ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd Edition

118 ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND LEADERSHIPcame from a scientific background, highlighting the assumptionthat if one is to succeed in the company, one must understand thescientific base on which it was built. Having an advanced degree,such as a doctorate, was a distinct advantage even if one was beinghired into a marketing or managerial job.Both DEC and Ciba-Geigy had difficulty hiring and absorbingwhat they called MBAs, by which they meant all-purpose generalistswho do not have a solid technical or scientific background andwho might be more concerned with personal ambition than contributingto the technical work of the organization. Behind theseperceptions lay the further assumption (at both of these companies)that general management, though necessary, was not the key to success.Scientific and technical know-how was essential. These assumptionshad a powerful impact on DEC’s ability to develop indifferent directions and to divisionalize, because there was always ashortage of experienced general managers.Who is in and who is out not only applies to the initial hiringdecision but continues to have important symbolic meaning as oneprogresses in the group. One of the immediate consequences ofdefining who is in and who is out is that differential treatment rulesbegin to be applied. Insiders get special benefits, are trusted more,get higher basic rewards, and most important, get a sense of identityfrom belonging to a defined organization. Outsiders not only getfewer of the various benefits and rewards but, more important, losespecific identity. They become part of a mass that is simply labeled“outsiders” and they are more likely to be stereotyped and treatedwith indifference or hostility.Organizations can be thought of, then, as involving three dimensionsof career movement: (1) lateral movement from one taskor function to another, (2) vertical movement from one rank toanother, and (3) inclusionary movement from outsider to insider(Schein, 1978, 1987b). Consensus forms around criteria not onlyfor promotion but also for inclusionary movement. As one movesfarther “in,” one becomes privy to some of the more secret assumptionsof the group. One learns the special meanings attached to cer-