This précis of Mary Jo Hatch's "Dynamics of Organizational Culture" synthesizes ideas from evolutionary sociology and anthropology to explain how stability and change simultaneously exist in organizational culture. The purpose of this approach is to “build support for a theory of cultural dynamics that considers stability and change as dual products of the same cultural processes” (Hatch, 2004, 191).

Introduction

Change and stability simultaneously exist in organizations. Writers from sociology and anthropology have documented both stability and change in cultures, noting the evolution and dynamics of culture. However, writers of organizational literature have focused chiefly on culture as a stable force that resists change, moving only through management intervention. Most of the literature emphasizes the benefits of changing organizational culture to enhance performance by pitting stability against managerial demands for adaptability.

Writers who do not adopt this view are interpretants who focus on meaning, sense-making, and symbolism but overlook the dynamic properties of culture. Interpretants do not focus specifically on change, but those with a critical perspective emphasize resistance to resist change and fight for power. The competing managerial and critical perspectives assume that cultural stability is the root of resistance.

From the critical perspective worker solidarity can resist management oppressors. From the managerial perspective, cultural hangovers constrict day-to-day processes. Marin and Frost (1996 in Hatch, 2004) called this clash the “organizational culture war games” (191). The battle lines in this war emphasize consistency, harmony, and consensus, with the perspective that culture consists of subcultures with competing epistemological positions.

Organizational literature traditionally attempts to resolve the conflict by asserting that fitting employees with organizational values can create cultural harmony. The war games metaphor draws attention to debates within culture but distracts from the cultural dynamics at work within a culture.

This chapter will apply ideas from evolutionary sociology and anthropology to explain how stability and change simultaneously exist in organizational culture. The purpose of this approach is to “build support for a theory of cultural dynamics that considers stability and change as dual products of the same cultural processes” (Hatch, 2004, 191).