ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd Edition

ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT MANAGING INTERNAL INTEGRATION 133Through stories, parables, and other forms of oral or written history,an organization can communicate its ideology and basicassumptions—especially to newcomers, who need to know what isimportant not only in abstract terms but by means of concreteexamples that can be emulated. Even in this domain, however, thepoint of a story or parable may not be clear until insiders in the cultureexplain the meaning to the newcomer. Published ideologiesand philosophies are, therefore, little more than cultural artifactsthat are easy to see but hard to decipher.Summary and ConclusionsEvery group must learn how to become a group. The process is notautomatic; in fact, it is complex and multifaceted. Humans, beingwhat they are, must deal with a finite and describable set of issuesin any new group situation. At the most basic level they mustdevelop a common language and category system that clearly definewhat things mean. Formal languages do not specify with enoughprecision what work, teamwork, respect, quality, and so on mean.Groups must reach consensus on the boundaries of the group, whois in and who is not in. They must develop consensus on how to distributeinfluence and power so that aggression can be constructivelychanneled and formal status accurately determined. They mustdevelop rules that define peer relationships and intimacy so thatlove and affection can be appropriately channeled.Groups must develop clear assumptions about what is a rewardand what is a punishment so that group members can decipher howthey are doing. And finally, groups must develop explanations thathelp members deal with unpredictable and unexplainable events—the functional equivalents of religion, mythology, and ideology.The assumptions that develop around these issues constitute—along with the assumptions about mission, goals, means, results detection,and correction mechanisms—a set of dimensions along whichone can study and describe a culture. These are not necessarily the