Organizational communication perspective on culture

The organizational communication perspective on culture is divided into three areas:


Traditionalism: Views culture through objective things such as stories, rituals, and symbols

Interpretivism: Views culture through a network of shared meanings (organization members sharing subjective meanings)

Critical-Interpretivism: Views culture through a network of shared meanings as well as the power struggles created by a similar network of competing meanings

There are many different types of communication that contribute in creating an organizational culture:

Metaphors such as comparing an organization to a machine or a family reveal employees’ shared meanings of experiences at the organization.

Stories can provide examples for employees of how to or not to act in certain situations.

Rites and ceremonies combine stories, metaphors, and symbols into one. Several different kinds of rites that affect organizational culture:

Rites of passage: employees move into new roles

Rites of degradation: employees have power taken away from them

Rites of enhancement: public recognition for an employee’s accomplishments

Rites of renewal: improve existing social structures

Rites of conflict reduction: resolve arguments between certain members or groups

Rites of integration: reawaken feelings of membership in the organization

Reflexive comments are explanations, justifications, and criticisms of our own actions. This includes:

Plans: comments about anticipated actions

Commentaries: comments about action in the present

Accounts: comments about an action or event that has already occurred

Such comments reveal interpretive meanings held by the speaker as well as the social rules they follow.

Fantasy Themes are common creative interpretations of events that reflect beliefs, values, and goals of the organization. They lead to rhetorical visions, or views of the organization and its environment held by organization members.