ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd Edition

120 ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND LEADERSHIPwithin the culture—is one of the clearest ways that a group specifieswho is us and who is them. Wearing special badges or uniformsis, of course, another obvious means of showing identity.From the point of view of the individual moving through theorganization during her or his career, frequent rotational movementfrom one functional or geographic group to another can result in afailure to absorb any of the deeper assumptions operating in any ofthe groups. The person may continue to feel marginal and experienceintrapsychic conflict if the assumptions of different groups aredifferent. This suggests that if an individual is to be socialized intoa complex multi-unit organization, each assignment must be longenough for that individual to absorb some key assumptions, but notso long as to cause oversocialization into any one subculture.In summary, defining the criteria for deciding who is in and whois out of an organization or any of its subunits is one of the best waysto begin to analyze a culture. Moreover, the very process by which agroup makes those judgments and acts on them is a process of cultureformation that forces some integration of the external survival issuesand the internal integration issues being discussed in this chapter.Distributing Power and StatusA critical issue in any new group is how influence, power, and authoritywill be allocated. The process of stratification in human systemsis typically not as blatant as the dominance-establishing ritualsof animal societies, but it is functionally equivalent in that it concernsthe evolution of workable rules for managing aggression andmastery needs. Human societies develop pecking orders just aschickens do, but both the process and the outcome are, of course,far more complex and varied.DEC and Ciba-Geigy differed dramatically in their methods ofallocating power and channeling aggression. At DEC, power wasderived from personal success and the building of a network of support.Formal rank, seniority, and job description had relatively lessinfluence than personal characteristics and track record. Personal