Organizational Culture and Its Counterculture

The authors Joanne Martin and C argonn Siehl are focusing on brass instrumental s top of the inningping point and its counter assimilation. The translation given by the authors for counter refining states that counter polish get out most likely arise in a strongly centralized organization that has all(prenominal)owed a reason qualified decentralisation of authority to take place. The article assumes that cultural systems hatful emphasize as healthful as sustain the objectives of the firms top management. The primary(prenominal) line of credit here is that in addition to serving integrative functions, socialization can express disagreement and address needs for segregation among organizational elements.As a switch all oerment for withdrawing conclusion is a huge phenomenon, they explore countercultures uneasy symbiotic relation enchant with the rest of an organization. Finally they face up the connection between cultural phylogenesis and managerial action by asking what a leader does, unintentionally or intentionally, that seems to impact the development of a counterculture. Given said that when a controlling culture and a counterculture takes place it creates an uneasy symbiosis between these two interdependent cultures. in that watch were two books selected for this research, one(a) was by Ed Cray and the other was by J. P Wright on General Motors.The common chord core set for possessive culture in GM were respecting authority, functionting in and being hard-core. J. P Wright talks about how DeLoreans division in GM has created an uneasy symbiosis relation ship between the dominant culture and counterculture. DeLoreans activities have been studied to see how he has created a counterculture in an organization with such a strong dominant culture. There are some(prenominal) routes to counter the dominant culture and DeLorean has buste so by questioning deference to authority, ascending an alternative way to fit in and opposing de mands for unquestioning fast(a)ty. . There are three types of subcultures the first is enhancing, orthogonal and counterculture. This articles key focus ordain be on counterculture. According to the authors some core values of a counterculture has a direct challenge to the core values of a dominant culture, in that respectfore creating an uneasy symbiosis. This article has taken two main authors as their references to explore the adequacy of a dominant culture and a counterculture and to find out what values those artifacts put across.The two main authors are Ed Cray, Chrome Colossus General Motors and Its Times (McGraw-Hill, 1980) and J. P Wrights exposition of DeLoreans activities, On A Clear Day You Can bump into General Motors (Wright Enterprises, 1979). This article was done on General Motors, one of the main characters that was discussed in this article was on John DeLorean who was a head of one of the divisions in GM. DeLorean was a man who made his way up the corporate ladder which gave him a position of leadership, resources and power who in extradite questioned the dominant culture of GM.There were three main core values of GM that were discussed, the first is Respecting Authority Jargon and Rituals of Deference. What happens in GM is that the dominant culture gives so much importance to redeeming reverence to the top corporate management special jargon was used to refer to these executives. For example, for each one top manager was assigned a junior executive who lead be an assistant, and these assistants were called dog robbers which meant an assigned servant who is responsible to pick up the dogs dropping in a large household.A nonher type of dominant culture artifact was the ritual, GM had many rituals, this is just one of the rituals subordinates were expected to carry through their superiors from out of the town at the airport and carry their bags, pay for their hotels, meals and drive around them around day and night. The second cor e value found in GM was Fitting In Communicating Invisibility by indubit adequate to(p) Cues. The core value of invisibility was expressed through such macroscopical cultural artifact as dress and decor.An example GMs dress statute was a dark suit, a light enc destinyhe and a muted tie so that no single employee stands out. The rule implemented on office decor also states the value of invisibility. each the decor was standardized. In GM if an employee was invisible he was a team up player. They engage in public, symbolic acts of conformity to show they are team players. The trio core value to the GM way of sprightliness was loyalty to ones boss. They were all expected to be loyal to their bosses and non question them or even point out their rail at doings.One of the examples given was, GM retirement dinner, in this retirement dinner they pay tri just nowe to the retiree by telling his journey drool in the past years in GM. These dinner instilled mutual respect, admiration and loyalty. It was important for GM to tell the stories of their retiring employees, simply because these stories were true and shows a succession of events in the companys history. In one moorage, DeLorean did not go to pick his boss up from the airport, which was a ritual followed by all GM employees, what happened was DeLoreans boss was furious and expected DeLorean to not bear it ever again.In the retirement dinner, they reward the retiree for the past tasks done by ensuring future loyalty, so in DeLoreans case he would be marked by the others and may be seen as someone who isnt a team player. The counterculture to these dominant cultures can be seen by DeLoreans actions. There are three areas to it the first is questioning deference to authority. DeLorean unbroken creating stories that were being questioned by other employees, because one story testament not call most of the employees buzzing, therefore DeLorean created many situations.For example, he wanted to replace deference to authority with task-oriented efficiency. He discouraged the meeting of superiors at airports. DeLorean himself theatrical role modeled the behavior. This incident became an organizational story. He became a controversial and powerful figure. This particular event was significant because it expressed a value that contradicted a core value of the dominant culture. The second counterculture, An Alternative to Fitting In The Limits of Acceptable Deviance. DeLorean did not agree on the core value of fitting in team play. He instead valued dissent and independence.He indorse his values with practices, by changing his divisions performance appraisal system. Performance was heedful on basis of criteria that were as objective as possible. DeLorean was also able to role model himself by not following the dress code and he also changed the decor in his division, allowing his executives to have their own equal in their spaces. This was his way of declaring independence from t he dominant culture. The only way a counter culture can sustain is by implementing the practices as well as being consistent with the preferred value.Opposing Demands for Unquestioning Loyalty is the third counterculture. Articulation of a boomerang challenged the dominant culture. The Corvair was a product of GM that was supposed to be the finest and most appealing product to attract the young. The Corvair story be jazzs a boomerang, it takes a sudden turn and employees started questioning the safety of the back tooth engine, but without enough support and evidence that the Corvair was not safe GM management told the employees who objected to join the team or find some other place to proceeding. In the end the Corvair had caused many deaths because of its faulty design.This in return cost GM its reputation and millions of dollars in legal expense, and of court settlements. 3. This argument fits with my experience as an observation that I have seen happen over and over again, it i s no other than an public area which most of us are rebound to go to in some time in our lives in divers(prenominal) occasions, the hospital. It is always said that right after graduating as a doctor, the blister fear for all of them is their houseman ship years. It is a dominant culture that all new doctors who are coming in for their houseman ship are pushed around and are made to work over time.In other words they are bullied by their superiors. It has been a culture that has been misadventure all around the world and many have come to stand it as a norm. In my opinion I dont think it should be the case, I believe that there can be an artifact of a counterculture here. Why it is that fresh new grade doctors allow their superiors to push them around to a certain extreme. For example, elderly doctors, will intentionally post questions for houseman ship doctors in front of a patient and then taunt them for the answers given to enforce their authority as superior doctors.Thi s can be emotionally damaging depending on the decimal point of verbal abuse. Another case would be houseman ship doctors are treat as the last(a) employees in the hospital during their houseman ship years they are not only pushed around by senior doctors but by the nurses as well. They are made to do foreign work and lots of foot race around. Another case would be sometimes, senior doctors will make houseman doctors to do their shifts as well, resulting in the housemen to be wore out and exhausted.Some of these housemen will eventually break down, for they are not able to cope with the pressure and stress. Then again this happens over and over again in all parts of the world. In my opinion I think it would make a lot of difference if some doctors have the susceptibility to stand up and make a change in this environment. I believe as time goes by, more and more stories and incidents will devolve causing the dominant culture to be questioned and a find for a counterculture to take place in this particular environment.I am sure there are cases where certain doctors have made a stand for themselves, but with the repetition of the same behavior this dominant culture may be able to change. Where the houseman ship doctors are treated with equal respect and are able to apply what they have learnt over the past fewer years in their houseman ship years. 3. This argument fits with my experience as an observation that I have seen happen over and over again, it is no other than an public area which most of us are bound to go to in some time in our lives in different occasions, the hospital.It is always said that right after graduating as a doctor, the worst fear for all of them is their houseman ship years. It is a dominant culture that all new doctors who are coming in for their houseman ship are pushed around and are made to work over time. In other words they are bullied by their superiors. It has been a culture that has been happening all around the world and many have come to accept it as a norm. I believe that there can be an artifact of a counterculture here.For example, senior doctors, will intentionally post questions for houseman ship doctors in front of a patient and then mock them for the answers given to enforce their authority as senior doctors. This can be emotionally damaging depending on the degree of verbal abuse. Another case would be houseman ship doctors are treated as the lowest employees in the hospital during their houseman ship years they are not only pushed around by senior doctors but by the nurses as well. They are made to do irrelevant work and lots of running around.Senior doctors will make houseman doctors to do their shifts as well, resulting in the housemen to be wore out and exhausted. Some of these housemen will eventually break down, for they are not able to cope with the pressure and stress. Then again this happens over and over again in all parts of the world. It would make a lot of difference if some d octors have the capability to stand up and make a change in this environment. As time goes by, more stories and incidents will occur causing the dominant culture to be questioned and a breakthrough for a counterculture to take place in this articular environment. I am sure there are cases where certain doctors have made a stand for themselves, but with the repetition of the same behavior this dominant culture may be able to change. Where the houseman ship doctors are treated with equal respect and are able to apply what they have learnt over the past few years in their houseman ship years.4. germ Martin, J and Siehl, C (1983) Organizational Culture and Counterculture An Uneasy Symbiosis. Organizational Dynamics, pp 52-64