Apr09 Summary (C12 Culture: Inside and Out)

Chapter12 Summary

The term "culture" in American anthropology had two meanings: (1) the evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively and creatively; and (2) the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and represented their experiences, and acted creatively. Following World War II, the term became important, albeit with different meanings, in other disciplines such as sociology, cultural studies, organizational psychology and management studies.
Textbook author describes macro Culture as a commonly produced and shared model of reality that communicates how people are expected to behave, think and feel where a micro view of organization culture is that exists within the organization's beliefs, values norms etc. We usually learn macro culture through interaction with family, friends and other member of society. A Macro view of culture includes race/ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation etc whereas A Micro view of organizational culture includes corporate culture, co-culture, deep culture, values and beliefs etc of an organization.
Every organization has their own culture and follows with their own styles. Customer service, valuing employees, meeting project deadlines, observing dress codes etc are organization's culture.