp. 20 Cultural Approach to Organizations

Chapter 20, Cultural Approach to Organizations, is a socio-cultural theory that describes how members of an organization create a culture within that organization. During class last week, we watched a clip from Office Space, and the culture that was formed at "Initech." Many of the characteristics of this "work culture" showed weak relationships with bosses, an overabundance of stress, the need for the bosses to repeat information, and also, annoying habits of other workers and their unavoidable strategies.
This chapter made me think of my dad's new business, Patriot Seating, where he hires veterans of the U.S. armed forces to assemble his office furniture. In class, we discussed how many stories are told about companies, and I automatically referenced it to my father's business. When my dad first started Patriot Seating, he used PR and let everyone know WHY he started it. His brother was a Vietnam vet who now suffers from very Traumatic Stress Disorder. He started the business to give jobs to those veterans who were struggling, so they could feel like they were a part of a good cause. This is my dad's "corporate story." There are also personal stories he shares about each and every veteran working there, how dedicated they are and what struggles and hardships they had to go through. We also discussed rituals performed at different organizations, and I actually used it as an example in class, that every day, my dad has his veterans raise and lower the flag, in remembrance of all the lives that were lost, and also, to show the main premise that his business was started from. Although it is not directly put out there, my dad's business is basically its own culture. All of the men and women who work for him have shared very similar experiences, and are all working for a good cause. The comparisons between Initech and Patriot Seating, although having their differences, definitely both demonstrate how organizations create their own cultures and patterns of behaviors.