This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Organizations emerge, as continuous process of discourse -- an aspect well documented in much recent theoretical work. This preoccupation with the process aspects of organizing and organizations has led to a resurgence of interest in the study of organizational culture. A catchphrase and a management mantra for success, the concept of culture was popularised with the publication of a book by Peters & Waterman In search for Excellence, in 1982. Peters and Waterman advocated a position that organization culture may in fact be a means of promoting effective managerial action such that beneficial outcomes could be accrued. Hence, culture is seen as a 'tool' or a central guiding phenomenon for achieving effectiveness. Drawing on supposedly exemplar cases from the corporate world, some of these authors ( Deal & Kennedy,1982) began to extol the virtues of activities like 'managing by walking about', designed to manage culture. Based on insights drawn from the cases studied, eight maxims like 'hands on value driven', 'productivity through people' and so forth were recommended. Notwithstanding the conceptual and empirical weaknesses of much of this work (Caroll, 1983) and the difficulties experienced by companies in identifying, let alone changing their cultures (e.g. Beer et al. 1970), the appeal of the possibility of corporate renewal, ensures that demands for culture change prescriptions remain high.
