Cultural Complexity in Organizations

Inherent Contrasts and Contradictions

The multiple perspectives through which culture is explored in this volume show that culture in organizational settings is more complex, pluralistic, diverse, and contradictory than previously acknowledged. Addressing culture at various levels including national, industrial, organizational, and suborganizational, Cultural Complexity in Organizations provides an extremely broad, yet concise, analysis representing the latest research. Some of the areas of focus are implicit managerial understandings and overt practices, the growth and decline of organizations with a focus on culture, managerial control strategies and the dynamics of subcultural formation, change, and temporary reconciliation, among others. Written by a multinational and multidisciplinary group of scholars, the contributions are based on case studies describing situations in an array of settings such as Samsung, a car plant in Slovenia, Hewlett-Packard, a Dutch amusement park, a U.S. software developer, and an airline (SAS), as well as examples from the not-for-profit sector. Using empirical data based on innovative and multi-method research approaches, Cultural Complexity in Organizations is an important reader that goes beyond description to make recommendations on how to better deal with cultural complexity in organizations. Recommended for students and professionals in organization studies, management, gender studies, sociology, and psychology.