The dynamics of culture, organisational culture and change

The interface between cultural anthropology, cross-cultural psychology, cultural psychology and indigenous psychology provides a rich context for examining recent developments within the field of organisational culture, both from a societal (national) and a cross-cultural perspective. It is argued in this paper that cultural patterns in society impact deeply on cultural patterns in organisations. In other words, organisational culture reflects the way in which the societal context shapes the organisational context, which in turn moulds the beliefs, attitudes and behaviour of its members - individuals and groups. It is further posited that organisational culture and societal culture recursively mirror one another. The complexity of the interdependence between societal culture and organisational culture will be traced, drawing on the evolving nature of the construct culture within the traditions of anthropology, cross-cultural psychology, indigenous psychology and organisational psychology. The hidden source of cultural elements embedded in the organisational domain will be examined from the perspective of an appreciation of diversity and a recognition of the need to support and encourage the variations that add to our creativity as well asto-system/organisational effectiveness. © 1998 Springer-Verlag London Limited.