Understanding Organizational Culture

by Mats Alvesson

The concept of culture is a key issue within management and organization studies. Understanding Organizational Culture provides a useful and comprehensive guide to understanding organizational culture, from a range of angles, contexts and sectors. The book answers questions of definition, explores alternative perspectives, and expands on substantive issues (such as leadership and change), before discussing key issues of research and providing a new framework for this topic. Mats Alvesson synthesizes for students the advances in the field of organizational culture, drawing upon the range of relevant literature within Organization Studies. The author also uses examples to develop and illustrate ideas on how cultural

214 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Mats Alvesson är professor vid Lunds universitet och arbetar även vid University of Queensland, Australien, och City University, London. Han forskar och skriver om bland annat organisationskultur, ledarskap, identitet i organisationer och kvalitativ forskning och intresserar sig för fenomenet funktionell dumhet.

Reviews

[Emanuele Gemelli]

A must read book if one wants to understand what an organisational culture is, what is not, what one can do or not do with the concept of culture. This is no a “pop-management” self-help book, it’s rather academic, but I find it gives any practitioner the theoretical understanding to create her own tools. I have a deep seated conviction that words matter, words create meanings and the interpretation of those meanings are shaping a culture. If we are able to share the significance of “important” words, we can shape their understanding and, maybe, be able to be agents of change within an organisational culture. One aspect that is not developed enough in this book, however, in my humble opinion, is the relation between culture and power; although I found pretty much illuminating the difference between management and leadership. Those terms are often used as synonyms, but, at least in a cultural context, they are really not. As always with this types of books, the amount of questions one may have before may have increased in number and complexity. I invite all the HSE practitioners that fill their mouth with terms such Safety Culture to read this with curiosity and start unlearning.