Speech Communication IDENTIFIERS *Organizational Culture

Understanding organizational cultures offers important and useful insights for the professional communicator. The fastest-growing area of interest in the study of modern organizations and their behavior is that of organizational cultures. There are at least two specific ways to categorize and discuss these cultures. The first is to divide them into three distinct types, which reflect the various management and organizational philosophies traditionally followed in American companies: authoritarian/bureaucratic, compromise /supportive, and performance/innovative. The second is to use the categories provided by A. Kennedy and T. Deal, who considered five specific elements--business environment, values, heroes, rites and rituals, and cultural work--to classify corporate cultures as follows: macho/tough guy, work hard/play hard, bet your company, and process. Finally, an organizational cultural index test can identify both the type of organization in which a person works and the type of organization in which a person would like to work. (Tables illustrating the text and a copy of the Organizational Culture Index Questionnaire are included.) (DF) Reproductions supplied by EARS are the best that can be made from the original document.