Institutional processes of organizational culture

Queries into the creation of collective meaning through social processes arise in both organization culture and institutional theory. This paper applies DiMaggio and Powell’s (1983 DiMaggio, P.J. and Powell, W.W. 1983. The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48: 147–60. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) three isomorphic processes (mimetic, normative and coercive) from institutional theory to re‐think how structural and dynamic aspects of culture become nested, taken‐for‐granted and transmitted. We consider both acquiescence and resistance to isomorphic pressures in an effort to understand cultural persistence and transmission, forms of resistance to culture, change, the role of sub‐cultures and power usage through Oliver’s (1992 Oliver, C. 1992. The antecedents of de‐institutionalization. Organization Studies, 13: 563–88. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) de‐institutionalization thesis. Our purpose in applying isomorphic processes to organizational culture is to offer another layer of understanding enhanced by the growing body of research in institutional theory, bridge one division between micro and macro theory and provide some suggestions for future research.     

East‐End Warehouse: a case study of ‘organisational capture’ and cultural conflicts

This case study is about a warehouse in London’s Dockland with predominantly local staff. It stored and distributed food and drink for contractors. Its market was expanding; the site well positioned. Nonetheless, since takeover by a large shipping company, contracts went unrenewed, ‘stock shrinkage’ mounted, losses increased. The author, part of a small team of consultants, was hired ‘to study and advise’. Customer intrusions are normal in service organisations. But here conflicting and group‐based short‐term interests inhibited staff co‐ordination: serial crises involved ad hoc responses. Fieldwork entailed charting work flows, administering an attitude survey, conducting a census and assessing both the workforce’s collective East‐End culture and top management’s culture: their values conflicted. In Dockland, kinship and neighbourly obligations were strong. Obtaining and distributing pilfered goods reflected this; they celebrated group enterprise, collective support and autonomy – values evident in the warehouse that we made integral to proposals for reorganisation. This paper thus addresses intrusions: from customers – evident in disruptive work flows; two externally derived and opposed cultures and the culture of consultants.     

In search of popular management: Sensemaking,sensegiving and storytelling in the excellence project

Critical accounts of popular management have tended to caricature the authors of this literary genre and have, furthermore, made broad claims as to the nature and potential of the organizational storytelling which features in these texts. This paper re-examines such claims and proclivities. It argues that any attempt to explore the nature of popular management or to account for the organizing potential of its storytelling must be located within an account of storytelling practice. To this end, the paper offers a critical analysis of the excellence project that is situated within a review of Tom Peters’ storyworld. Acknowledging the extent to which popular management deploys organizational storytelling in its endeavours, we offer – uniquely – a longitudinal analysis of Tom Peters' storytelling practices. Noting a tension between organizational sensegiving and organizational sensemaking processes, we argue that the storyworld of the excellence project acts to obscure the frictions, stresses and dislocations associated with the pursuit of business excellence. Highlighting the persistence of local sensemaking processes within and between those forms of public speech fostered by popular management, however, we argue that the tales which constitute the excellence project are, when viewed in context, more diverse and yet less productive than previously imagined.     

Who Controls Whom? History and Educational Technologies

Abstract

Considering the lack of research on the historisation of educational technologies, the current study attempts to fill this void. To do so, the following research question is posed: To what extent have educational technologies and local histories controlled one another? Data for this question came from a naturalistic enquiry into a university in the Saudi Arabian public sector. Having analysed documents, interviews, and observations by means of the grounded theory technique, two key themes emerged: local histories controlling educational technologies and educational technologies controlling local histories. The consideration of both themes brought forth a theoretical proposition — that there are political dynamics between educational technologies and micro histories, with one continuously directing and driving the other. The recommendation is therefore that policymakers, scholars, and commentators should be more cognisant of the political tensions between local histories and educational technologies.     

Authenticity as a form of worth

Scholarly engagement with authenticity has been revitalized by recent efforts to theorize the value-ladenness of authenticity claims. Yet, these approaches are restricted by the lack of available conceptual tools necessary to explain variations in the meaning of authenticity between different cultural forms and social groups. In this paper, I draw from Boltanski and Thevenot’s pragmatic hermeneutics to develop an approach to authenticity in popular culture that conceptualizes it as a form of worth. I apply this new model to an analysis of the meanings of authenticity found in the discourse of fans of indie music and country music. I find that in the indie genre, authenticity involves an inspirational form of worth; in the country genre, it involves a domestic form of worth. I trace these differences back to the matched relationship between the primary groups of fans of each genre and the genres themselves that led both sides to find an interest in these types of authenticity. I conclude by sketching the relevance of this approach for explaining overarching concerns for authenticity in late modern societies.     

辽宋西夏金时期族际饮食文化交流略论

辽宋西夏金时期,中国境内不同经济形态的各民族,在饮食文化相互交流的过程中,明显表现出农耕民族饮食与游牧民族饮食的交融。一方面,农耕民族以谷物食品为主的主食不但在游牧民族的日常生活中占据越来越重要的地位,而且副食、果品、饮品等对游牧民族也产生了广泛的影响。另一方面,作为游牧民族主食的乳肉制品,逐渐成为农耕民族的副食品种,游牧民族副食蔬果类的某些品种、饮食器具,尤其是合餐制的饮食方式对农耕民族也产生了不同程度的影响。同时,相同经济形态的民族,其饮食文化也往往各具特色,并在民族和地区间相互交流。饮食文化在日常生活中的族际交流,不但推动了各民族生活方式的发展和社会经济的进步,而且有力地促进了各民族相互认同意识的发展。     

论东北民族文化

东北地区诸民族一千多年以来曾经数度入主中原，为中国留下了鲜明的北方 民族印记。这些民族生活在长城以北的草原、森林、大漠、丘陵地区，形成了十分接近的地域文 化心理。东北地区气候干燥，降雨稀少，冷暖多变，风沙肆虐，特殊的自然地理、人文地理环境 以及与之相联系的生产方式、生活方式造就了东北民族坚强的意志、挺拔的精神、爽朗的性 格，也给他们的文化带来了一种雄健磊落、清新自然、质实贞刚的格调，从而为北雄南秀、气象 万千的中华文化的更新、整合与发展增添了新的内涵，促进了中华文化从多元走向一元的历史过程。     

90年代日本危机与日本文化诸模式

日本90年代的危机不仅与经济运行周期有关 ,而且与日本人的文化价值观、行为模式有直接的联系。本文从暧昧的责任体制、内外分明的集团主义文化、依赖性心理结构等方面对这场危机进行深层次探讨     

中西服饰文化的比较分析

中国的传统服饰以繁冗、宽博为主要特征。可以说中国服装文化属于一元化范畴 ,具有整一性与大同观念 ,使得着装者注重群体意识而不强调个性效应。旗袍是中国女性着装文化的典型标志。服饰在西方被看作是人体艺术的一个组成部分 ,在服装造型上强调三维空间效果 ,故有“软雕塑”之称 ,在结构处理上以立体裁剪为本 ,讲究服装的外在轮廓线 ,突出人体的曲线美。西方服饰文化属于多元化的范畴 ,其中最显著的特点是突出个性 ,显示个性 ,这些表现是服装的物质科学性与艺术性的综合反映     

习近平文化思想：马克思主义与中华优秀传统文化相结合的理论指向

党的二十大报告再次提出了把马克思主义基本原理与中华优秀传统文化相结合,此后党和国家领导人在不同的场合多次强调这一思想。如何认识和理解这一结合？它具有怎样的理论指向？有研究者从文化思想的宏观视角,表达了深刻的理论洞见,却忽视了这一主张提出时的具体时空情境,以致偏离了二者结合的本质及特征。事实上,从性质上来说,马克思主义与中华优秀传统文化相结合是新时代中国的一项文化政策,其出发点是实现马克思主义中国化时代化,其理论指向在新时代体现为习近平文化思想,这是中国共产党在新时代背景下回应时代理论需求的结果。在与西方理论竞争中,中国文化相关理论的竞争力还不够强,也不能满足中国特色社会主义现代化建设的发展需要。因此,中国文化理论的供需矛盾形成了当前中国社会文化发展的困境。这一困境引起了以习近平同志为核心的党中央的高度重视,激发了中国共产党发展中国文化理论的思想动力。中国共产党通过制定文化发展政策,绘制中国文化发展蓝图,以马克思主义与中华优秀传统文化相结合作为理论创新方法,扎根中国历史经验和社会主义实践经验,形成马克思主义中国化时代化的文化理论最新成果——习近平文化思想。习近平文化思想是一个与时俱进的开放系统理论,是包含了文化问题域、文化主体论、方法论、知识论、功能论等系统化的新时代文化理论。它不仅为中华民族现代文明提供了发展路线图,为中国孕育了新文化生命体,也为中华民族的精神独立、增强中华民族凝聚力奠定了文化理论基础。因此马克思主义与中华优秀传统文化相结合,是习近平文化思想的重要方法内容,是理解习近平文化思想守正创新的关键线索。