Organizational Culture: Elements in its Portraiture and Some Implications for Organization Functioning

Abstract

Following a cross-company research study of managers' perceptions of potential freedom in their jobs and subsequent behaviour, the author arrived at a framework for charting significant elements of organizational culture. This centered on four "dimensions of difference": a company's stock of managers, the conceptual job model managers used, significant influences onjob performance, and managers' perceptions of freedom. In this article, two of the organizations studied are portrayed in these terms, exploring factors that appear to have influenced theircultures'development. The companies are markedly different in their attitudes toward change, one being particularly optimistic and adaptive, the other typified by feelings of constraint and relative powerlessness. The implications for each organization's ability to cope with change are considered. Finally, the author evaluates the framework as an organization mapping tool.