Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
How Organizational Culture Can Affect Innovation. |
| Authors: |
Feldman, Steven P. |
| Source: |
Organizational Dynamics. Summer88, Vol. 17 Issue 1, p57-68. 12p. 1 Black and White Photograph. |
| Subjects: |
Corporate culture, Culture, Organizational behavior, Management, Group decision making |
| Abstract: |
This article investigates the influence of organizational culture on organizational innovation, through a case analysis. Organizational culture is seen as a set of meanings created within the organizational but influenced by broader social and historical processes. The case analysis is of an entrepreneur in terms of the way in which his commitment to certain ideals helped to create his company's organizational culture and that culture's ability to support innovation. The analysis is carried out using an interpretative concept of culture, focusing on how organizational participants used their experience to create a situation in which certain kinds of behavior were encouraged. The advantage of this approach is that it provides a description of important, shared categories that stimulate some activities and constrain others. The interpretive concept of culture achieves something that these other approaches overlook: the collective predispositions organizational members create through their shared history, predispositions that influence them to understand events, react to situations and solve problems in certain ways. The first managerial implication that can be gleaned from this case history concerns the effect cultural ideals have on decision making. Ideals must be used, but their effect must be premeasured against the strategic planning system so that they do not undermine it by emphasizing some goals at the expense of others. Second, the decision-making bias brought about by excessive idealization is subtle because it tends to become hidden in poor performance. |
| Database: |
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
