Shaping organizational culture by using work songs as a ritual: A case study of the zonson sports corporation in China

Abstract

Workplace rituals are influential learning instruments for core values that support organizational culture. However, only limited empirical studies examine how these rituals process to transmit core values in organizational cultures. The aim of this paper is to analyze how the case company uses work songs as a ritual for shaping its organizational culture. The study mainly employed the ritual theory from Smith and Stewart and explored how the organizational members interpret the ritual by examining the features, functions, and mechanisms of the company songs. This study adopted mixed methods, including both qualitative and quantitative approaches. In-depth interviews and questionnaires are utilized for data collection. Prolonged engagement, observation, document review and triangulation techniques have been applied to support the credibility of the study. This paper found that using company songs as a ritual is an effective approach for communicating core values in the case company. The findings provide implications for organizational managers regarding how to effectively use rituals to reach strategic goals for organizational culture management.