Using the Culture Concept in an Organization Development Setting

Abstract

Following a decade of popularity and widespread appeal, the organization culture concept is now entering a critical period in which it must demonstrate its capacity for useful application in practice. This article discusses a three-year organization development project in a large-scale public bureaucracy in Britain, British Rail, for which culture provided the conceptual focus of a strategy for change. From interviews with senior managers, the researchers consultants generated qualitative data for grounded theories, and found that language is the primary cultural form of any organization. The researchers identified dominant dysfunctional cultural modes of thinking, and used labels ("isms") to facilitate the intervention process. The author concludes that, based on appropriate concepts, models, and theories, the culture perspective can be used to develop novel insights into organizational problems, new directions for change, and appropriate strategic processes.