Cultural Change
The manageability, or otherwise, of culture hinges on the perception of whether culture is something an organisation has or something an organisation is (Smircich 1983), the term has implying a variable which can be manipulated. Michael Porter (1985) states culture can powerfully reinforce the competitive advantage a generic strategy seeks to achieve, if the culture is an appropriate one. To enhance this view Weik (1985) and Hennestad (1991) provide a link between culture and strategy by arguing that the terms culture and strategy are substitutable for one another and that strategy formulation of any kind is a cultural activity. Bate (1994) takes this argument one step further by asserting that strategy is culture (and vice versa): strategy is a cultural phenomenon; culture is a strategic phenomenon. Bate (ibid) continues by stating when we change culture we are changing strategy, structure........and in a wider sense organisation, also implicit within this is the notion of vice versa. The anthropological view is that the phenomenon of culture is socially constructed as with this definition from Schein (1983): Organisation culture is the pattern of basic assumptions which a given group has invented, discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration. Case studies on culture change stress the need to have a thorough knowledge of a company's existing culture. This may be the only reason for the concept of culture to exist. If organisations are cultures rather than culture being a "thing" then strategies aimed at changing culture are strategies aimed at changing something that doesn't exist, mythical strategies for a mythical entity (Bate, op.cit.). Culture then is a socially constructed way for people to make sense of events and interactions occurring within organisations. However we take this argument there is a warning from Carol Axtell Ray (1986) the effects of culture cannot be left to chance. Implicit within this statement and echoed by Gerry Johnson and Kevin Scholes (1993) is that there is a variety of expectations from individuals within the organisation and that in developing strategy the cultural context must be understood. However, whilst it is a big mistake to ignore culture it would also appear that it is an even bigger mistake to make culture change the principle target of change.